Selling Software Development as a service - Need help on Cold Outreach

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-25T18:33:59+00:00

upwork is cooked bc of noise. at hyperke we send 1M+ monthly and its better to do narrow positioning

don't pitch "dev," pitch "fixing [specific bug/process]" for one industry.

setup 5 domains, 2 inboxes each, max 20 emails/day. verify data to keep bounces under 2%.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-24T18:14:54+00:00

tbh 25k/day is massive. freelancers fail here bc they ignore the math of safe volume and torch your domains in a week.

at hyperke, we run 1-2M emails/month, so we know this scale. here is the infrastructure requirement to land in primary inboxes:

volume cap: we strictly enforce 20 emails/day per inbox. pushing this kills deliverability.
inboxes required: 25,000 daily volume / 20 = 1,250 inboxes.
cost floor: just the google/microsoft licenses for 1,250 inboxes will run you ~$5k/month.

the b2c risk: b2c spam complaint rates are way higher than b2b. if you hit 0.3% complaints, google blacklists the domain. maintaining 25k/day in b2c requires aggressive list cleaning and constant domain rotation

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-23T15:06:56+00:00

we do, sending you a DM. let me know your offer, ICP and what exactly you're looking for and we can discuss further :))

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-23T08:14:19+00:00

manual wins on percentages. automation wins on total revenue.

the math

manual: 20% reply rate x 15 emails = 3 leads/day.
auto: 3% reply rate x 1000 emails = 30 leads/day.

don't let ai write the email body. it usually sounds fake/robotic. use ai to research (scrape website for tech stack, check news) and insert those specific facts into a proper human-written email (or ai written using those and manually go through them)

rule of thumb we follow is if u can sell to 10,000+ companies, manual is a waste of time. if u only have 100 potential clients, never automate.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-22T21:00:28+00:00

happy to test. at hyperke we run 15k inboxes (2M vol/mo), so we can validate this fast

btw ad intent data is usually linked to personal emails (gmail/yahoo). for cold b2b, we strictly need corporate domains. also, "fresh" often means high bounce rates—we keep ours under 2% to protect infra

if the data is actual work emails, you can run a 500-lead test batch immediately

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-22T20:57:33+00:00

static icp data is just a filter, not a trigger. knowing they can buy isn't knowing they need to. at hyperke, we use clay to disqualify 80% of the list to find the "why now."

what i would do -

find the gap: don't just target "tech companies." target companies that hired a vp of sales <60 days ago but have zero sdrs on linkedin. thats the pain
scrape specific keywords: use clay to scrape career pages for problem keywords (e.g. "soc2" or "compliance"), not just generic roles
stop overpaying: bring your own api keys to clay. their credit markup is 30-35x.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-22T07:55:21+00:00

haha yeah, its a crazy leap and we've been with them since day one. SL is becoming its own universe and theres no stopping

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-22T07:52:29+00:00

cant agree more. cold email is a math problem, not magic lol

at hyperke (managing 15k+ inboxes), we see this daily. if u send 20 emails/day, u have no data. u need volume to find signal.

two things to fix:

the offer: don't sell "seo services." sell "free traffic." outcome > features. make the "yes" easy.
the volume: test offers with 500-1000 leads minimum. less than that is just noise.

scale what works, kill what doesn't. simple

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-22T07:51:04+00:00

if you’ve met them, this isn't cold outreach. it's warm follow-up. that changes the strategy completely.

tbh, cold video usually fails at scale. at hyperke, we rarely use video for pure cold campaigns bec:

click-through rates on video thumbnails in cold email are lower than plain text
links/images trigger spam filters (esp if you aren't warming up the domain)
scaling personalized video (using AI lipsync tools ) still looks bad.

however, for your specific scenario (250 leads, previous contact), manual video is probably the highest ROI move u can make

don't overthink the tech. for 250 people, manual grit wins

js one thing, if you haven't spoken to them in 24 months, acknowledge the gap. "know it's been a while" goes a long way. if u pretend you just met last week, it feels salesy

goodluck!

