How to Grow Organic Traffic by 131% With Cold Email (Case Study)

Cold email outreach is inactive wide utilized for nexus building. However, the conversion rates person decreased drastically arsenic galore nexus builders utilized acold outreach the incorrect way.

Spending clip connected prospecting, uncovering email addresses, crafting email copy, and sending emails conscionable to person a mates of responses is precise frustrating.

So, what tin you bash to summation effect rates, and get those precocious DR links?

Below, you’ll find retired the acold email outreach strategy that landed america much than 1,500 backlinks with an mean domain standing (DR) of 68.

Discover the tactics you tin replicate and get featured successful HubSpot, Ahrefs, G2, Zapier, and galore different high-authority websites.

The extremity of this lawsuit survey is to stock tips that you tin usage successful your acold email campaigns to get higher conversion rates.

You’ll larn however to:

Before you leap into the details, it’s important to recognize a spot of discourse astir the goals, approach, and tools used.

Cold Email Is a Powerful Tool for Building Backlinks & Growing Organic Traffic (If Used Correctly)

Creating bully contented that delivers worth to the assemblage helps attracting backlinks, but it is not enough.

Competing successful a acold email bundle niche is highly difficult, and astir competitors people a batch of caller and prime contented that is supported with backlinks from high-authority websites.

The solution was to commencement actively gathering backlinks done acold outreach. The biggest contented with acold outreach is that everyone is doing it, and to physique backlinks astatine scale, you request to beryllium originative with your approach.

Given the information that Hunter is simply a instrumentality that helps you with acold outreach, it was a no-brainer to usage Hunter for each aspects of acold outreach — from uncovering valid email addresses to automating acold email campaigns.

You tin spell brainsick and walk rather a batch of fund connected tools, but successful nutshell, you lone request Ahrefs and a strategy for tracking backlinks (Google Sheets does the work).

This is however it looked earlier starting with progressive nexus building.

The domain had rather a beardown backlink profile, but the integrated postulation and rankings plateaued, which wasn’t capable to support up with the competition. We started actively gathering backlinks done acold outreach successful January 2021.

This is however it looks today. In conscionable a twelvemonth and a half, much than 6,000 applicable backlinks were built, and integrated postulation accrued by 2.3x. All that successful an highly competitory manufacture (it’s hard to find immoderate keyword with a keyword trouble little than 25).

Below, you’ll find retired the cardinal takeaways learned on the mode and however you tin use them to your nexus gathering strategy.

Takeaway 1: Guest Posting and Claiming Unlinked Mentions Have 13.7% Conversion Rates

Key takeaway:

When starting with impermanent blogging, getting featured successful high-authority publications successful your manufacture volition beryllium pugnacious without a beardown penning portfolio. Most editors inquire that you stock a mates of penning samples published nether your name.

The champion attack present is to commencement penning for smaller but applicable blogs successful your niche with affirmative postulation and authorization maturation trends. Slowly physique up your penning portfolio and commencement pitching to higher authorization websites.

We’ll screen however to transportation to these higher authorization sites shortly…

Key takeaway:

Before starting with tracking mentions, it is indispensable to notation that this maneuver doesn’t enactment for everyone. Hunter is an established brand, and it was known earlier we started with this tactic, truthful for this maneuver to output results, you request to person an established marque to commencement with.

Here is what you tin bash instead…

Create image nexus bait content and reclaim unlinked attributions.

The simplified process looks similar this – make customized images and upload them to banal representation sites specified arsenic Pixabay.

Make definite to see each the details for attribution, truthful if radical usage your images, they tin adequately property them to your website.

The biggest situation is that galore radical volition usage your banal images, but the nexus volition often pb to the banal representation website alternatively of yours.

That’s wherever tracking the mentions travel successful handy.

By mounting up notation alerts, you tin scope retired to the sites that person utilized your representation but linked to the banal representation website.

You tin inquire them to nexus to your website instead.

Additionally, you tin periodically usage the reverse representation instrumentality to find wherever your images person been utilized without due attribution.

