Hey, we’re trying to grow our marketing agency working mainly with DTC/ecom brands (skincare, personal care, problem-solving products etc). We handle Meta ads (setup, media buying, daily management) and also do deep customer research (Reddit, reviews, YouTube etc) to build avatars + angles so ads actually resonate. We also offer creative strategy and creative production as an upsell service if the brand wants it.
Right now we build a really targeted lead list manually using myip.ms, but more importantly we have a strict qualification process before a brand even gets added. Every brand has to be a legit DTC product business (no dropshipping), US-based, clear problem-solution product, typically $40–$200 price point, decent reviews, clean site, clear hero product, etc. We also check if they have a Meta pixel and whether they’re running ads, and we prioritise brands already running ads as it shows they understand the value of it.
At the same time, we’re working with a cold email agency doing volume for us (~5000 contacts/month), so this manual outreach is running in parallel as the higher quality side.
Our setup right now is pretty simple: we only have one Google Workspace domain (not our main domain lol), planning to send around 20–25 emails/day Mon–Fri, with a VA sending manually from the inbox. We might split this into 2 mailboxes (10–13 each) but not sure if it’s fine to just send all 20–25 from one inbox. As we see it working, we’ll likely buy more domains and scale that side. We’ll also be doing ~2 follow ups per lead, also sent by the VA.
We’re also planning to use Smartlead/Instantly just for warmup. Our mentor used to include a screenshot of the prospect’s website in the email to increase replies, but we’re a bit concerned about deliverability doing that. We also track whether a brand has a pixel and whether they’re running ads or not, so we could use that for personalisation.
Where I’m stuck is the actual messaging strategy at low volume. From what I understand, typical mass cold email structure is: personalisation → who am I/credibility → offer → CTA. That makes sense at scale, but it feels like if we’re only sending ~20/day to highly qualified brands, there’s probably a better way to approach it instead of just using a slightly personalised version of a high-volume template.
Was also planning to a LinkedIn connection alongside each initial email sent with a short message saying something like ‘Just sent you an email, pointed out something i think would be valuable!’
So trying to figure out:
How you’d adapt that structure when quality > quantity
How deep personalisation should go when a VA is sending
Whether to lean more into the observation/problem vs still including a clear “who we are + offer”
What actually drives replies right now (especially for ecom founders)
Whether including things like “noticed you’re running ads / not running a pixel” is a good angle
Whether screenshots/images in emails are worth it or hurt deliverability
If sending 20–25/day from one mailbox is fine or if we should split immediately
How to structure follow ups so they don’t feel like generic bumps
Also, if anyone’s running something similar (manual low volume + parallel high volume agency) or has cracked high-reply outreach with strong ICP filtering, would appreciate any advice or examples.
Thank you!!