Hey folks — wanted to throw this out and get some real feedback. I’ve been using a pretty standard outbound structure lately: 5-step email cadence (mix of value + soft CTA) Using Apollo + Clay for targeting and enrichment Subject lines are performing okay (40–60% open rate), but reply rates are hovering around 1–2%, which feels low. I’ve tried switching up personalization (first lines, job-specific triggers, etc.), and even A/B testing value props, but nothing’s really clicking consistently. Curious to learn from others here: What’s one thing you’ve done differently in your outreach that moved the needle in a big way — even if it’s not scalable? Would love to hear how others are approaching this — especially if you're targeting tech buyers or mid-market teams.
deep account research to gain deep understanding of the pain
identify the correct value prop and offer quick relief of pain with a product sneak peak
I do this for my outbound at Redcar – curious to hear if you are tapping into multichannel or just email alone. and is your reply rate of 1-2% positive or just reply?
Love that approach — going deep on account research definitely separates good from great. At Redcar, do you layer in intent or recent trigger events too, or mostly focus on firmographics and role-specific pain? For me, the 1–2% reply rate includes all responses (positive, negative, OOO). Positive replies are probably 0.3–0.5%. Right now, it's mostly email-led with some LinkedIn follow-ups — but I’ve been thinking of adding more call touchpoints or even WhatsApp for certain regions.
intent + recent trigger to reach out for recency and get in when they hit the pain
deep research firmographics/role specific pain to prioritize and tier my accounts accordingly -> P1 and P2 have different problems and different value prop
I have different P1 and P2 within each vertical because my deep research questions for a Recruiting Vertical would be separate from a Marketing vertical
The more the touchpoint the better. I would not rely on open rate, its a metric that's likely unreliable 🙂
I have heard whatsapp is good - i am going to try texting very soon
but a bear hug approach is what i hear to be the best
I first id the high level pain and offer to solve it with our product -> be specific and id the specific pain to the org/person and offer to solve with product -> give examples of a similar case study that I solved for someone with similar problem -> give the candy
Love it — super thoughtful approach, and definitely taking notes. Appreciate you sharing the breakdown so transparently. Going to experiment with tightening up my own structure based on this. Hope we cross paths again in another thread soon!
tots 🔥 🙂
I think you have to be a bit manual and take AI and add a personal touch. Doesn't scale as much, but being focused and targeted will probably get you better results anyway. Not many people I know like fully automated AI-gen emails!
Are marketing serving ads to the same list? Video case studies on LinkedIn and you're engaging with them there?
I'm finding short audio messages on LinkedIn work well. Managing through Lemlist
Hey Nick A. Great question — right now, it’s mostly cold outbound without coordinated ads or social engagement running in parallel. But I’m realizing more and more how important that surround-sound approach is. Are you running that kind of multi-touch motion? Would love to hear how you’re syncing with marketing or using LinkedIn activity to warm things up.