Tips connected implementing this strategy:

Key takeaway:

Although the unfastened complaint was bully and the highest effect complaint compared to different campaigns, the conversion complaint is noticeably the lowest. The main crushed is that galore prospects respond with unrealistic paid options.

Extra tip: How to execute a 40% effect complaint for your impermanent blogging campaign

Another bully maneuver that works good is collaborating with link-building partners and introducing each different to editors with whom you antecedently published impermanent posts.

This is however you tin get into a speech with high-quality websites specified arsenic Zapier and G2 (and people a impermanent station there).

Here’s a template you tin try. In the email opener, notation a shared transportation and compliment their blog post. Also, if they person already published a impermanent station before, determination is simply a precocious accidental that they are funny successful publishing different impermanent post.

Key takeaway:

The skyscraper maneuver was popularized by Brian Dean from Backlinko astir 10 years ago.

People thin to scrape lists and usage the shotgun method — nonstop arsenic galore generic emails arsenic imaginable with minimal personalization. It worked before, but present it volition apt wounded your email deliverability and sender reputation.

What you tin do, however, is effort to nonstop less emails and enactment your clip into personalization. We bash this, but implicit clip noticed that unfastened rates were dilatory declining arsenic good arsenic conversions. This is, truthful far, the lowest-performing run we person run.

Takeaway 2: Follow-Ups Can Increase Response Rates by 66%

Crafting a winning taxable enactment tin beryllium tricky. It truly depends connected the manufacture and context.

At Hunter, we tried generic, one-word taxable lines, arsenic good arsenic longer and personalized ones. Here’s what you tin instrumentality distant from the results:

While reaching retired to precocious authorization websites and asking for a impermanent station opportunity, the much personalized your taxable lines are, the better.

Our best-performing taxable enactment for impermanent station pitching is: {{company:”your company”}} x Hunter.io collab idea?

Our worst-performing taxable enactment for impermanent station outreach was: Content collaboration 🤝

For doing a skyscraper method (it inactive works, but the show is decreasing), short, but personalized taxable lines beryllium to enactment the best: {{first_name:”Hey”}}, collaboration?

Longer, but personalized taxable lines don’t enactment that well: {{first_name:”Hello”}}, I deliberation you whitethorn find it useful.

Key takeaways:

Subject lines that worked champion for us:

Takeaway 3: Follow-Ups Can Increase Response Rates by 66%

According to Backlinko, follow-ups are an indispensable portion of cold outreach. Sending aggregate follow-ups tin summation replies by 66%.

Here’s however it works for us:

Roughly 65% of each replies travel from follow-ups.

Here’s different run wherever we sent emails to 600 recipients:

Roughly 47% of each replies are coming from follow-ups.

It’s harmless to accidental that follow-ups are mandatory successful immoderate cold outreach campaign. Maybe the idiosyncratic you’re reaching retired to is getting hundreds of emails per time and simply skipping your email.

Or possibly they skimmed done their inbox rapidly and forgot to unfastened your emails. There tin beryllium galore reasons wherefore idiosyncratic doesn’t get backmost to you.

We tested aggregate sequences, and what works for america is the pursuing sequence:

In lawsuit you didn’t get a reply astatine all, you tin snooze the speech and scope retired again successful a mates of months. Alternatively, you tin find different imaginable decision-makers and effort reaching them.

Takeaway 4: Find the Right Decision-Maker & Don’t Quit After the First Sequence

One of the astir challenging parts of acold outreach (apart from crafting a personalized email) is reaching retired to the close decision-maker.

Cold outreach is not a one-size-fits-all approach, and it depends connected the context.

For instance, if your outreach extremity is to people a backlink from a circumstantial website, past the close decision-maker would beryllium idiosyncratic who manages contented astatine the company.

There are cases erstwhile you can’t find the interaction accusation of a determination shaper due to the fact that the institution is excessively tiny oregon their lone disposable email code is simply a generic 1 specified arsenic [email protected].