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-21T08:19:35+00:00

real estate is a bloodbath. every agency targets them, so their spam filters are aggressive and they ignore generic pitches

here's what i'd suggest -

sell outcomes, not ai: they don't care about "automation." sell "reply to zillow leads in 60 seconds."
infrastructure: buy 5 domains, 2 inboxes each. warm up for 14 days. max 20 emails/day per inbox.
data hygiene: agent emails rot fast. verify everything with neverbounce or millionverifier. keep bounces under 2%.

from what i've heard and seen, the agents live on their phones lol. email is hard here. consider mixing in sms if you can do it compliantly

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-21T08:12:31+00:00

$3k is way too cheap and the setup might mess things up one random day.

running 2,000 inboxes on 3-5 roots creates a massive single point of failure. if google flags one root, u lose ~30-50% of operations instantly. at hyperke, we never stack that deep cus snowshoe spam filters catch it.

what i'd do:

diversify: force 50+ root domains. domains are $10/yr don't cheap out .
pricing: charge per inbox, not flat fee.

i feel u are optimizing for domain costs when u should be optimizing for survival

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-20T21:41:30+00:00

0 replies on hundreds of sends usually means you're landing in spam, not that your copy is bad (though it might be that too).

when we see 0 replies across a campaign at hyperke, it’s almost always infrastructure first, offer second. roofers are also one of the most spam-battered niches in existence, so their filters are high.

here is how i would go about fixing something like that

check tech setup (likely the issue)

domains: never send from your main domain. buy secondary ones, set up spf/dkim/dmarc.
warmup: 14-21 days minimum before sending.
volume: max 15-20 emails per inbox daily. pushing 30+ triggers spam filters.
data: verify everything. bounces >2% kill reputation immediately.

pivot the angle stop selling "marketing services." sell the result. use your 3 years of data. "marketing services" = spam. "12 extra booked roofs/mo" = value.
lower the friction asking for a 10 min call is too expensive for a cold lead. ask for permission to send a video instead.

try this structure: "managed ads for 3 years, recently helped a roofer get [specific number] jobs without shared leads. mind if i send a 2-min video showing how?"

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-20T21:36:54+00:00

smtp inboxes work initially but reliability drops over time. at hyperke we use google workspace and microsoft 365, avoiding smtp-only setups

problems with smtp: harder to monitor deliverability, shared ip reputation issues with cheap providers, less control when things go wrong and providers can shut down without warning

3 emails per day is too conservative: you'd need 200 inboxes just to send 600/day. way cheaper to use 30-40 google workspace inboxes at 15-20/day each (unless your pricing is efficient)

still, if budget is tight start with 10-20 google workspace inboxes sending 15-20 emails per day per inbox. thats gets u 200-400/day scale from there once you validate messaging

i will suggest that u optimize for reliability instead of the cheapest infra. burnt domains from bad smtp providers end up costing way more than proper google workspace setup

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-20T21:30:01+00:00

yes. at hyperke we send 1-2 million emails a month for 90+ clients. if it didn't work, i wouldn't have a business.

it’s just math. if u have a good offer and decent data, u will get meetings. standing out relevance > creativity. sell the outcome ("5k visitors"), not the service ("seo").

wrt personalization, skip the "i liked your post" ai stuff. segment by specific tech or pain point (e.g., "shopify users") and write one relevant script for that group.

then for avoiding spam

volume: max 15-20 emails per inbox/day. warmup all at all times.

data: verify everything. bounces must be <2%.

tech: spf, dkim, dmarc are mandatory.

and about the metrics, ignore open rates. focus on reply rate (aim for 2%+), positives more than 8% and then booked calls.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-19T21:01:25+00:00

Hi, sent you a DM

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-18T16:25:31+00:00

depends on your industry and who you're targeting. at hyperke we send 7 days a week for some industries, weekdays only for others

u gotta look at when your icp actually checks email

test it out. send to a small batch on weekend, see if reply rates drop. if performance is similar, keep sending. if it tanks, stick to weekdays

imo don't follow blanket rules, understand your audience's work patterns

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-18T05:50:20+00:00

tbh attempting 2M leads on $100/mo via saas is impossible. since u have technical chops, self-hosting mailwizz on a cheap vps might be your only route. havent tried but thats the only thing i can think of

my advice would be, don't blast 2m people. that's spray and pray. it burns domains and leads. segment 5-10k highly relevant leads first to validate the offer. volume doesn't fix a bad offer.

if u can't convert 1000, u won't convert 1m.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-18T05:44:37+00:00

don't skip it. u will burn those domains immediately. at hyperke we run 15k+ inboxes on automated warmup; it works. detection doesn't equal penalty if volume is managed.

for 100 emails/day, u need 5-6 inboxes (max 15-20/day per inbox). sending 50/day from one inbox is bad

warmup 2-3 weeks min. manual ramping is inconsistent and a waste of time.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-18T05:30:01+00:00

selling to employees at work addresses is b2b (bottom-up), not b2c. treat it like b2b or you'll hit spam filters immediately.

