Cold outreach that works: send the finished video, not the pitch
Make a real video for a company that has never heard of you, send it, and let them buy it in one click.
Cold email fails because it asks a stranger to imagine something. This play removes the imagination: you make the video first, about their business, and send it finished. The prospect watches sixty seconds of their own story told properly, and there is a button underneath it. Because each attempt costs under £5 to produce, the maths works even at a low conversion rate.
The play, step by step
Nothing here needs a designer, a call or a proposal document.
- Add the lead: company, website, contact name and email.
- Set your price for the video and your price for a revision.
- Write a 60-second script from their own website — what they do, who for, why it is better.
- Set their colours and logo in the Brand section so it looks like theirs, not like a template.
- Generate, watch it, fix the one line that is wrong, send.
- They get an agency-branded page with the video playing in full, watermarked, and a buy button.
An outreach email that gets opened
Keep it short and put the video first. The subject line should name their company, not yours.
Subject: a 60-second explainer we made for [Company] Hi [Name], We make short animated explainer videos, and we made one for [Company] rather than describing what we do. It is 58 seconds and it explains [the thing they struggle to explain]. Watch it here: [link] If you like it, it is yours — there is a button under the video. If you want a line changed first, reply to this and tell me which one. [Your name], [Agency]
Why the watermark matters
The prospect sees the whole video, start to finish, with a repeating diagonal watermark across it. Nothing is hidden and nothing is teased — they can judge it properly. The watermark-free MP4 and the download button appear the moment they pay. Right-click saving and downloads are switched off on the preview.
What you can see after you hit send
Every lead page reports back, so you know who to chase and who to leave alone.
| Signal | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Not opened after 2 days | Wrong inbox or wrong subject line | One nudge, then move on |
| Opened but stopped early | The first ten seconds missed | Rewrite the opening line, remake, resend |
| Watched to the end, no purchase | Interested, hesitating on price or authority | Reply personally; offer a revision |
| Came back for a second look | Showing it to someone else internally | Call them |
Getting paid without a contract
The lead pays by card or Apple/Google Pay on the same page. No account, no sign-up, no invoice chase. The money goes to your own Stripe account and AutoScribble keeps 5% to cover card processing. Your sale terms — usage rights, formats — are shown at checkout in your own words.
Turning a buyer into a client
A lead who has paid once is the warmest prospect you will ever have: they have seen the work and the money already moved. One button converts them into a client, carrying the video, the brand settings and the history across, and from there you are talking about a retainer rather than a single file.
Rules that keep you out of trouble
Send to business addresses, about their own business, with a real person''s name on it and an easy way to stop hearing from you. Do not scrape at volume: leads are capped per day per agency and duplicate addresses are blocked, deliberately. The play works because each video is genuinely made for that company — it stops working the moment it becomes a mailshot.
Make a video for a prospect
Free to write and rewrite. Credits are only used when you generate.
Common questions
- Is it worth making a video before anyone has agreed to pay?
- At under £5 of production cost and around forty minutes of your time, one sale at £250 or more covers dozens of attempts.
- What stops the lead downloading the free preview?
- The preview carries an uncroppable diagonal watermark, downloads and right-click saving are disabled, and the clean file only appears after payment.
- Does the lead see AutoScribble branding?
- The page carries your agency name and logo. There is one small line noting that payments are handled securely; nothing invites them to go and make it themselves.
- Can they ask for changes before buying?
- Yes. There is a message box on the page, and you can set a price for revisions — set it to zero and changes are free.
- What happens if the offer expires?
- You can set an expiry, usually fourteen days. You get a heads-up two days before, and the lead gets one reminder if they never opened it and one if they watched but did not buy.
- How do I get paid?
- Stripe Connect, into your own account, usually within a couple of days of the sale.