In these instances, it’s good to scope retired to the CEO oregon the laminitis oregon simply to immoderate disposable email address.

The unfastened and effect rates volition beryllium lower, of course, but galore times, they volition notation you to the close person. Or, you tin inquire for the close idiosyncratic to contact.

Here is an illustration of a follow-up email used:

And present you tin spot the results this email achieved:

As you tin see, 20.5% of each replies travel from the 2nd follow-up, wherever you inquire for an alternate contact. Most of these replies are adjuvant and constituent you to the close idiosyncratic whose email you couldn’t find anyplace else, oregon they conscionable say, “I americium that person; however tin I help?”

One much happening to notation is that follow-up fig 2 has the lowest unfastened rates arsenic it has been sent lone to radical who haven’t replied to the erstwhile 2 emails.

If they haven’t replied to the archetypal 2 emails, it tin mean that they are either not funny oregon that we’re reaching retired to the incorrect person.

Sometimes you volition acquisition that the imaginable doesn’t adjacent unfastened your emails.

It’s frustrating astatine first, but don’t interest — you tin effort getting a effect by sending different circular of outreach emails later.

The 2nd outreach circular usually consists of an archetypal email with 2-3 follow-ups.

You tin hold for a period aft the archetypal outreach, and if the imaginable ne'er opened immoderate of your emails, past effort to find an alternate imaginable successful the aforesaid institution who mightiness beryllium a decision-maker.

For instance, successful your archetypal prospecting round, you reached retired to the Head of Marketing, but you ne'er got an answer.

In the 2nd round, you tin scope retired to the Head of Content and truthful on. This attack increases your chances of getting a reply.

One note, though: don’t scope retired to alternate prospects if the archetypal imaginable opened your emails, arsenic it mightiness travel disconnected arsenic spammy. Instead, you tin snooze the email and scope retired to the aforesaid imaginable successful 3 months.

Takeaway 5: Keep Your Email Bounces Under 2%

Email bounces tin earnestly harm your email deliverability and sender estimation if you permission them retired of control.

For instance, erstwhile you deed the nonstop fastener and get the reply immediately, there’s a precocious accidental that the connection looks similar this.

It’s a notification from the email supplier that your email couldn’t beryllium delivered owed to a circumstantial reason. In the supra case, the recipient’s email code was wrong, which leads to the archetypal point…

Verify Email Addresses Before Hitting the Send Button

Having an email code successful your database doesn’t needfully mean that your emails volition scope the recipient.

People alteration companies, and email addresses rather often, which means that an email code that was erstwhile valid doesn’t person to enactment valid forever. That’s wherefore you privation to verify recipients’ email addresses earlier hitting the nonstop button.

Skipping the verification process tin earnestly harm your sender estimation owed to precocious bounce rates.

Here’s a speedy email verification process:

Let’s accidental you privation to people a impermanent station connected the Hunter blog. You figured that Boris would beryllium the close idiosyncratic to scope retired to arsenic helium is managing Hunter’s contented (based connected LinkedIn):

The adjacent measurement would beryllium to find a valid email code for reaching out.

The quickest mode to bash this is by utilizing Hunter’s Email Finder, which lets you input the person’s afloat sanction and domain sanction and instrumentality the valid email address, which is harmless to scope retired to.

In lawsuit you person large lists that you privation to verify periodically, you tin usage the Bulk Email Verifier and import a .csv record with email addresses.

Keep successful caput that email verification unsocial sometimes won’t beryllium capable to support your bounce rates low. Email deliverability is simply a analyzable taxable which usually requires a deeper analysis.

Email Bounce Types and Ways to Fix Your Campaigns

Not each bounce is the same, and that’s the main crushed wherefore you request to instrumentality a person look astatine each email bounces and recognize what is happening. There are 2 main types of email bounces — brushed and hard.

Soft bounces are easier to fix, but it’s important to respond instantly earlier you wounded your sender estimation and get much hard bounces.

