3 Things to Try Before You Scrap Your Outbound

If your cold email campaign feels like it's going nowhere, your first instinct is probably to kill it and move on. But before you do, here are three things worth checking—most marketing teams miss at least one of these.

1. Check if your list is actually relevant (not just accurate)

You probably pulled a list based on company size, industry, maybe location. The emails are valid, the titles look right. But here's the thing: just because someone is a "VP of Operations" at a logistics company doesn't mean they care about what you're selling right now.

Relevance isn't just about demographics. It's about timing, pain points, and whether your offer actually maps to what they're dealing with this quarter.

What to do: Go back through your last 50 non-responders and ask yourself: "Would I actually buy this if I were them, right now?" If the honest answer is "probably not," your list isn't the problem—your targeting is. Tighten your ICP. Maybe you need companies that just raised a round, or ones expanding into new markets, or ones hiring for specific roles. Make it more specific, not broader.

2. Test if your value prop is landing (or just making sense to you)

Most marketing teams write cold emails that sound great internally but fall flat with prospects. You're talking about "streamlining workflows" or "driving efficiency" when what they actually care about is "not having to manually chase down invoices every week."

Your value prop might be technically correct but emotionally irrelevant.

What to do: Pull your last 10 replies (even negative ones) and see what language people used. Did anyone say "we're actually dealing with X right now"? That's your real value prop. Rewrite your first two sentences to speak directly to that specific pain point using their words, not yours. Then test it on the next 100 sends and compare reply rates.

3. Confirm your follow-up sequence isn't just repeating itself

A lot of outbound sequences look like this: Email 1 introduces you. Email 2 says "just following up." Email 3 says "bumping this up in your inbox." Email 4 is a breakup email.

You're not adding new information or value—you're just reminding them you exist. That doesn't always work.

What to do: Rewrite your follow-ups so each one gives a different angle or adds something useful, however small. Email 2 could share a quick case study. Email 3 could address a common objection. Email 4 could offer a free resource even if they're not interested. Make each email worth opening on its own, not just a reminder of the first one they ignored.

Bottom line: Before you declare outbound dead, make sure you've actually tested the variables that matter. Most campaigns fail because of fixable mistakes, not because the channel doesn't work.

Senders Case Studies

Momofuku

Founded by chef David Chang, Momofuku is a renowned culinary brand with a nation-wide presence, including restaurants and an online store with delicious goods. They ran into an issue with their email sending – high bounce rates and blocked sending. With hundreds of thousands of people on their email lists eager to stay informed, and an impeccable reputation to uphold, Momofuku wanted to nip this problem in the bud quickly.

  • Momofuku reached out to Senders to run a diagnostic test on their sending infrastructure and find the root cause.
  • Senders deliverability experts discovered an issue with their DMARC, which was preventing emails from being sent, as their WordPress wasn't aligned with their SPF.
  • Senders provided the most effective solution helping Momofuku restore safe sending, and suggested next steps to ensure everything keeps running smoothly on their end.

Andrew Yeung

Where many others see a problem, Andrew sees an opportunity. His work may center around product leadership at Google (and previously Meta), but his true calling is all about bringing brilliant change-makers together.

  • Andrew came across deliverability issues that prompted him to get in touch with Senders and look into the best possible solutions.
  • The Senders team made the necessary domain configuration adjustments, with a focus on the domain’s email authentication settings to enhance security and deliverability.

Myrina.ai

Myrina.ai offers a cutting-edge range of AI-powered SaaS marketing and sales tools that cater specifically to female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses. Myrina.ai enables users to automate marketing and sales, while helping them scale their authentic selves while saving time and boosting conversions.

  • Enhancing email deliverability as well as security, so that each email sent from these domains can be properly authenticated and more likely to land in the right inbox.

Physician’s Choice

Sometimes the sheer number of options of any product can be daunting. Unlike most, Physician’s Choice provides supplements with pure, potent ingredients that work. No fillers or “proprietary” blends with unidentified ingredients.

  • The client’s team spotted issues with DMARC failures in Google Postmaster.
  • The Senders deliverability team worked with the client to update the DMARC configuration to enable report collection.