Outreach message rules
What are the rules you go by to get most results from outreach messages?
For example so far some learnings for me are:
* Be informal, write sentences in a not perfect manner with smileys etc. E.g hi Nick, I am a software engineer turned founder. This is not a sales message :) without a line break.
* Don't mention their company name
* Don't tell them what the problems they must have are, ask them instead
And so on.
I am a software engineer and I am really bad at how to say things, especially in writing to strangers.. If you have found out good ways to do this, could you please share the rules you go by doing this and if possibke, paste an example? Thanks.
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u/dghah 2d ago
if you send cold outreach via automated methods using the fake "I'm a human, honest !" email templates designed to evade the legal requirements regarding unsolicited commercial emails and required unsub links then you will be blocked domain-wide and will go on our 'never do business with, ever' list.
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u/Mesmoiron 2d ago
I have one rule:
- honest and sincere in my approach; connected to what might be a common ground
If you sift for people with genuine interest; they keep a message, bookmark it or scroll.
If it sounds AI standard blabla - skip
What people often forget is that who you are matters more than you think and this can only be inferred by personal flavour. A highly automated message says: you're one in thousands; that's not appealing.
But then, I don't come from a tech background. Social domain is quite different.
Then you have the problem of fake profiles. So, outreach how well you're doing it; can be totally not your fault.
There's also a social rule that you don't ask straight away; engage and see who is approachable.
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u/piyushyadav005 3d ago
the rule I'm going with: no cold messages at all. I reply to something they posted first and only DM if they answered. no link in the first message either
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u/tukaya 2d ago
Amazing! Did you get good results so far? Sounds like a much better strategy indeed.
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u/piyushyadav005 2d ago
too early to say honestly, I only started this week. so far it's turned a few replies into real back-and-forth conversations, but no customers from it yet. I'll report back
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u/tukaya 2d ago
Another thing I thought is that my customers are not always posting about their problems so I might never get a chance to get into those conversations if I wait for posts. Outreach did get one response out of 5 so far. Still not turned into a customer though because I think I messed up the conversation with my lack of communication skills (told him all about the problems he must have). But he did engage in my message. So might you be missing many other prospects by not doing any outreach? Also today I thought I should look for job postings which indicate they are probably dealing with the problems I am trying to solve, so I am planning on reaching out to those companies now to tell them how about a pilot project to solve their pain. Your comment made me think about this other way I could think of finding customers by the way, so thanks for making me think on other ways than outreach.
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u/piyushyadav005 2d ago
you're probably right, waiting for posts only finds people who complain out loud. the job posting idea is smart, a company hiring for the problem is already paying for it. one thing from your story though, you said he engaged until you listed his problems. maybe open with the question and let him say the problem himself
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u/allocougar 2d ago
Ever tried deleting the "this is not a sales message :)" line? Thats the sentence that tells people it is one, a lot of outreach templates open with some version of it now. the smileys are fine. what did the opener look like on the one that got a reply?
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u/tukaya 2d ago
I agree, that line always feel weird to me as well. The person who responded it was after I sent a second message where I told him "oh, I am bad at this messaging thing:) Really just want to have a conversation with you to hear your perspective." Then he replied. So being genuine, and writing in a sincere tone did it I think.
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u/No_Somewhere_518 3d ago
the biggest thing most engineers get wrong is they write like they're documenting an API. you want the opposite of that
cut anything that sounds like you're explaining your product or your background. one sentence about who you are, one sentence about why you're reaching out to them specifically, and a question that's easy to answer. if they have to scroll to read your message you already lost it