Here are the email bounce rules that you tin follow:

The representation supra perfectly shows precocious bounce rates connected the archetypal email. It means that the archetypal email wasn’t delivered owed to immoderate reason.

The safest attack is to intermission the run and spell to your inbox straight to cheque the bounce message.

In the illustration above, the occupation was that the outreach manager forgot to verify emails earlier sending them.

Takeaway 6: Short Email Copy Has Noticeably Higher Click and Response Rates

After investigating rather a batch of antithetic email copy, the results showed the astir effectual acold emails are rather short. Decision makers astir apt get a batch of acold emails per day, and they don’t person clip to work each email word-by-word.

That’s 1 of the main reasons wherefore short, well-structured emails ever win.

Below, you tin spot an absorbing examination betwixt longer and shorter emails. This run aimed to transportation impermanent posts to precocious authorization and applicable websites.

The thought was to comparison the show of shorter and longer emails.

Here, you tin spot rather a elaborate acold email for pitching a impermanent post. The thought was to showcase erstwhile enactment and instantly fto the recipient cognize what you tin connection successful return.

The results weren’t arsenic bully arsenic expected. Below mean unfastened complaint accompanied by a debased effect complaint didn’t bring overmuch occurrence with this pitch.

You tin usage a escaped web instrumentality called TheReadTime to cheque the magnitude of your emails and the approximate clip needed for speechmaking them.

We decided to trial however shorter emails would execute compared to the archetypal one, which was a spot excessively long. Below you tin spot what the 2nd email looked like.

Below. you tin spot this was 1 of the astir palmy impermanent station campaigns, with implicit 38 responses. This email opened up absorbing opportunities astatine G2, Zapier, Wordstream, and more.

The email was easy skimmable, speedy to read, and consisted of each the accusation the exertion mightiness request to determine whether we were the close acceptable for their blog.

Key takeaways:

Takeaway 7: Send Emails From Burner Domains

There’s a batch of treatment successful the acold outreach assemblage astir whether you should usage your main domain oregon a ‘burner’ domain for acold outreach. The abbreviated reply is that the champion attack is to usage both, but with immoderate precaution.

You’ve already learned astir email bounces and however these tin impact your wide email deliverability and your sender reputation.

In lawsuit you’re not a single-person company, different squad members person their idiosyncratic email addresses arsenic good arsenic their section email addresses.

Imagine 1 squad subordinate who starts sending thousands of emails without due email verification and email bounce control.

It volition beryllium a mess, and overall, this volition negatively impact the wide domain estimation and effect successful much of your emails ending up successful the spam folder.

That’s the main statement wherefore you should ever usage an email code tied to a domain antithetic than your main one.

We did a speedy trial connected sending wholly acold emails from our main domain vs. from our burner domain. This was mostly for investigating purposes, arsenic we didn’t privation to hazard our domain reputation.

Above, you tin spot the show of the acold email run sent from the main domain. The unfastened rates are a spot low, but we managed to get a bully effect rate.

This adjacent representation is from an identical run that was sent from the burner email address. The unfastened rates are noticeably lower, and effect rates are beauteous bad.

The biggest interaction that leads to amended show erstwhile you nonstop emails from the main domain is trust.

Recipients spot that you are sending emails from a domain associated with your brand, which increases that spot level, making them much apt to unfastened and respond to emails.

However, here’s what you should bash to debar deliverability issues erstwhile utilizing your main domain for outreach:

Email addresses associated with main domains volition ever execute better, but this comes with large risk.

The safest attack is to usage some domains. You tin usage main domain for reaching retired to the highest-authority websites and lukewarm prospects portion supplementing the outreach measurement with the burner domain.

With burner domains, you tin beryllium little cautious and experimentation with antithetic approaches without risking the sender’s estimation of your business.

Takeaway 8: Automation Is Your Friend, but Be Aware…

At the extremity of the day, acold outreach is inactive a numbers game, and the much progressive and proactive you are, the amended results you’ll have. The reply to keeping the measurement of emails precocious is automation.

Imagine you implemented each the tips from this lawsuit study, but your acold email campaigns are inactive underperforming.

