Tubegraph

Cold email campaigns and tools

4 min read

From: gregisenberg

Cold email is presented as a traditional approach to direct marketing and a viable business strategy for reaching target audiences like agencies or freelancers [00:33:36]. It’s considered a “passive” strategy that can operate in the background while other marketing strategies are pursued [00:43:46].

Components of a Cold Email Campaign

A successful cold email campaign involves several key steps and tools:

Lead Generation

The first step is to acquire a lead list of potential customers.

  • Buying lists: It’s possible to find individuals on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr who already possess lists of targeted emails, such as 10,000 agency owners, for a fee [00:35:17] [00:35:30].
  • Scraping tools:
    • Apollo: A tool mentioned for generating lead lists [00:35:08].
    • Outscraper: One of the cheapest ways to scrape leads from Google or Yellow Pages. It operates as an API with a simple front end [00:36:04]. A caution with Outscraper is that it often provides general contact emails (e.g., contact@domain) rather than specific individual emails [00:36:43].
    • Scrapebox: An older software (from the 2000s) that runs scraping on a user’s computer, potentially useful for Yellow Pages and local businesses [00:36:20].
    • Findymail: Allows scraping of about 2,000 leads from LinkedIn for approximately $50 a month [00:36:59].

Email Outreach Platforms

Once leads are gathered, specialized platforms are used for sending out campaigns.

  • Smart Lead / Instantly: These platforms are used for sending emails and are priced at around 100 per month [00:37:13]. They also offer the option to purchase email addresses directly through them [00:37:19].

Setting Up a Campaign

Warming Up Email Addresses

Before sending mass cold emails, it’s crucial to “warm up” the email addresses to prevent them from being flagged as spam [00:37:28].

  • This process typically takes about two weeks [00:37:30].
  • Warming involves sending emails to other inboxes in a “warming pool” and receiving replies, simulating real human interaction [00:37:33].

Crafting Effective Copy

The content of the email is vital for success.

  • “Killer copy”: The importance of well-written email content is emphasized [00:33:56].
  • A/B Testing: Campaigns should test different elements such as subject lines and calls to action [00:38:06] [00:38:19].
    • Subject lines: Examples include “invoice paid” to grab attention [00:33:58].
    • Calls to action (CTAs): Avoid asking for immediate meetings or video watches, as these can feel like an obligation [00:34:10] [00:34:14]. A more effective CTA for a product like “Invoice Nudger” would be direct access: “Hey, you don’t have to talk to a single person. Here it is. Go try it out. You get your first two invoices done for free” [00:34:25].
    • Syntax: Use different syntaxes within the email to vary CTAs and test effectiveness [00:38:19].

Opportunity for AI

AI can be used for creating effective cold emails, specifically to write and make templates for automated emails that appear more human-written than standard notifications [00:08:26] [00:29:11]. There is also an opportunity in creating digital assets like email template generators that can be used within these campaigns [00:20:29].

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

  • Slower Warm-up: Compared to organic and social media strategies, building an audience via cold email can be slower [00:43:26].
  • Requires Setup: Requires specific tools and a structured approach (lead lists, warming, testing) [00:35:05].
  • Resend.com: An email sending platform designed for React and Node.js projects, known for its ease of use for transactional emails and simplified setup compared to traditional SMTP services [00:11:07] [00:12:09] [00:13:14].
  • Mailgun / SendGrid: Traditional plug-and-play email sending services [00:10:46].
  • Replet AI agent: An AI coding tool that can build web apps and integrate services like Resend.com based on prompts and documentation [00:00:11] [00:13:52].
  • PRD (Product Requirements Document): Used to define core features, user roles, and screens for an application, which can then be fed to an AI software developer [00:18:23].
  • Custom Domains: The ability to send emails from a custom domain (e.g., accounting@yourcompany.com) is key to making messages feel personal and effective [00:02:56] [00:37:01].
  • DNS records: Essential for verifying domain ownership when setting up email sending services like Resend.com [00:54:51].
  • Cron Jobs: Used for setting up automated, scheduled tasks like daily email nudges for invoices [00:49:53].
  • Lead Magnets: While not explicitly detailed, using lead magnets for email capture is a general concept that could complement cold email by attracting interested parties [01:02:10].

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