I’ve learned in sales that the NUMBER 1 thing that gets people to respond is a very simple formula:

Legitimate need + free value

Identify that they need what you have, but don’t sell them right away. Provide the free value. Sometimes, when the time is right you can add an emotional variable and use that to persuade someone to take action towards the next steps.

I noticed you use X. We have this high value thing we do related to it. Want to talk further? Social proof in signature.

I don’t know, as I’ve yet seen one I would respond to.The biggest and best companies don’t use this tactic.

I find them scammy or illegitimate at the very least. It feels like an invasion of privacy or something, and a tactic only a beginner would use. I don’t deal with beginners, as I want a proven product and company. That’s my thought on it.

How does someone even start doing research in a new domain they are interested in?

A guy sent me an email with an embedded video where he was looking at my website. I didn’t watch the video but I did give him the courtesy of a polite rejection. Better than most get.

If the email is offering something that will improve my business.

None. I send them all to spam folder.

I mark as spam without opening. Otherwise it’s triggers the next email in the sequence where the “manager” sends a follow-up. I want their email tracker to mark it as unopened and classified as spam so they take me off their list.