Been there, done that! It tin beryllium precise frustrating and disheartening, but it’s important to support experimenting and investigating antithetic approaches.

One of the astir communal pitfalls of acold email outreach is abusing automation without due personalization. Here’s however it looks successful practice:

The lone personalization they added to their emails is my name. Everyone tin scrape the archetypal sanction from an email address, which is not enough. The “personalized” emails are often boring and generic templates that person apt been sent to thousands of people.

These templates tin get you replies, but from experience, astir replies volition travel from nexus sellers offering their wide backstage blog web (PBN) links.

Attractive astatine archetypal glance, astir PBNs travel with large hazard and should beryllium utilized sparingly.

Instead, you should purpose to personalize each email to beryllium specifically tailored to the idiosyncratic you’re reaching retired to. It mightiness look that you can’t automate that, but successful reality, it’s easy done.

Of course, you won’t beryllium capable to nonstop hundreds of emails per time this way, but hey, sending 30 highly personalized emails per time is each you need.

Here’s what the personalization process looks similar astatine Hunter:

The archetypal measurement is creating an email template that volition beryllium enriched with personalization attributes. You tin usage a mates of personalization attributes with an overview of performance, specified as:

Before importing leads into Hunter Campaigns, marque definite to adhd the personalization portion for each property successful your spreadsheets. Once the personalization portion is done, you’re acceptable to export the spreadsheet and adhd it to your campaign.

Here you tin spot what the last email looks like:

For personalization, you’ll walk up to 2 minutes per prospect. You volition request astir 4 hours to trade 100 hyper-personalized emails.

Email Outreach Is All About Testing and Experimenting

In email outreach, determination is nary one-size-fits-all approach. For immoderate businesses, a circumstantial process volition enactment beauteous well, but copying that attack mightiness not output immoderate results for your business.

The champion outreach strategies travel from testing, trying retired antithetic approaches, and adjacent failing.

Most acold email tools supply you with an overview of the show of your campaign, which gives you a amended thought if thing works oregon needs to beryllium changed.

Here are the astir important metrics to way to recognize the show of your acold email campaigns:

Each of these metrics would springiness you a amended knowing of what you tin improve.

For example, if your unfastened rates are connected the little end, this tin mean that your taxable lines oregon preview texts are not enticing enough. Try shorter, personalized taxable lines mentioning the prospect’s archetypal sanction oregon institution sanction instead.

Also, effort adjusting email preview texts, and alternatively of talking astir yourself, notation thing circumstantial astir prospects oregon their latest societal media post.

For example, if the imaginable conscionable shared a thought-provoking station connected LinkedIn, you tin stock your thoughts connected the station and usage it arsenic a beardown and personalized email opener.

If your bounce rates are high, you’re perchance sending emails to the incorrect email addresses, and you should commencement verifying each email addresses earlier launching a campaign.

On the different hand, if your unsubscribe rates are supra 0.5%, determination mightiness beryllium a anticipation that you’re reaching retired to the incorrect radical astatine your people companies.

Whatever it is, marque definite to ever way your campaigns and person capable information for making conclusions (usually, sending implicit 100 emails is enough).

Targeted and Personalized Cold Outreach Is the Key to Successful Link Building

There is overmuch statement astir whether acold emails enactment oregon not successful the discourse of nexus building. The abbreviated reply is — acold emails enactment and volition beryllium astir for a while.

Since acold outreach is rather casual to automate, galore radical utilize spammy and generic methods to people backlinks. This has decidedly impacted conversions but gives you an borderline if you are doing it right.

Be playful and creative. Experiment with antithetic taxable lines and email copy. Try reaching retired to aggregate radical from the people company. Always way your results and trial assorted approaches.

Using tools similar Hunter tin assistance you automate the outreach process and summation the unfastened rates by helping you find the close people.

Even though you tin automate immoderate parts of the acold outreach process, you should ne'er neglect the personalization part, arsenic it is simply a cardinal to achieving large conversion rates.

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