12 new clients for the first month

Context

‍SaaS Camp is an accelerator that helps B2B SaaS companies increase their annual recurring revenue (ARR) by constructing an in-house Hybrid Customer Acquisition System. While they attract 95% of their leads from platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, SaaS Camp identified a gap in their acquisition channel: cold email outreach. Their email outreach was underperforming, with only a 22% open rate. Effectively scaling this channel has been a challenge.‍

SaaS Camp faced 4 core challenges

1. Perceived 35% spam rate and 10% bounce rate as normal metrics when it's not.
2. Low sales conversion rate in cold email channel, accompanied by a 22% open rate.
3. Didn’t know how to monitor domain health and reputation, that led to elevated spam rates.
4. Difficulty in efficiently scaling outreach to handle 1000+ emails across 20+ domains at once.

“Working with Power Play has been a game-changer for our business. They boosted our open rates and significantly reduced our bounce and spam rates. Their expertise was pivotal in refining our strategy.” - Denis Shatalin, founder of SaaS Camp

How we solved SaaS Camp’s problems in 3 steps

Step 1
To address the ambiguity surrounding their conversion, spam, and bounce rates, we conducted an extensive industry analysis, drawing upon data from comparable accelerators. It allowed us to establish well-defined benchmarks for 'good' conversion rates at various sales funnel stages. Concurrently, we implemented DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) setups to authenticate their mail sources, fortifying their email integrity.

Step 2
With a clear understanding of benchmark conversion rates, we turned our attention to the noticeable drop in open rates from the conducted A/B tests. Utilizing a systematic sending warm-up procedure, we ensured that email servers recognized and trusted the mails coming from SaaS Camp's domains. This warm-up process involved sending a steadily increasing volume of emails, following best practices, and responding timely to feedback loops from ISPs.

2.1 Enhancing Conversion Metrics

Benchmarking with Industry Data: Upon diving into data from 250 industry-specific campaigns, we identified that the average conversion rate for cold email campaigns hovered around 27%.

Integrating Email Monitoring: With the company's open rates at an inconsistent 22% on certain A/B tests, we integrated real-time email tracking tools, enabling us to monitor domain health and sender reputation continuously.

Optimization: By analyzing the data and refining their approach, within two months, their open rates showed improvement, reaching a more competitive 65%, closing the gap with the industry benchmark.

2.2 Scaling Through Technological Augmentation

Email Segmentation and Analysis: The company's potential replies were an untapped goldmine. We began by deploying advanced email segmentation tools, sifting through over 8,000 emails in their database for precise targeting.

Dedicated IP Allocation: Their bounce rate of 10% and a domain with a 35% spam rate necessitated infrastructural changes. Assigning them a dedicated IP streamlined their sending process, ensuring better deliverability.

Step 3:
Our audit highlighted alarming bounce and spam rates. Immediate action was taken by conducting an exhaustive array of checks, such as reverse DNS lookups, SMTP banner checks, and blocklist verifications. By refining their sender reputation, adjusting their content strategy, and implementing vigilant server health alerts, we ensured a dramatic drop in both bounce and spam rates.

Step 4:
We developed and executed a systematic strategy that included the allocation of dedicated IP addresses, resulting in streamlined email delivery and a 400% increase in daily email sending capacity.

Results

• Through our intervention, SaaS Camp's open rates rebounded, approaching industry benchmarks.
• Implementation of DKIM and warm-up procedures led to a consistent and healthy email deliverability.
• Open rate has increased from 22% to 68%.
• Bounce rate plummeted from an initial 10% to 2%, and the alarming 35% spam rate was slashed to 0.3%.
• A structured scaling approach increased daily outreach from 200 emails to over 1000 without significant economic or labor costs.
• Ultimately, these collaborative efforts resulted in SaaS Camp securing 12 new clients, a testament to the efficiency of the revamped outbound campaigns.