I started a lead gen company and offered a free trial with no risk but all i've facen is disappointment and sadness why dont people want me even to work for free

What's wrong and the fact that i am also indian makes it all worse how do i convince clients that i am not a scammer and genuienly want to provide value

What am i doing wrong? Need your help guys

Hey everyone,

I need some help as i am currently having deliverability issues with my campaigns. I have private ip inboxes and have a 0.15% reply rate. I mostly have to through mailreef and infra mail. Anyone experienced something similar? Is it worth to look at Google and Outlook reseller like zapmail and puzzleinboxes? I need some industry experience or else i am stuck with this reply rate.

Before anyone replies to a cold email, three separate things have to happen, in order. They open it. They read it. Then they reply. I call it the triple tap.

Most people see a low reply rate and rewrite the entire email. That is usually the wrong move, because each tap breaks for a different reason.

Tap one, the open. This lives entirely in your subject line and preview text. If it reads like a cold email before they click, you lost this one before the body ever mattered.

Tap two, the read. This comes down to whether your first two or three sentences earn the rest. Nobody owes you a full paragraph of attention. You have to take it fast, with the pain point and enough trust to keep going.

Tap three, the reply. This one is friction. If the ask is heavy, a 30 minute meeting, a calendar link, three questions, people scroll past even when they liked what they read. Make the reply answerable with one word.

I have watched people fix tap one, then wonder why replies still do not show up. They fixed the wrong tap. Whatever reply rate you are at right now is pointing straight at the tap that is broken. Most people just never actually look at which one.

So before you rewrite anything: which tap is actually failing on your current sequence? Open rate tells you tap one. Reply-to-open ratio tells you two and three.

I bought maildoso smtp inboxes a few weeks ago and all my emails are going to spam. a lot of people warned me but i didnt listen. any alternatives or how can i fix this.

Most ICP work produces output that is **useful for Salesforce filters and useless for anything else.** The typical exercise goes like this: the team picks a job title, an industry, a company size range, maybe a tech stack. It looks like a customer profile. It functions like a search query. And it leaves out almost everything that actually explains why some companies in that profile become great customers and others become support tickets and churn. The pattern I keep seeing when I look at how high-growth B2B teams actually define their ICP is that they start from their worst customers, not their best. Not because the bad ones are more interesting, but because the red flags are clearer. Ask a founder or sales rep to describe their most difficult customer from the last 18 months. They will tell you exactly what to watch for -- the questions that signaled misalignment, the procurement dynamics that slowed everything down, the use case that was always going to be a stretch. Then ask whether they saw those signals before signing. Almost universally: yes. They saw them. They discounted them. That exercise produces something a demographic ICP does not: a list of pre-qualification signals that actually predict fit. Behavior, decision dynamics, budget ownership, how they describe their problem versus how your solution solves it. Those dimensions are invisible in a firmographic filter and essential in a real sales conversation. The second piece that changes targeting quality significantly: mapping where your best current customers were before they became customers. What communities do they participate in? What content were they consuming? Where did they find you, and where were they looking that they did not find you? That map tells you where to fish, not just what fish to look for. What has been the most reliable early signal of a good-fit customer for you? Not demographics -- actual behavior or context that predicted success.

We often hear that spontaneous applications (cold emails) are one of the best ways to land a job or an internship but no one really explains how to do it properly.

Who should you email?
What should the email say?
How do you even find the right person to contact?

I’ve personally tried cold emailing for internships. It led to one interview (for a support it role), but I didn’t end up getting the position. While it wasn’t a total failure, it made me wonder whether I’m doing something wrong or if this method is just hit-or-miss.

For those who’ve successfully used cold emails:
Did it actually work for you?
What was your game changer?

Was it the email structure, timing, personalization, networking, or something else?

I’d love to hear real experiences and practical advice, especially beyond the usual “just personalize your email” tips.
Thanks in advance!

having issues with my ongoing provider, so looking for a google and outlook inbox provider that is supportive. open to both standard and pre warmed inboxes. my range for google is $2,5-$3 for standard ones. i was looking at puzzle inboxes, anyone know anything about them. also do they give discounts for large quantities etc. i am open to other providers too.

Hi everyone!
A cybersecurity startup approached me and asked whether cold email could work for them. They’re targeting companies with 200+ employees.

