Initial Reach Out
Goal: Send the first message to every person on your list using the right template for each channel and lead type.
What we're doing
You have a list of 100 people. This lesson covers the first message you send to each one.
You're reaching out on two channels: DMs / text and email. You have two types of leads: warm (people who know you) and cold (strangers who fit the profile). That's four combinations total, and there's a specific template for each one.
Do your warm leads first. Then cold. One person at a time, start to finish.
The loop
Step 1 — Look at their profile (1 min)
Spend one minute on their actual page before you build anything.
Look at:
- The note you wrote about them in your spreadsheet ("Why they fit") — this is your starting point
- Their bio (what they do, how they describe themselves)
- What links they currently have — Linktree, website, whatever's there
- What they post about — their niche, their vibe
- What they sell or offer
You'll use all of this in the next step. Don't skip it.
Step 2 — Build their page (5 min)
You're building a real example page with their photo, their colors, their bio. In your message, you'll send them a screenshot. When they see a page that's actually theirs, built in their aesthetic, they realize you spent five minutes on them. That work converts. Generic cold DMs get deleted. Custom ones get replies.
The goal is to make it look clean and personal, like it was made for them specifically, not generated for a stranger.
You won't always have everything. If you don't have their exact website URL, their other social handles, or their Stripe link, put in a placeholder. Label it as what it should be: "My coaching," "My website," "Buy me a coffee," "Book a session." It shows the structure and makes the page feel real. They can update the actual links themselves.
Open your dashboard at yourdomain.com/dashboard.
Five minutes. It doesn't need every detail filled in. It needs to look obviously personal and obviously better than what they have now.
Step 2.5 — Make it claimable
Right now, the feature that lets you build a page for someone and properly send it to them doesn't exist yet.
So we have to build that feature with the prompt below.
Read my blueprint.txt and inspect the existing app before writing code. I already have the normal fl...
After you've used this for your first 100 people, disable the ability to generate new links in your dashboard. It's just for your personal outreach, not something you leave turned on forever. Make sure you don't delete or disable the entire feature, though—the people you've already sent links to still need to be able to open their link and claim their page.
- Build a prospect page in your dashboard.
- Generate the private share link.
- Open it in a private/incognito window.
- Confirm you land on a polished page that already looks like the prospect's mini-site.
- Confirm there is one obvious button to edit it.
- Click it and confirm the dashboard opens with that exact draft loaded in.
- Confirm the normal save / publish behavior still works after that.
Step 3 — Write the message
Use the right template below. Warm or cold. DM or email. Four options total.
Warm lead — DM / text / WhatsApp
They know you. This is a two-part flow: value (the page you made) first, then more value (the guide).
Write this from scratch, in your own words. Use the template as a shape, not a script. If it reads like a copy-paste, delete it and start over.
If you have their phone number, send this as a text or WhatsApp instead of a DM — same message, warmer channel.
Message 1 — the page:
Hey [name], just launched my first app: a link-in-bio
builder with beautiful design. Free to build, $1 a month to
launch instead of Linktree's $60 a year.
Built you one: [their private page link]. What do you think?
Add one real, specific line about them or their work before you hit send. That's what makes it land.
Message 2 — the guide (send right after):
Oh and one more, throwing in a free guide: "5 Steps to a
Clean Link-in-Bio That Converts."
Attach: 5-steps-guide.pdf
Do not use em dashes (like this —) in your messages. That's one of the clearest signals that a message was written by AI, and the people you're messaging will feel it even if they can't name it. For outreach specifically, as counterintuitive as it sounds, use as little AI as possible in your actual copywriting. Outreach is where the human element matters most. Write it in your own voice, then tighten it.
Warm lead — email
One-part flow. Send the email with everything in it.
Subject: made you something
Hey [name],
Just launched my first app: a link-in-bio builder with
beautiful design. Free to build, $1 a month to launch
instead of Linktree's $60 a year.
Built you one: [their private page link]. What do you think?
[your name]
Cold lead — DM / text / WhatsApp
Cold DMs on Instagram and TikTok get flagged as spam if they contain links. So the first message is image-only, and the link + guide go out as a follow-up once you're able to send more.
On Instagram specifically: on a first contact with someone who doesn't follow you, you only get one message before they accept your request. Attach the screenshot and type your caption at the same time so they send together as a single message.
Message 1 — send the screenshot with this as the caption:
Hey [name], noticed your link situation and spent a few
minutes building you something. It's your own custom page
with all your links, your colors, and Stripe payments built
in so visitors can pay you directly.
