3 ms·

Show HN: A ready-to-adapt email marketing sequences database

15 points by davidbff 2y ago

Hey HN, as an email marketer for the past 4 years, I’ve built sequences that reach millions of inboxes every month. But whenever I start a new project—or when a company reaches out for help—it was always almost back to square one: researching from scratch, especially when entering an unfamiliar industry. Really Good Emails and similar resources are awesome, and I use some of them every now and then. But to me, they lack that strategic part of email marketing. So, a couple of months ago, I started building a database of email sequences, which now has examples from 80+ companies and over 330+ categorized and sequenced emails. It’s designed to help non-marketers, solo founders, and busy teams create better email campaigns without starting from scratch. I’d love to hear your thoughts or any suggestions for improvement. Thanks for taking a look!

cebert 2y ago
I’m tired of email marketing in general. I hope this trend ends soon.
DemocracyFTW2 2y ago
These are things my spam folder's thriving on. Only slightly less annoying than the unexpected call from an unknown number and an unfamiliar voice who wants to talk with me about investments, whatever. My phone has one button dedicated to that situation.
handfuloflight 2y ago
I understand the effort but I personally don't need this product: I have dedicated inboxes for collecting email sequences that I dissect at my leisure.
- davidbff 2y ago
  That's awesome. It's essentially what I used to do. But here, I kinda wanted to sort and categorize everything to make it easier and quicker for non-email nerds. Any examples that have stood out recently? I'd love to take a look!
wkirby 2y ago
Thanks for the effort —— our experiences the last two years trying to launch a product have shown me that successful email marketing is elusive. I do have a genuine question though: who the hell does email marketing work on? I have yet to meet a single person, in and out of tech, who will admit to buying something because of emails like these. I can’t decide if email marketing is in the bucket of “it must work or they wouldn’t be doing it”, or in the even larger bucket of “they have to be doing something to pretend they’re adding value to the company.”
- brushfoot 2y ago
  Solopreneur here. For me, email marketing works, but in my experience, it works best when it's personal, casual, and highly targeted. This year, I actually had a prospect thank me for a cold email I sent him. He said in his 20-year career, had had never gotten one that was so helpful. Of course, that was nice, but the metric I'm most concerned with is sales -- and yes, they lead to those as well. The best ones, like the "best in my 20 years" one, have been the result of a lot of research, hand-crafting prospect lists based on what I believe are their exact needs, then writing a message that speaks to those needs. I'll add since this is HN: I have no course to sell and my startup isn't mentioned or linked anywhere. I'm just writing to share what's worked for me.
- davidbff 2y ago
  I guess that calling everything "email marketing" doesn't help. But it can be many things and impact in many ways. Bombarding people with spam is something that obviously isn't okay. A nice example can be a welcome sequence to educate someone about an app and help them understand the most helpful features/ways they can benefit from it. We're all here above average internet users, but most people appreciate some guidance and tips. It doesn't always have to be about selling stuff to people in an annoying and salesy way.
xorcist 2y ago
"Email sequences"? Can we no longer call a spade a spade? Only 20 years ago people who did email marketing had their own forums where they traded their craft.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
xnx 2y ago
"Email marketing sequence" = email spam = interruption marketing = attention theft Keep sending me email, and I'll keep marking them as spam.
fredtalty5 2y ago
I love the idea behind your email sequence database! It's such a practical solution for marketers, solo founders, and teams who need inspiration and structure but don’t have the time to start from scratch. The categorization and sequencing of emails from 80+ companies is a huge win—it’s exactly what’s often missing from resources like Really Good Emails. The strategic approach you’ve integrated adds a lot of value for people trying to optimize their campaigns. For improvements, one suggestion could be to add filters or tags that allow users to search for sequences by specific industries or campaign goals (e.g., welcome series, re-engagement, or post-purchase follow-ups). This would help users dive straight into the most relevant examples for their needs. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves—great work!
icedata 2y ago
We never even tried email marketing at my current company. At my previous one we had a lot of issues (boss didn't believe that spamassassin would block our efforts, he was wrong (we weren't initially using an email marketing platform)). Now I am using Waalaxy, which does linkedin and email prospecting (I only use Linkedin). Since I rarely accept unexpected connection requests myself, I was quite surprised at the effectiveness of Waalaxy, about 10% of connections requests accepted out of 1000 sent, several meetings booked, now doing phone followup on the remainder of connections.

