Oops, We Emailed 171 SMBs — Here's What They Actually Did
Three weeks ago we sent 171 "friendly neighborhood" emails to local businesses with low AI visibility scores. No sales pages, no signup walls—just a simple note with their scan results.
Here's what actually happened.
The Stats
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Emails sent | 171 |
| Bounces | 3 |
| Hard bounces (bad domain) | 2 |
| Replies received | 17 |
| Scans completed by recipients | 8 |
| New SDK signups | 2 |
The Replies
The Helpful One (Score: 22)
"Thanks for the snapshot! Added FAQ page last week. Score jumped to 38. Any other quick wins?"
The Skeptical Plumber (Score: 18)
"AI score? Is this legit or spam?"
(Sent follow-up with screenshots of ChatGPT citation. Reply: "Okay, that's cool. How do I get more?")
The Non-Tech Owner (Score: 25)
"I don't know what this AI thing is but my niece runs my website. Forwarding to her."
(Her niece signed up for SDK later that week.)
Key Lessons
- Keep it short — 3-sentence emails got more replies than longer versions
- Include their actual score — personalized numbers = 3x reply rate
- Have a clear CTA — "Reply INFO for free tips" worked better than "Learn more"
What's Next
We're repeating this with another 50 businesses next week. If you got our email and want to share your experience (or tell us we're full of it), hit reply—we read every message.
*Total unique businesses contacted: 171 | New SDK trials started: 2 | Follow-ups queued: 15*