Why focusing on buyer pain increases email replies

Hard truth: Most outbound gets ignored because of weak messaging. But weak messaging doesn’t always mean weak copy. It points to a more pressing and critical issue: lack of problem awareness.  Here’s where it goes wrong: 👉 Pitching “user-friendly dashboards” to a Head of RevOps who’s drowning in tool bloat 👉 Selling “AI-powered insights” to a VP of Sales when they’re actually scrambling to hit forecasts If it doesn’t align with what they care about right now, it gets ignored. 💡 What’s the fix? Anchor your outbound to real, strategic priorities. Here’s how we do it 👇 ✅ Identify the decision-maker’s priority Every leader is hired to solve something. Your job is to listen more and assume less. Are they focused on: → Expansion? → Retention? → Margin protection? → Team productivity? → Post-sale growth? Still unsure? Look here: 📌 What roles are they hiring for? 📌 What’s the CEO posting about? 📌 Any funding/layoffs/news? 📌 What metrics do they report to the board? ✅Align your product to that priority Example: If your champion is a VP of CS, and churn is their nightmare— Don’t talk about integrations. Talk about how your platform reduces churn risk by [x]% through better customer visibility. → Make it visceral. → Make it relevant. → Make it about them. ✅Shift the CTA from product to outcome Bad: “We’d love to show you how our tool works.” Better: “Happy to walk you through how [customer name] used this approach to uncover $380K in at-risk revenue—could be relevant to what you’re tackling this quarter.” The minute you identify what the buyer actually cares about, your reply rate climbs. The secret to great outbound? Do the work to understand what matters most to your buyer, then write like you’re solving that problem. #B2BSales #Outbound #Messaging #SalesTips #GTM

Most business owners understand the concept: The pain is the pitch. It’s a principle popularized by Alex Hormozi, and for good reason. When you focus on the pain your product or service solves, you tap directly into the customer’s motivation to act. But here’s the catch: Most people get it wrong. They speak about pain too broadly. They use generic phrases like: • “Are you tired of feeling overworked?” • “Do you struggle with achieving your goals?” These statements are true, sure. But they’re too vague to cut through the noise. Here’s the reality: The pain that triggers action happens in specific moments. It’s not the broad feeling of “being overworked.” ↳ It’s that gut-punch of checking your inbox on Monday morning, seeing 147 unread emails, and feeling the dread sink in. It’s not the struggle of “achieving your goals.” ↳ It’s staring at your to-do list at 10 PM and realizing you’ve been busy all day, but haven’t actually moved closer to what matters. These moments are visceral. They’re relatable. And they make people think: “How did you know?” How do you find these moments? You do more than prompt an AI. You get in the trenches. You talk to customers, read reviews, dive into forums, and understand the language they use. Your ability to accurately describe a person’s pain in their own words is directly linked to how much they trust you to have the cure. The formula is simple: • Identify the specific moments where your customer experiences pain. • Describe those moments vividly, using their own language. • Position your product as the obvious solution to alleviate that pain. If you can do this well, you have a recipe for unlimited customers. Because when you can articulate someone’s pain better than they can themselves, they’ll assume you have the solution. The pain is the pitch. But the magic is in the details.