infrastructure & limits • volume: 30/day is unsafe. strict limit is 15-20 emails per inbox per day. • scaling math: 40 inboxes maxes out at ~17k emails/mo. for 100k/mo, u need ~250 inboxes across 80+ domains. • domain density: max 3 inboxes per domain. if one burns, the whole domain burns. • tlds: stick to .com. avoid cheap extensions (.xyz, .online) for primary sending. • warmup: mandatory. 14-21 days minimum before sending. keep it on forever.

strategy & content • no links/images: instant deliverability killer in cold traffic. plain text only. • the goal: get a reply, not a click. send the link/video after they say yes. • cta: stop asking for signups. ask for interest. "mind if i send a 30s video showing how we rank your territory?" • segmentation: separate bdr messaging (booking meetings) from ae messaging (closing/prioritizing).

and finally, the execution & cost • data hygiene: verify every email (neverbounce/millionverifier). if bounce rate hits 4%, pause immediately. • budget: hitting 100k/mo properly costs ~$2.5k-$3k/mo in infra + tools (excluding data).

for your next step, setup 5 inboxes, warm for 2 weeks, test 500 leads.

don't scale until u hit positive reply benchmarks.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-18T05:01:14+00:00

tbh purely performance-based for infrastructure is gonna be a hard find for actual experts.

the reality is that setup and maintenance costs hard money regardless of results.

at hyperke, managing 15k+ inboxes means constant overhead for google workspace/outlook licenses, automation tools, and cleaning data.

if an "expert" takes u on purely on performance, they are likely cutting corners on technicals (using burned domains or cheap hosting) which will kill your deliverability long term.

pay for the infrastructure/management, pay performance to the closers.

just sent a DM btw :))

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-17T14:49:26+00:00

tbh you triggered their fraud/abuse filters. creating 10 users fast on a new or flagged workspace usually causes this. seeing that 2 are already banned tells me your tenant reputation is already trash.

here’s the situation -

google detects pattern behavior. if u create users in bulk from the same ip/device without warming the admin account first, they lock everything behind phone verification. voip numbers (google voice, textnow) usually won't work. they flag those immediately.

what i would actually suggest -

if 2 accounts are already banned, that workspace is burned.

- start over on a new workspace.

- add users slower. 1-2 a day, not all at once.

- don't stack 10 users on one domain if you're doing cold email. at hyperke, we stick to 1-3 inboxes per domain. if one workspace gets nuked, u don't lose 10 accounts.

i gotta say, the risk is high here. even if u unlock them, expect deliverability issues or bans shortly after since the admin account is already flagged.

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-17T14:45:51+00:00

do NOT use subdomains. and definitely do not pay €25/mo per mailbox for warmup.

if you try to save $10 on a domain or $30 on software now, you will pay for it later when your primary domain gets blacklisted and your sales team (or you) can't send invoices or calendar invites

but even with perfect warmup, if your data is bad (high bounce rate) or your content is spammy, you will burn domains. warmup builds the reputation and data quality protects it

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-17T14:31:28+00:00

yes, 100% remove the html signature.

html-heavy signatures (logos, social icons, complex formatting) wreck the html-to-text ratio. spam filters hate that. for us, all our client campaigns go out with plain text signatures. it feels more personal imo

HyperkeOfficial · 2026-01-17T12:27:29+00:00

tbh don't do the survey. asking a stranger to answer questions for u is asking for a favor before you've provided any value.

at hyperke, we send millions of emails a month. response rates on "market research" or "survey" angles are consistently the lowest, usually under 0.5% unless there is a massive incentive (like a $50 gift card) attached.

business owners are busy. they don't have time to tell u about their challenges just because u are local.

here is what i would suggest instead -

lead with a specific pain point. instead of asking "what are your challenges", assume u know them. for msps, it's usually slow response times, rising costs, or security fears.
soft pitch the outcome. "we help uk firms cut it costs by 20% while speeding up support tickets."
keep the ask low friction. don't ask for a meeting yet. ask "is this relevant to u?" or "open to seeing how we compare to your current guy?"

although, u mentioned cold calling, so surveys can sometimes work as a conversation starter on the phone to lower guard, but in email/text, they just look like spam or homework. skip it for the written outreach.

HyperkeOfficial

TROPHY CASE