MonDive#1: Personalized Email Outreach

Welcome to the First Edition of MonDive

On Mondays, we’ll kickstart your week with a deep, insightful exploration of a unique AI use case, inspiring impactful changes in your projects or work.

In MonDive, expect an in-depth analysis of a compelling AI application, complete with strategies, practical tips, and real-world examples to help you harness the power of AI in innovative ways.

Let's dive right in without further ado.

Today’s MonDive is a special edition for Business Owners, Founders, Marketing, and Sales leaders.

Since the rise of ChatGPT and the AI wave, businesses have increasingly turned to AI to automate key tasks—especially in outreach. The era of manually building prospect lists and crafting personalized emails is fading fast.

Now, AI can handle much of this work, driving growth through automated, personalized cold outreach. Here are some impressive success stories:

• Laura Lopuch grew her copywriting business by 1400% using cold email. Link

• Ryan Robinson used this cold email to land a $10,000 per month retainer contract. Link

In today’s dive, we’ll explore how to start personalized email outreach effectively using AI and other tools.

ToC

• Why you should consider Cold Email Marketing?

• Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

• Find and Build Your Leads

• Write Compelling Cold Email Copies

• Choose a Cold Email Tool

• Buy and Set Up a Domains and Professional Email

• Testing, Measuring, and Optimizing Campaigns

• Time, Cost Analysis, and Potential Outcome

Why you should consider Cold Email Marketing?

Cold emailing is one of the most effective, scalable, and data-driven ways to grow your business. Here’s why it’s a game-changer:

1. High ROI
   For every $1 spent, cold email can bring back up-to $36. It’s cost-effective, delivering impressive returns without breaking the bank.

2. Effortless Scaling
   Want to reach thousands without a major budget spike? Cold email lets you scale easily, so your outreach grows with your business.

3. Predictable Leads
   With trackable metrics, cold emailing creates a consistent, reliable flow of qualified leads. It’s a repeatable process that builds steady revenue.

4. Data-Driven Refinement
   Every campaign provides data to improve the next. This means higher engagement and conversion rates over time, as you learn what works.

5. Highly Targeted
   Cold email allows for precise, personalized outreach based on industry, pain points, or interests, which leads to better responses and conversions.

We will Invest in your Business - Take Advantage

Setting up an effective cold email campaign can take around 15+ hours of work, from buying domains to sending the first email. Plus, there’s a $300+ cost for domains, AI tools, inboxes, and lead lists.

Or, you can skip the hassle and start a done-for-you cold emailing service with us.

For a limited time, we’re allowing some readers to try our cold email service.

All we need is $99 to show you're serious, and just 1 hour of your time to understand your business.

We’ll handle everything—buying domains, setting up, and running your campaign for a month.

Yes, you read that right. We’re investing our time and money to help grow your business with us.

Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

Your campaign’s success depends on how well you understand your audience. Start by defining:

• Industry or Niche: Focus on a specific sector (e.g., real estate agents, tech startups) to tailor your messaging effectively.

• Job Titles or Roles: Identify decision-makers or those most likely to benefit from your offer (e.g., HR managers, CEOs).

• Pain Points and Needs: What challenges does your audience face? Addressing these in your emails will make your message more compelling.

Look at the characteristics of your current customers to identify patterns and common traits.

• Questions to Ask:

  • Who are your best customers? (Think in terms of revenue, loyalty, or engagement.)

  • What industries do they come from?

  • What are their job roles and seniority levels?

  • What challenges do they face that your product or service solves?

Pro Tip: Create an “Ideal Customer Profile” (ICP) that outlines the key traits of your perfect prospect. This keeps your outreach laser-focused. (Link)

Find and Build Your Leads

Your leads are the lifeblood of your campaign, so gathering relevant, high-quality contacts is essential.

1. Purchase Leads: Apollo offers 2,000 targeted leads for $92. (Also, you can use Hunter.io, Clearbit, and ZoomInfo to find contact emails based on domain names or specific search criteria)

2. Build a Contact List: Use filters like job title, location, industry, company size, and revenue to find contacts matching your ICP.

3. Verify Your Email List: Run your list through an email verification tool (like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce) to reduce bounce rates, keeping your sender reputation safe.