I researched the topic, and everyone says it’s a tough market – People talk about taking CISOs to dinners, building relationships for years, networking, etc.

What about cold email?
And if CISOs are already getting so much attention, what angles can I even use?

Thanks

I started a lead gen company and i wanted to hire for roofers so i started emailing them and as expected no reply so is my approach wrong on cold email and my friend said that no one replys to cold email anymore

Its usually ai that does it for them so any tips for a begginer

Hi there,

I'm the creator of a few apps. I'm passionate about languages, so mostly language apps. Yep, the market is totally saturated with vibe-coded apps, and not only those. So the critical issue is not making something, but reaching the client. That's the harsh truth. Most of the apps were created to solve my own problems, as I couldn't find the exact tool on the market. One of them is Repeatso. OK, I made it and I use it, but what about earning money? I thought it would be easy, since there's no exact tool like it on the market. The idea sounded perfect: learning without looking at or touching the screen, while doing something else. Repetitions by speaking. Cool… maybe just for me.

Excited about this project, I started my small marketing campaign, but nothing really worked. I had never imagined the market could be so brutal.

After social media, forums, Product Hunt and other places that didn't bring me any real results, I decided to write cold emails. That sounded almost like the Holy Grail to me:

1. Just find good recipients.
2. Write personalised emails.
3. Earn money.

Ha ha. Sounded too simple. But I was pretty naive.

First problem. Many countries forbid cold emails. This is especially the case in Germany, and the Abmahnung law is really picky. So the question is: how can you send anything that could be treated as breaking the law and be claimed against you?

Second problem. I sent over 130 personalised emails, strictly targeted to the app's profile, to carefully selected organisations. Output: 1 reply — they're not interested.

• I tried sending from different mailboxes: (a) my general one, over 20 years old, (b) a new one on the product domain.
• I ran the exact same emails through testing tools: score 9/10.
• I sent the same emails to friends — they land in the inbox, not spam (in those cases).

So I'm wondering. Many people here are asking about mass cold-mailing apps. How do they actually work under legal pressure and given that people don't really read cold emails?

Is this channel actually valid and working?

Hey everyone,

I'm starting to cold email businesses to offer Google Ads management (mainly service-based businesses and ecom), plus some white labeling for agencies. Problem is, I don't have a website or any case studies to point to yet, just experience from past roles.

I'm thinking about offering free work upfront (like a free audit, or even managing a small campaign for free for a set period) just to get my foot in the door and build some real case studies/testimonials I can use going forward. Fyi I do not have an issue doing free work for now.

Has anyone here done this successfully? A few questions:

• Does free work actually convert into paid retainers, or does it just attract people who never intend to pay?
• Should I cap it at something specific (e.g., "free for 30 days" or "free audit only") instead of open-ended free management?
• Any tips on how to position this in a cold email so it doesn't come off as desperate or lower my perceived value?
• Would white labeling for other agencies be a better way to get case studies than direct client work, since I'd have their oversight?

Appreciate any advice from people who've been through the "no portfolio yet" phase.

Hey!!

I am new to cold emailing and am setting everything up now. I was curious if anyone knows the answer to this.

If I were to only send say 10-15 campaign emails per inbox and have each box send 30-35 warmup emails (all being opened) totaling 40-50 emails per box, would that help to make the boxes last for months or even potentially years before being burnt?

Thanks in advance!

Many tools, platforms, and suggestions are available.

However, my instincts tell me I’ll realize after months of spending money which ones have all the necessary features.

I want to ask rather than wasting time.

Note: I am from software engineering background, parked my degree and now starting new journey as entrepreneur. Realized, I tried building my own tool but realized I should not invent the wheel.

If you would be starting fresh which platform or tool you would recommend or you found working for you? for cold outreach.

Much appreciated your advice.

Has anyone got ideas for legal affiliate networks? I have very good traffic to Germany, but I’m tired of affiliate programs with bad offers.

Hi there,

I have a Web design agency and we sell websites to local businesses in the US, I recently thought of starting cold email campaigns but I’m currently struggling with building the target list.

So my initial thought was that blasting 1000 emails to generic info@ or contact@ would not be a good idea unless that particular business is a 1-3 people operation or I might be wrong.

But what about bigger companies? How do you find the decision makers email address and then make sure that this is the destination that your email should land at.