Most cold emails fail in the first line. Not because of bad copy, but because the hook feels like it was written for everyone. “Hope you’re doing well” is a scroll-past. You need to show why this message is for them - in the first 3 seconds. 👉 Here are 5 cold email hook frameworks we use to get 20-30%+ reply rates: 1️⃣ Trigger-based hook (timing) Use real-world signals to anchor your message in why now. - “Noticed you just hired 3 new AEs - are you expanding outbound?” - “Saw you recently switched from Outreach to HubSpot. Curious how onboarding’s going?” ↳ Shows you did your homework and aren’t spraying templates. 2️⃣ Pain-first hook (relevance) Lead with a pain point the prospect already feels. - “Most RevOps teams I speak to are struggling to keep deliverability above 80%.” - “Are you seeing a drop-off between discovery and demo show-up rates?” ↳ Buyers don’t care what you do - they care about the pain you solve. 3️⃣ Competitor hook (context) Call out the tools they’re using - or the ones they’re leaving. - “Teams using X often hit limits with multi-inbox rotation. Have you seen that too?” - “Noticed you were on Mailchimp. A lot of founders are switching to tools built for cold outreach.” ↳ Everyone’s trying to optimize. Show you understand their current stack and challenges. 4️⃣ Proof-based hook (credibility) Open with a relevant win that mirrors their world. - “We helped<B2B SaaS client> book 47 meetings last month using a 4-sentence email framework.” - “Cut CAC by 26% for a team selling into CFOs - similar to your audience.” ↳ Social proof builds instant trust when it feels specific and relatable. 5️⃣ Curiosity hook (open loop) Create tension with a question or stat that teases value. - “You’re probably missing ~40% of warm leads in your CRM. Here’s how we found them.” - “There’s one email structure we use to get 3x replies. Want the breakdown?” ↳ Curiosity drives the scroll. Just make sure you deliver on the hook quickly. Your hook is the subject line of your email body. If it doesn’t earn attention, the rest of your email doesn’t matter. Which of these are you using right now? Drop your favorite cold email opener below - happy to give you feedback.

I helped a founder to fix 3 things in their GTM. 6 weeks later: +120% conversion rate +40% revenue lift No new product. No extra ads. No headcount increase. Just brutal focus on execution where it actually matters. Here’s exactly what we changed 👇 ➤ 1. Stop selling the platform. Start selling the pain. Original landing page: “We help HR teams streamline employee feedback with AI automation.” Nobody wakes up thinking: “God I need an AI feedback platform today.” So we flipped it: New above-the-fold: “Too much attrition? Here’s why 47% of employees leave silently, and how top HR teams fix it in 30 days.” → Specific pain → Time-anchored promise → Role-targeted hook We made the problem felt before they scrolled. Result: 3x more time on page. 65% jump in demo interest. ➤ 2. Kill the weak CTA. Add a “low-commitment ask.” Original funnel: → “Book a demo” (only CTA) Most visitors weren’t ready to talk yet. So we gave them a ladder: → “Take the 2-minute Attrition Risk Quiz” → Instant feedback → Then offer the call People hate being sold. But they love being evaluated. This quiz positioned the founder as a diagnostic expert, not a desperate closer. Result: Conversion went from 4.1% to 9.3%. ➤ 3. Rewrite cold outbound to weaponize proof. Original email: → “We’d love to show you how our platform helps HR leaders improve culture…” Too vague. Too weak. New cold email: “Hey {first name}, One of our customers had 3 exit interviews last quarter. After using our micro-feedback loop, attrition dropped 60% - and team sentiment jumped. Want me to send you a 60-second teardown?” No pitch. No demo ask. Just curiosity + proof + a specific next step. Result: Open rates steady, replies doubled. Founders overthink product. But often, GTM tweaks have faster ROI. You don’t need a new feature. You need clearer pain, stronger hooks, and better CTA psychology. --- Want brutal clarity on your startup? Skip years of wasted effort and stop making expensive mistakes. Get direct advice on your deck, fundraising, GTM, or founder challenges. Book a no-BS 1:1 call with me here: https://lnkd.in/gWV8DT56 💬 Drop your most burning question in the comments. ♻ Repost to help a founder stop chasing growth with broken GTM. 🔔 Follow Anshuman Sinha for more Startup insights. #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Marketing #LeanStartups #VentureCapital