Write Compelling Cold Email Copies

A cold email should grab attention immediately, provide clear value, and make it easy for the recipient to respond. Here’s a structure that works well:

1. Subject Line: Keep it short, specific, and intriguing (e.g., “Quick idea for [their company name]”).

2. Introduction: Personalize the intro. Reference something relevant to the recipient (like a recent blog post they shared or industry news) to show that this isn’t a mass email.

3. Value Proposition: Address a specific problem they’re likely facing and briefly describe how you can help solve it.

4. Social Proof: Mention a similar client or relevant success story to build trust.

5. Call to Action (CTA): Make it easy to respond. For example, “Are you open to a quick call next week?”

6. 2-3 Follow-Ups: Space them a few days apart. If you still don’t get a response, move on.

7. Vary the Message: Don’t just copy-paste your original email. Offer additional value or a different angle on why they should respond.

Example Cold Email Template:

Subject: Idea to [increase sales at Company Name]

Hi [Name],

I came across [something specific about them, like a recent blog post or project] and thought it was insightful!

I work with businesses like yours to [specific benefit—e.g., “optimize your sales funnel using AI”]. In fact, we recently helped [Client Similar to Them] achieve [specific result].

I’d love to share some ideas on how we could do something similar for [Company Name]. Would you be open to a quick call next week?

Best,
[Your Name]

Example Follow-Up:

Hi [Name],
Just following up on my previous message. I know [problem area, e.g., “scaling sales through automation”] can be challenging, and I’d love to share a few insights specific to [their industry].

Are you open to a quick chat next week?
Best,
[Your Name]

Choose a Cold Email Tool

Cold email tools streamline the process of sending, tracking, and managing large-scale outreach campaigns. They consolidate your inbox and utilize AI to analyze and categorize responses, enhancing efficiency and response management.

Popular tools include:

• Smartlead: Provides AI-driven personalization, automated multi-channel outreach, and advanced tracking features to maximize engagement. Pricing starts at $39 per month for the Basic Plan, which includes 2,000 active leads and 6,000 monthly emails.

• Instantly: Focuses on deliverability optimization with automated outreach and includes an AI-powered CRM to manage and track leads. Pricing begins at $37 per month, offering unlimited email-sending accounts and domain warmups.

• Lemlist: Specializes in personalized outreach with automation, tracking, and built-in tools to boost deliverability and engagement. Pricing starts at $59 per month for the Email Outreach plan, which includes unlimited email accounts and campaigns.

Buy and Set Up a Domains and Professional Email

Buy and Set Up a Domains and Professional Email

Cold emailing involves high volumes, which could risk your main domain’s reputation. Here’s how to protect it:

• Purchase a New Domain: Create a secondary, relevant domain (e.g., if your main domain is “example.com,” consider “fromexample.com”).

• Configure Domain Authentication: Set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to help providers verify your email’s authenticity and reduce spam risk.

• Set Up Professional Email: Use Google Workspace or Outlook to create an email like “[email protected]” ($7/month).

Pro Tip: Use separate domains for cold emailing to protect your primary domain.

Connect Inboxes with Cold Emailing Tools

Integrate your new email inbox with the cold emailing tool (smartlead, instantly). This automates sending, tracking, and follow-ups, categorizing leads according to their reply allowing you to scale efficiently without risking manual errors or inbox flagging.

You can start sending cold emails once you’ve completed the steps above.

Testing, Measuring, and Optimizing Campaigns

Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Track specific metrics to gauge your campaign’s success. Common KPIs include:

• Open Rate: The percentage of recipients who opened your email; a good indicator of subject line effectiveness.

• Response Rate: The number of replies received, which reflects the relevance of your offer and the clarity of your CTA.

• Conversion Rate: The number of leads who took your desired action (e.g., booked a call), indicating your campaign’s impact on sales or engagement.

A/B Test Subject Lines and CTAs

• Experiment with variations in subject lines, opening lines, and calls-to-action.

• Test one element at a time for clear insights.

• Implement changes based on test results to improve performance.

Analyze Engagement Patterns

• Use analytics to spot engagement patterns.

• High open rates but low responses suggest revising the email body or CTA.

