Over the weekend I’ve talked to a few different domain investors who have been doing outbound on their names. As I’ve mentioned over the last few weeks, I wanted to dip my toes back into the outbound waters this week after hearing some really positive feedback from people at NamesCon this year. As I’ve done a deeper dive, I’m realizing how complex this is given everything that’s going on.
As I’ve circled-back with some of the people who had been excited about outbound when we talked at NamesCon this year, many have cited the slippery slope that outbound as become. The reality is, you do have to do more research and really be careful how you craft your emails or you could come across as, well, an insensitive jerk.
The last thing you want to do is email a company that just had to layoff a bunch of people and is cutting costs left-and-right and then shove a domain name in their face. You’re likely going to get a pretty mean response back and yes, you’ll have definitely burned that bridge once things do turn back around.
I think this means that domain investors really do need to do more homework when doing outbound and try to focus on companies that aren’t struggling to survive. As for who the right king of company is to market to at this point in time, I’m not really sure yet but I did find an interesting infographic that shows the top 100 fastest growing and declining categories in eCommerce. This could at the very least give you a bit more data as you’re trying to figure out what domains and companies to focus on for outbound.
The great thing about domain names is they can really make a difference. If a company is struggling, a domain could give them the leg up they need to kick their online business into high gear. Now is the time to make it easier for people to buy from you so payment plans, discounts, etc. those should all be on the table, especially if you’re the one reaching out to them.
I haven’t started doing any outbound yet myself, I’m still in the research phase to hear how others are doing it successfully now and also strategizing on how to do it the right way if I do. As domain investors there are a lot of ways we can make an impact now, but it means doing the right thing, which might mean leaving money on the table (and a lot of it) to help someone in need.
More to come but I would highly encourage anyone who is doing outbound to take a step back and really make sure they’re doing it the right way, and like I said above, not being an insensitive jerk.