The Art of Uncovering True Pain (That Most Sales Calls Miss) Ever notice how prospects rarely share their real problems upfront? "We need better email marketing" often means: "I might lose my job if we miss another quarter." Surface-level pain doesn't drive decisions. Real pain does. After hundreds of sales conversations, I've learned to go deeper: 1. Start with the situation: "What's happening right now?" 2. Explore the impact: "How is this affecting your business?" 3. Examine past attempts: "What solutions have you tried?" 4. Uncover consequences: "What happens if this isn't solved?” 5. Get personal: "How is this affecting you personally?" The prospect who tells you they're "just exploring options" might actually be lying awake at 3 AM worrying about their team's future. But they'll only share that if you earn the right through thoughtful questions. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can learn is that you're not the right solution. This process doesn't just make sales calls better – it makes your marketing better too. When you know what really hurts your customers, not just what they say hurts, your content hits home. Your emails get more replies. Your lead magnets solve real problems people care about. What's your process for finding out what really bothers your prospects? #SalesStrategy #ClientDiscovery #BusinessGrowth

Want More Leads? Stop Selling, Start Teaching. Most B2B buyers don’t want to be “sold.” They want to be educated. They want to feel like they’re making the decision, not like someone is pushing them toward a solution they aren’t sure about yet. So, what happens when we flip the script? Instead of hammering buyers with why we’re great, what if we just help them understand the problem better? Take Worksaver Inc. as an example. They are a manufacturer of farm equipment—things like post hole diggers, scrapers, and augers. Farmers aren’t always eager to buy new equipment. They don’t wake up thinking, "I need to upgrade my post hole digger today." So instead of blasting emails that say: 📌 "Our Model 500 Post Hole Digger is the best—let’s set up a time to talk." Try a different approach: 📌 Use ChatGPT to help draft an email like: "Hope this email finds you well—and not stuck in the mud with that stubborn old digger." 📌 Focus on the buyer's real problem. Instead of pushing a product, frame the message around why a better tool makes their life easier. 📌 Make it fun to respond. When buyers open an email and laugh, they’re far more likely to reply. Even if they aren’t ready to buy yet, they remember you. Why This Works (And Why Most Salespeople Get This Wrong) 🔹 Buyers are researching on their own. Procurement teams, engineers, and decision-makers today don’t want to jump on a call just to get basic information. If you’re not educating them upfront, you’re out of the running before you even know they’re shopping. 🔹 MQLs vs. SQLs. If someone is still learning, they need education—not a pricing discussion. If someone is ready to buy, they need a number—not an explanation. Mixing these up frustrates the buyer and kills deals. 🔹 Sales today is about facilitation, not persuasion. How to Use This in Your Sales Process 💡 Instead of blasting generic cold outreach, ask: ✔️ “What is my ideal buyer struggling with?” ✔️ “What misconceptions or mistakes do they make?” ✔️ “What do they need to understand before they’ll see my product as the best option?” 💡 Then, create content (emails, LinkedIn posts, white papers) that speaks to those challenges—without pitching. 💡 When you do outreach, make it fun, interesting, and human. If your email reads like an instruction manual, no one’s responding. Bottom Line: The Best Salespeople Teach First, Sell Second. Nobody likes to be sold to. But everyone likes to learn. If you’re the one teaching, when they’re finally ready to buy, guess who they’re coming to?

“Pain is the most powerful motivator.  Building your copy around your customers’ pains is the secret weapon of great copywriting.” I remember reading this tip years ago and it initially left me scratching my head. I understood the concept in theory, but putting it into practice was a whole other story. What exactly does it mean to build a copy around customer pain? After years in content marketing I can finally answer that: 👉🏻 Basically, it means focusing on the "why" behind your customer's purchase decisions and using your customers' own words to describe your company’s value props. Hence: - Don't just tell them what you offer. Show them the pain they're experiencing: the frustration, the wasted time, the missed opportunities. - Don't just list features. Highlight the consequences of not using your product/service: the lost revenue, the damaged reputation, the missed deadlines. - Don't focus on your awards. Focus on your customer's transformations: how your product helped them overcome challenges and achieve their goals. Instead of: 🚫 "We make your finance software more secure." 🚫 "Our CRM software has the most robust contact management features." 🚫 "We've won numerous industry awards." 🚫 “We offer the fastest loading speeds.” Try: ✅ "Each year, financial companies lose over $12 billion to cyberattacks." ✅ "Imagine a world where you never lose track of a lead again." ✅ "Meet [Customer Name], who increased their sales by 89% after implementing our solution." ✅ “Tired of watching potential customers abandon your website due to slow loading times?” Rub it in, agitate it, and make sure your audience knows they’re suffering before you offer them your perfect solution ;) P.S. Don't go overboard, though. Back up your claims with real results. Show your prospects how you've helped other companies just like theirs solve the same problems.