• Low open rates indicate a need to improve subject lines.

Adjust Send Times and Frequency

• Test different days and times for sending emails.

• Use insights on peak engagement times to maximize visibility.

• Adjust follow-up frequency based on engagement feedback.

Refine Audience Segmentation

• Review and refine your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).

• Segment by factors like job title, industry, or company size for personalization.

• More targeted segments can boost engagement and relevance.

Monitor Deliverability Health

• Regularly check domain reputation and sender score.

• Use deliverability insights to monitor spam rates.

• Adjust emails to ensure they reach primary inboxes.

Example Campaign Optimization

To show how this would work, here’s a quick example:

• Initial Campaign: 500 emails were sent with a 40% open rate but only a 2% response rate.

• Test Changes: Revise the subject line to be more curiosity-driven, and add a question-based CTA to invite responses.

• Result: A 10% increase in open rate and a 5% response rate, showing that the new approach resonated better.

Through continual testing, measuring, and tweaking, you build a streamlined, data-backed cold email strategy that not only drives more responses but also nurtures stronger lead engagement over time.

Time, Cost Analysis, and Potential Outcome

Let’s assume you’re targeting 6,000 leads monthly. Here’s an analysis of the expected time, costs, and potential outcomes using Apollo, Smartlead, and other tools.

Time Investment

• Initial Setup (7-15 hours total)

  • Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Development: 2-4 hours to thoroughly research and define your target audience.

  • Lead Generation: 1-3 hours to source and verify 6,000 leads monthly via Apollo.

  • Email Copywriting and Testing: 2-3 hours to create and test high-conversion email templates, subject lines, and follow-ups.

  • Domain and Email Setup: 3-5 hours to purchase 7 domains (e.g., $12 each from a .com provider), set up SPF/DKIM/DMARC for each domain, and configure 20 Google Workspace inboxes for email sending.

  • Cold Email Tool Setup (Smartlead): 2-4 hours to integrate Google inboxes with Smartlead, set up tracking, and organize automation workflows.

• Ongoing Management (10-15 hours per week)

  • Campaign Monitoring and Optimization:
    3-4 hours weekly to track metrics, analyze performance, and adjust campaigns as needed.

  • Lead Generation and List Management:
    3-4 hours weekly to source, segment, and verify new leads.

  • Follow-Up Management:
    2-3 hours weekly to adjust follow-up sequences and personalize responses.

  • Domain Health Checking and Replacing Burned Domains:
    2-3 hours weekly to monitor domain reputation, check health metrics, and replace domains that have become flagged or burned.

Cost Analysis

• Domains: 7 new domains at ~$12 each per year: $84/year or $7/month.

• Email Hosting: 20 Google Workspace inboxes for professional email addresses on the new domains at $6/month each: $120/month.

• Cold Email Tool (Smartlead):

  • Smartlead offers scalable options, with pricing typically around $79 - $149/month for campaigns with AI-driven personalization, multi-channel outreach, and analytics suitable for sending 12,000 emails monthly.

• Lead Generation (Apollo):

  • Apollo offers targeted lead generation, with 6,000 targeted leads per month costing around $150/month.

• Email Verification: Tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce to verify 6,000 emails. Estimating $0.01 per verification: $60/month.

Estimated Monthly Costs:

• Total Cost: Approximately $336 - $486 per month

Potential Outcome

Assuming effective campaign management with average industry performance, here’s an estimate of potential results based on 12,000 emails sent to 6,000 unique leads monthly.

• Open Rate: 40-60% due to optimized subject lines and segmentation (4,800 - 7,200 opens).

• Response Rate: 5-10% response rate with relevant messaging and a strong CTA (240 - 600 responses).

• Qualified Leads: 20-30% of responses typically qualify as leads, depending on alignment with the ICP (48 - 180 leads).

• Conversion Rate: 3-5% of qualified leads could convert to sales, depending on the effectiveness of sales outreach and follow-ups (2 - 9 new customers).

Revenue Potential:
Assuming an average sale value of $1,000, potential monthly revenue could range from $2,000 to $9,000. If your product or service has a higher value, this revenue potential scales accordingly.

Summary of Investment and Returns

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