15 points by davidbff 2y ago

cebert 2y ago

I’m tired of email marketing in general. I hope this trend ends soon.

DemocracyFTW2 2y ago

These are things my spam folder's thriving on. Only slightly less annoying than the unexpected call from an unknown number and an unfamiliar voice who wants to talk with me about investments, whatever. My phone has one button dedicated to that situation.

handfuloflight 2y ago

I understand the effort but I personally don't need this product: I have dedicated inboxes for collecting email sequences that I dissect at my leisure.

davidbff 2y ago
That's awesome. It's essentially what I used to do. But here, I kinda wanted to sort and categorize everything to make it easier and quicker for non-email nerds. Any examples that have stood out recently? I'd love to take a look!

wkirby 2y ago

Thanks for the effort —— our experiences the last two years trying to launch a product have shown me that successful email marketing is elusive. I do have a genuine question though: who the hell does email marketing work on? I have yet to meet a single person, in and out of tech, who will admit to buying something because of emails like these. I can’t decide if email marketing is in the bucket of “it must work or they wouldn’t be doing it”, or in the even larger bucket of “they have to be doing something to pretend they’re adding value to the company.”

brushfoot 2y ago
Solopreneur here. For me, email marketing works, but in my experience, it works best when it's personal, casual, and highly targeted. This year, I actually had a prospect thank me for a cold email I sent him. He said in his 20-year career, had had never gotten one that was so helpful. Of course, that was nice, but the metric I'm most concerned with is sales -- and yes, they lead to those as well. The best ones, like the "best in my 20 years" one, have been the result of a lot of research, hand-crafting prospect lists based on what I believe are their exact needs, then writing a message that speaks to those needs. I'll add since this is HN: I have no course to sell and my startup isn't mentioned or linked anywhere. I'm just writing to share what's worked for me.
davidbff 2y ago
I guess that calling everything "email marketing" doesn't help. But it can be many things and impact in many ways. Bombarding people with spam is something that obviously isn't okay. A nice example can be a welcome sequence to educate someone about an app and help them understand the most helpful features/ways they can benefit from it. We're all here above average internet users, but most people appreciate some guidance and tips. It doesn't always have to be about selling stuff to people in an annoying and salesy way.

xorcist 2y ago

"Email sequences"? Can we no longer call a spade a spade? Only 20 years ago people who did email marketing had their own forums where they traded their craft.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

xnx 2y ago

"Email marketing sequence" = email spam = interruption marketing = attention theft Keep sending me email, and I'll keep marking them as spam.

fredtalty5 2y ago

I love the idea behind your email sequence database! It's such a practical solution for marketers, solo founders, and teams who need inspiration and structure but don’t have the time to start from scratch. The categorization and sequencing of emails from 80+ companies is a huge win—it’s exactly what’s often missing from resources like Really Good Emails. The strategic approach you’ve integrated adds a lot of value for people trying to optimize their campaigns. For improvements, one suggestion could be to add filters or tags that allow users to search for sequences by specific industries or campaign goals (e.g., welcome series, re-engagement, or post-purchase follow-ups). This would help users dive straight into the most relevant examples for their needs. Looking forward to seeing how this evolves—great work!

icedata 2y ago

We never even tried email marketing at my current company. At my previous one we had a lot of issues (boss didn't believe that spamassassin would block our efforts, he was wrong (we weren't initially using an email marketing platform)). Now I am using Waalaxy, which does linkedin and email prospecting (I only use Linkedin). Since I rarely accept unexpected connection requests myself, I was quite surprised at the effectiveness of Waalaxy, about 10% of connections requests accepted out of 1000 sent, several meetings booked, now doing phone followup on the remainder of connections.