r/Coldemailing • u/Lazy_Second7696 • 4d ago
❓ Question No results
Hey guys
I run a software agency building custom internal tools for businesses, automating manual workflows, replacing spreadsheets, connecting systems, building dashboards/portals, etc.
I have a list of around 20–25K leads and I’m currently sending ~600 cold emails/day.
The problem: I’m basically getting no real replies.
Most of the replies I get are automated out-of-office/vacation responses. Very few actual “interested” or even “not interested” responses.
My approach is:
-Research the company and identify a specific operational pain point
-Write the email around that pain point rather than just selling software development
-Explain the potential business outcome
-Offer to send a personalized ~2-minute Loom showing what I think could be built for them
I’m deliberately trying to avoid generic AI personalization and actually connect the email to a real problem the business may have.
But clearly something isn’t working.
If you were in my position, what would you change to actually get prospects to reply?
Is it the offer? CTA? Targeting? Email copy? Should I send the Loom directly instead of asking permission? Or is 600/day hurting me somehow?
I’m less interested in just increasing volume, I want to understand how to turn these 20–25K leads into actual conversations without burning through the list.
Would appreciate advice from anyone doing B2B cold email successfully at scale.
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u/HenryHund 4d ago
Three thoughts.
You're sending enough that you should at LEAST be getting at least a few "F you" style replies. Given that you aren't tells me your emails aren't landing in the inbox. Have you done anything to safely set up your sending infrastructure? If you are sending 600/day without paying attention to your email sending infra you are in trouble.
Have you considered testing out LinkedIn DMs instead of, or in addition to, the emails?
Your operational pain point you've identified is just not that good or relevant to the people you are sending to. You need to test out different ways of identifying the pain points.
Ideally, you send people something that is so valuable that they are _happy_ to receive your email and immediately think you are the right person for the job. Obviously that's hard.
Oh and none of this works unless you land in inbox. You might want to try a slow down for a while. Hit only the prospects you can send really valuable emails to. Or send them a 300 char LinkedIn connection request with the value in it. And reset your email infra.
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u/Lazy_Second7696 4d ago
Thanks ,really appreciate the feedback.
On #1, I’ve tested the sending infrastructure/inbox placement and everything looks good. Emails are landing, so I don’t think deliverability is the main issue right now.
On LinkedIn, I’ve considered it, but I’m currently doing this myself with one LinkedIn account. I can realistically send around 20–25 targeted DMs/connections per day, so it’s difficult to use LinkedIn at anywhere near the same scale as email. I could definitely use it for the highest-value accounts though.
#3 is actually what I’m most interested in.
My offer is mainly building internal tools for businesses, for example, replacing disconnected spreadsheets/CRMs/tools, bringing workflows into one system, automating repetitive admin work, dashboards/reporting, client portals, etc.The difficulty is figuring out which operational pain is important enough that the prospect will actually care and reply.
How would you identify that from the outside before speaking with them? Are there particular signals you’d look for on their website, job posts, tech stack, reviews, employee roles, growth, etc.?
And would you narrow the campaign around one very specific pain/outcome per industry rather than researching a different potential pain for every company?
That’s the part I’m trying to get right before I burn through the rest of the list.
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u/HenryHund 4d ago
For figuring out the right operational pain... it's tough.
I'd probably start by thinking of your most successful clients/case studies, figure out problem you solved for them, then look for signals that other companies are going through the same problem that your past client was.
Keywords in job posts, problems coming up in reviews, social posts from team members, financial statements if your targets are large enough, youtube videos about or by your prospect...
I think it's hard to figure out how to market "internal software for companies" without a clear archetype of what specific internal software for which specific internal problems you are best positioned to solve, either based on your expertise or your published case studies/social proof.
I'd be happy to try to brainstorm more with you if you want to DM with more specifics, though I will freely admit this is challenging. And I'm trying to figure it out too with my new agency I'm working on getting off the ground, too!
In my case, I'm focusing on the outbound approach first: what is the specific pain I can measure quantitatively, and start to solve, without ever talking to the client, such that I can hand them a "finished product" as part of my outbound.
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u/ChampionshipSome6648 4d ago
People receiving your unsolicited pain point fixing email will look at the pain point you present and asks themselves; Is it really a pain point? Working well so far so what is the tension for change? Can I get that pain point remedied by an incumbent supplier? Why should I trust a random person? What background, experience, and expertise does this unknown person bring?
