I’ve audited a lot of outbound programmes over the past few years. The pattern is almost always the same: a team that has decent copy, a reasonable ICP, and a reply rate that would embarrass a GDPR compliance notice.
The instinct is to blame the messaging. So they rewrite the first line. Then the CTA. Then the whole sequence. Then they hire a copywriter. Reply rate stays at 0.4%.
It’s almost always infrastructure
Before you touch the copy, check three things in this order:
- Deliverability — are your emails landing in primary, promotions, or spam? Run a Mailtester or GlockApps check. A 70+ spam score with Gmail means you’re probably hitting promotions at best.
- Domain age — sending from a fresh domain with no warm-up history? Inboxes don’t trust you. You need 3–4 weeks of graduated volume before volume campaigns.
- List quality — bounce rate above 3% tanks your sender reputation fast. Clean the list before any send, not after.
Only once those are solid does copy matter. And when the infrastructure is right, even mediocre copy gets replies — because the email actually arrives.
The fix I run first
New sending domains (never the root domain), warmed over 3–4 weeks with a tool like Warmup Inbox or Instantly’s built-in warmer. Two to three mailboxes per domain, rotating sends. Then — and only then — start the sequence.
The copy rewrite can come later. The infrastructure is the foundation. Build it first.