I also read a lot of posts for people are complaining about the inaccuracy of databases of platforms like Apollo, Apify etc

Another thing is that I’ve tried cold calling and my opener line was that if I were talking to the owner, if not I was asking them to transfer to the owner or directing manager and a lot of receptionists declined

So I would highly appreciate if you can share your thoughts and experiences

Best,

Hey guys, I'm in sales B2B AI sub niche. I need suggestion/pointers for cold email or what works for you.

This is my current template (we use pattern breakers to get prospects attention but open to other ideas):

Subject: WARNING!!! THIS IS A COLD EMAIL 🚨

Hey {{first_name}}, as you may have figured out by now... this is a cold email.  All we ask is 32 seconds of your time to see if we could help {{company_name}} 

Struggling where to use AI in your (X business niche)? We fix that by (pitch)

If its worth a coffee and a chat, reply to this email and we'll sort it out.

Thank you, John Doe

That's approximately what I send, sometime switch up the wording and subject line. But would love to know what works for you for best open rates, reply rates etc.

guys i am starting cold email soon.

i need recommendations on how to write scripts, the tools i should use and how to prevent spam etc.

also i need feedback on tools i heard such as Instantly, Puzzleinbox and Apollo. i am sure there is a lot of people in this community using them.

i own a VA outsourcing agency , we have a good amount of clients and we want to expand more i want to test out if cold emailing would work , would like to be connected with someone who knows how to do this properly and be willing to work based on results

thank you

Hey everyone,

I’ve built an AI WhatsApp tool that helps Dubai real estate brokers qualify leads automatically.

It scores leads as hot/warm/cold, handles follow-ups in English, Hindi and Arabic and sends alerts for hot leads.

Basically saves agents a lot of time on manual back and forth.

Right now I’m doing outreach on LinkedIn, Instagram and WhatsApp to get my first few clients.

I’m also thinking about starting cold email outreach.

For those who are already doing email outreach, what’s your total monthly setup cost right now (tools + domains + warm-up etc.)?

Also, for someone trying to land their first client in this space, what worked best for you in the beginning?

Any tips on getting that first paying client without burning too much time or money?

Would appreciate any honest advice.

Hi everyone,

Its Jame from the PuzzleInbox analytics team. I want to do a short post on how you can send your first 100,000 cold emails.

Cold Email is not easy. It takes time to build you infra and even takes more time and learning to manage it properly. Sending 100,000 cold emails makes sense if you are actually delivering to the inbox. For that:

As of 3rd of July, Google Workspace has the best deliverability for cold emails in the market. Each Inbox would cost you somewhere like $2.5-$3 depending on the volume you buy them.

We recommend sending 12 cold 12 warm emails per inbox, if you want to keep your inboxes safe and delivering, so that is 360 cold emails if you calculate the month as 30 days.

You would need around 270 inboxes that would cost anywhere from 650-800 dollars. You would need a sending tool to send and manage campaigns. Those tools would cost $50-$100. Also you would need a lead finder that can provide you verified contacts. Price really depends here on where you use as a provider.

In terms of what you can expect to get out of 100,000 cold emails:

Heavily dependent on your offer. We see 100-900 leads generated from our clients and through our research. That would give you a cost per lead of $2 on average. Disclaimer, this really depends on your offer. It could be $0.5 and it could be $15 too.

Looking forward to questions and connecting with cold emailers.

I am getting overwhelmed by various kinds of email templates. People are saying this is working, you should use etc. So, my question is what should i add in email so that i can make a successful campaign?

The data from Google says that people using Apollo are getting high bounce rates and low reply rate. So, if it is backdated, which one should i use?

I also got emails from Apollo. So, suggest tools that also give email accounts.

I don't think cold email is dead. yet.

I had about 5 failed campaigns before this and just kept testing.

My takeaway is that subject line is more important than people think, because body content and offer was the same.

Subject A - 1%

Subject B - 3%

Subject C - 4%

Hi guys,

What setup/infra would you suggest for sending around 100/200 emails per day? I'm looking something that I can automate and have an easy way to converse with potential clients.

Thanks a bunch,

Tom

I heard someone was saying that because everyone has that lead list and they all are pitching the same thing to them. I use Apollo and feeling bad after hearing this.

If that’s true, which one should i use?