#245: Cold Email | Danielle Messler sits down with Alex Fine, co-founder of Understory, the agency behind some of the most effective outbound and paid strategies in B2B right now. Alex is leading the charge on a smarter approach to outbound called “Allbound”, a tightly integrated blend of outbound, paid media, and LinkedIn tactics that actually convert.
If you’re tired of cold emails that go nowhere or ad campaigns that burn cash without ROI, this one’s for you.
Danielle and Alex cover:
- Why most B2B outbound strategies fail and how Allbound fixes the disconnect between ads, email, and LinkedIn
- The cold email deliverability tactics that actually work in 2025 (including tools like Instantly, Smartlead, and Clay)
- Real-world examples of hyper-personalized, AI-powered outreach that book meetings with high-ACV prospects
Timestamps
- (00:00) - – Intro
- (03:34) - – What Is “Allbound”?
- (05:34) - – Cold Email Isn’t Dead (But It’s Evolved)
- (08:04) - – Tools to Improve Deliverability
- (10:19) - – Personalization That Actually Works
- (11:49) - – Real Example: Fraud Detection SaaS Cold Email Strategy
- (13:34) - – How to Keep Messaging Consistent Across Channels
- (15:34) - – Treating Each Channel Differently
- (19:50) - – Ads as a “Cheat Code” in B2B
- (22:20) - – Building Genuinely Personalized Emails at Scale
- (25:20) - – From Swiffer to SaaS
- (28:50) - – What Sales Teaches Marketers
- (37:35) - – Where to Find Alex + Upcoming Exit Five Event Plug
Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership
***
Today’s episode is brought to you by Zuddl.
We’re halfway through 2025, and one thing’s clear: events continue to be one of the highest performing marketing channels. Niche meetups, conferences, curated dinners, networking - you name it. Everyone’s leaning in.
Events are a core part of our playbook this year at Exit Five. So far, we’ve hosted two virtual sessions each month, one large virtual event, one in-person meetup, and we’re deep in the weeds planning our Drive conference coming back to Vermont this September.
Zuddl helps us run a smarter event strategy - from driving registrations, managing invites, automating comms, reminders, analytics, tracking. Their Salesforce integration also makes it simple to report on pipeline and revenue from events without pulling in ops.
On top of that, the differentiator with Zuddl is how their team is insanely good at supporting us. They always go above and beyond for us - and that’s how we’ve been able to keep the momentum going with 12+ events already this year, with plenty more to come.
If events are part of your marketing strategy, you need to look at Zuddl to see how companies like Zillow, CrowdStrike, and Iterable are using the top event platform for Business events in 2025.
Head over to zuddl.com/exitfive to learn more.