Did a quick version for you. Do you like it?
Attach: their-handle.png
Keep it short. People read the first line and decide.
Follow-up (Message 2 + 3): send these as soon as you're able, which usually means one of three things: they replied, they accepted your request, or the platform lets you send another message (in which case wait a couple of hours, then send).
Message 2 — the link:
Here's the page I built you. You can adjust everything
yourself: [their private page link]
Message 3 — the guide (send right after):
Oh and one more, throwing in a free guide: "5 Steps to a
Clean Link-in-Bio That Converts."
Attach: 5-steps-guide.pdf
Send the three messages separately, in order. A wall of text reads as spam. Short messages read as a human talking.
Do not use em dashes (like this —) in your messages. That's one of the clearest signals that a message was written by AI, and the people you're messaging will feel it even if they can't name it. For outreach specifically, as counterintuitive as it sounds, use as little AI as possible in your actual copywriting. Outreach is where the human element matters most. Write it in your own voice, then tighten it.
Cold lead — email
Same shape as the cold DM: tell them what you did, show the page, then the offer.
Don't make the link clickable. Add a space inside the URL (e.g. yourdomain .com/claim/abc123) so email clients don't auto-link it. Tell them to copy it and remove the space.
Embed the screenshot inline. Don't attach their-handle.png as a file — paste it directly into the email body so they see the page the moment they open it. Most email clients let you drag an image straight into the compose window.
Subject: built you a mini-website
Hey [name],
Noticed your link situation on ig and spent a few minutes
building you something. It's your own custom page with all
your links, some photos and Stripe payments built in so
visitors can pay you directly.
[embed their-handle.png here — drag it into the email body]
Free to build, then $1 a month if you wanna launch it.
14-day refund if you don't like it.
Here's the private link, you can copy it and take out the space (otherwise
email clients flag it):
yourdomain .com/[their-claim-link]
What do you think?
[your name]
Step 4 — Send it
Send the message sequence and/or email.
Step 5 — Log it
Open your spreadsheet. Find their row. Change Status from not contacted to contacted. Note today's date.
Step 6 — A/B test and read what's landing (after the first 10)
After you've sent to ten people, stop for five minutes and review. This is where you start A/B testing.
What is A/B testing? You send two versions of the same message with one change only. Everything else stays the same. Half your next batch gets Version A, half gets Version B. After 20 or 30 sends, compare reply rates, keep the winner, and test the next variable.
At 100 leads you have enough volume to actually learn something. Log every test in your spreadsheet, and add a column showing which version each person got so you can see what actually won.
These are just example tests. Do not test all of them at once. Pick one variable, test it, keep the winner, then move to the next.
Example test 1 — how you frame the product:
- Version A: "It's a personal mini website builder"
- Version B: "It's a link-in-bio builder"
One may feel more familiar. The other may feel more premium. The only way to know is to run it.
Example test 2 — how you frame the price:
- Version A: "$1 a month" (feels tiny — like a coffee)
- Version B: "$12 a year" (feels like nothing — one-time, done)
- Version C: "$1 a month instead of $60 a year on Linktree" (contrast makes the value obvious)
- Version D: "$1 a month instead of $5 a month" (head-to-head comparison)
Same price, four different ways to frame it. Use the one that gets more replies.
Example test 3 — message length:
- Version A: two sentences only (for example: what it is and what it costs)
- Version B: your current full opener
- Version C: an expanded version of the opener
Your instinct might say the longer version will win because it gives more context. That's not always true. In marketing, less is often more. Steve Jobs built Apple's entire advertising philosophy on that principle.
After each batch of 20 or 30, check your spreadsheet. Which version has more positive signals (replies, signups, paid conversions, etc.)? That is the winner. Keep it, drop the loser, and test the next variable.
Small improvements compound across the rest of the list.
Now go back to Step 1
Next person. Build. Write. Send. Log. Repeat.
Warm leads first, all the way through. Then cold.
Do not build ten pages before sending any messages. One person, all five steps, start to finish, then move to the next. If your message isn't landing, you'll know after person ten — not after person 100.
You've sent the first message to at least one person. You know the five-step loop, you know which of the four templates to use, and your spreadsheet has at least one "contacted" row. Now repeat it until all 100 are done.
Recommended read
Everything in this module (warm vs cold, value-first messaging, volume as a strategy) comes from this book. If you want to understand why the templates are structured the way they are, and how to sharpen them yourself over time, this is the source. Read it after you've sent your first batch.