How does research impact your cold email reply rate? Most of the time we believe a simple google search can reveal everything about our ICP. But unless you do research and dig down hard enough, You may not fully understand your prospect’s pain and frustrations or hopes and dreams. And those emotions are what push people to respond or even buy instantly. Example: ↳If you’re reaching out to CFOs you need to lead with strong ROI insights ↳For CIOs you need to lead with insights of safety from lost of data or assets ↳HR directors need insights on how much time you can save them to fill a role Different ICPs have different problems and desires. If the research gets you at least 1 reply out of every 10 cold emails, that's okay. The easiest shortcut to get this information right is to interview someone in a similar role as your ICP. How do you research your prospects' pain points? #coldemail #sales

Mediocre email marketing focuses on features. Meh email marketing focuses on benefits. World-class email marketing focuses on the pain customers need to avoid. Why? You can't give someone the benefits without first highlighting their pain. And nobody cares about features without understanding what those features (and benefits) will solve their pain. _________ Let's take a popular example that you see gets passed around like a hot potato as the MOST genius ad ever. The iPod ad... Everyone goes bananas about how Apple shifted from the feature copy to benefit (5 Gigabyte storage to 1000 songs in your pocket). But this is just more information for your customers to process. What does 1000 songs in your pocket actually MEAN for Apple's customers? That's where we can really improve this ad. It can mean never having to choose what song gets priority on your listening device... It can mean being able to find the perfect soundtrack for the moment. It can mean creating a CORE memory that will be played long after the song is a trend or a hit. It can mean listening to 1000 songs without interruption with a long-lasting charge. Here, we've called out the pain, offered the solution, and wrapped in the benefits. Don't be a lazy email marketer when it comes to your copy. It's where the conversations and conversions happen. Aim higher. You got this. _____________________ I don't typically ask for my network to repost, but I think this is a VERY important topic that's still being missed in the email marketing space, especially DTC. So if you found this helpful/insightful please repost and let's get this discussion going.

3 rules behind cold emails that actually get replies (tested across $2M pipeline) Let’s face it most cold emails still fail. Not because your offer is bad. Not because your ICP is wrong. They fail because they don’t earn TRUST fast. In 2025, buyers are immune to generic “quick question” or “saw your profile” intros. The delete reflex kicks in within 3 seconds. So how do you get replies? We tested 100+ variations across our GTM pipeline here’s what works: 3 𝗥𝗨𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗟𝗗 𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗬 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: ✅ 1. Start with a REAL TRIGGER (Why are you emailing THIS person NOW?) → Mention something timely + relevant. Example: “Saw you’re hiring 5 new AEs this quarter — exciting!” “Congrats on your new product launch last week.” ✅ 2. Name a PAIN they already feel → Mirror what’s already on their mind. Example: “That usually creates onboarding bottlenecks + slower ramp.” “That often means new revenue channels are still underperforming.” ✅ 3. Deliver OUTCOME fast → Skip the “teaser” give value now. Example: “We helped [company] cut onboarding by 40% with [approach].” “Drove $500K net new pipeline for [company] in 6 weeks.” 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅: Hey [First Name], Saw you [trigger]. That often leads to [pain]. We helped [company] achieve [outcome] by [approach]. Would it be useful to see if we can do the same for you? Cheers, [Name] 𝗕𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀: Offer to help even unpaid. The best cold email offer is one that proves value BEFORE the ask. Most sales teams overcomplicate cold email. 1 clear trigger + 1 known pain + 1 fast outcome → wins more than 99 “clever” emails. We’ve tested this across $2M in pipeline at DevCommX and it still works. If you want our 5 best-performing email templates just comment “Templates” and I’ll send them over. Or repost this to help someone land more meetings this quarter.