Introduction
A life science startup company is building a new category. They are currently using outbound tactics to reach out to their potential ideal customer profiles (ICPs); however, the conversation rate has been dismal.
This company continues to use demand generation to build its brand and inbound leads primarily via attending conferences; however, they intend to use targeted outbound emails to meet its short-term goals.
The Challenge
The mantra is that outbound email strategy is dead because technology has made the market “extremely noisy.” Potential customers are annoyed by aggressive “spray and pray” tactics, and many outbound emails only make it to the SPAM folder; worse, your domain name gets blocklisted, and all your emails get banned from email servers.
The first step is addressing the challenge of emails not making it to a recipient inbox, and the second challenge is getting the prospect to convert — i.e., book a meeting.
A Way
Our first goal is to ensure that the technology is used as an enabler and helps us get the emails to the inbox.
Step #1: Get a secondary domain name. For instance, if your primary domain name is TrailBlazer6.com, you would want to use a secondary domain name like TrailBlazer6.us.
By purchasing a second domain name, you don’t risk your primary domain name being blocklisted by email servers. Once you become blocklisted by an email server, it’s nearly impossible to get off their list. You’re sending out cold emails, and your emails have a higher chance of getting reported to spam.
Based on our evaluation — prices, intent data, ability to sequence emails, and data-enriched contact filters — we used Apollo.io. Apollo.io has a Salesforce and HubSpot integration and allows you to set a sequence of emails and tasks (i.e., connect with prospects via LinkedIn).
It’s important to note that all initial cold emails should be sent via Apollo, and once a contact has been warmed up, you can easily move them to your CRM and start using your primary domain name.
Step #2: Use a tool to “warm up” your inbox. These tools send AI-generated emails on your behalf, reply to an incoming emails, and help you build your email reputation. Based on our analysis, the recommended software tool of choice is WarmUp Inbox. This software program (costs as little as $15 a month) and you can easily monitor the number of emails sent that went to the SPAM folder and your domain reputation. For brand-new domains, we recommend running the program for three weeks before you start sending out your first cold emails.
Step #3: You must set up your emails for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC Records. This will ensure your emails are authenticated, and by setting it up, you increase your domain reputation. Here are some detailed instructions for setting up your Gmail or Microsoft SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records (link setting up).
Step #4: We had the clients export the potential email addresses and imported them to an email verification tool. Our preferred email verification tool is MailFloss. You will find that many emails in data-enriched databases are “SPAM traps” or invalid emails. If you send out an email to a nonexistent email address or a SPAM trap, your email address reputation will take a hit. On average, about 2.5% of emails decay on a monthly basis — partly due to people leaving their jobs.
Step #5: Now that we’ve increased the probability of emails landing in your prospect’s inbox, the next step is to write emails that convert. Writing email copy that converts is beyond the scope of this article, but here are a few pointers:
- Have a helping mindset, don’t sell.
- Ensure that you are targeting prospects that need your products/services.
- Your email title gets the prospect to open your email, your first sentence gets the chance to read the first paragraph, and your first paragraph receives the opportunity to keep reading. I think you get the idea.
- Each email should have a purpose.
- Concise is best. No long emails.
- You have the ability to create email sequences, but don’t overdo it.
The Results
Booked meetings increased 5x.
Additionally, the life science company saved numerous hours by automating many redundant processes. For instance, the company initially had a person scraping websites for contact information. Rigor was built into their operations using sequencing and a strategic mapping process outlining the entire business development strategy. TrailBlazer6 conducts interviews, creates a current process map, and then conducts a gap analysis for every client project.
As this life science company builds traction via demand generation marketing, it can secure initial wins by applying a business development strategy that converts.