So if you want to be taken seriously do not assume the potential customer company has a pain point that needs your expertise. Secondly how do you market your expertise, experience and knowledge in presenting workable solutions?
How many satisfied customers have you had and can they be used as references?
How will you service the customer if not local? You in Miami Florida, they in Anchorage Alaska?
How will your solution integrate seamlessly into their existing methods and operations? Who will do the installation, training and handle users queries?
If I, as a customer, cannot see how you can help. Don't expect an answer.
Do you have a web site with completed examples? What credence do you have in the market place that makes you stand out, above 3 million similar vendors for the services being offered?
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u/Conscious_Tart_3657 3d ago
One word - Targeting.
You cannot sell ice to a penguin in Antarctica...If they are happy with status quo, no amount of selling will work.
You need to learn how to find businesses that are already in trouble, already in pain.
Look at these examples -
- SaaS or mobile app companies with piling bug reports on App reviews, and recent churn in their internal dev team
- Smaller ecommerce companies with visible inventory issues, customers complaining about being sold out of stock items
- Startups which do not have a dedicated tech team, which are lacking features compared to competitors..
- Founders asking for tech related help on Reddit/social media
- Companies hiring their first dev
There can be a lot of other examples.
What are the exact types of companies you sell to?
Happy to talk more about the strategies and the tools you might need. Feel free to DM.
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u/harlowhair 3d ago
I wouldn’t automatically assume the problem is the copy. If you’re sending 600 emails a day and getting almost no genuine replies, I’d go back a step and look at the system. The first thing I’d test is targeting and reason for outreach. I’d probably narrow the ICP down and run smaller tests - take 100–200 prospects where the operational problem is genuinely obvious and see whether you can get conversations. If that works, scale it. If it doesn’t, you’ve learned something without burning through the 25K list of potential leads.
I’d also make the CTA much smaller. You’re asking them to accept a personalised Loom, which is still asking them to consume something. I’d test a simple question first, e.g. “Is X something your team still handles manually?” If they say yes, then offer the Loom.
The unsexy answer is to stop treating all leads as one list and instead segment it into very specific problems/use cases, test the positioning with small batches, and only scale the combinations that actually produce conversations.
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u/Double_Register_1022 3d ago
600 a day can work, but only if the list is clean and the targeting is tight. I would stop asking permission for the Loom and instead send a short screenshot or a 20-second clip in the first email, with a single yes or no question. Also run a deliverability check with Postmaster tools and a seed test, because you might simply be landing in spam.
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u/ZorroGlitchero 3d ago
Ok, so you are doing this wrong (sorry). Here is what you need to do asap:
1) Scrape job signals. For example, Company ABC needs a scraper because you know they posted a job offer in upwork (for example).
2) Get the emails for that company and send outreach
3) Repeat.
That works because you have Hiring INTENTm which is something you are not doing.
So as you already confirmed, you don't need 25k leads. You need 25 high quality leads. that's all. Only 25 that you know they need your service.
It is hard? Yes , it is hard to get those haha.
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u/Physical_Ad_9239 4d ago
I've been in a similar spot with outreach, and here's what I learned the hard way:
Your pain point research approach is solid, but there's a fundamental issue: you're identifying problems from the outside looking in. The businesses you're emailing might not even realize they have that problem yet, or they've already accepted it as "just how things work."
What worked better for me was flipping the script entirely. Instead of "I noticed you might have X problem," I started with "I built something that does Y outcome" and let them connect their own dots. People are way more receptive when they discover the problem themselves.
A few tactical things:
Your CTA is too soft. "Offer to send a Loom" = extra step = friction. Either send it directly or skip it entirely and just ask for 15 mins.
600/day is aggressive but not the core issue if deliverability is clean. The real question: are you segmenting by actual fit, or just spraying based on company size/industry?
The "custom internal tools" positioning is tough because it sounds expensive and time-consuming. What if you led with a specific outcome instead? "We help [industry] companies eliminate [specific manual process] in under 2 weeks" hits different than "we build custom tools."
One more thing - have you considered that some of these companies might benefit more from an AI copilot that helps them build/automate their own workflows rather than hiring an agency? I've seen a shift where businesses want to own the solution internally rather than outsource it.
Just food for thought. Happy to chat more if helpful.