Cal AI Cold-Emailed 220,000 Creators to Sign About 2,000
Twenty-five assistants sent about 2,000 emails a day, turning influencer marketing into a numbers game with a 1% hit rate.
The Superwall Podcast · Alfie Dickens - Meet The Marketing Genius Behind Cal AITo build the calorie-tracking app Cal AI, growth marketer Alfie Dickens emailed about 220,000 creators and signed about 2,000 to 3,000 of them, or roughly 1%.
The operation grew to 25 marketing assistants, each pushed to contact about 100 influencers a day, or about 2,000 outreach messages every day. Totals varied, with assistants sometimes reaching only 60 or 70, or even 40 or 50, and repeated contacts meant the pool of new creators shrank over time.
The funnel was narrow. From 100 emails, the team might get 10 replies and two phone calls and sign one creator. Dickens said 10 signings from 1,000 emails would be making the numbers sound better than they are, and the typical result was "probably more like one from every thousand."
Questions people ask
Why bother emailing 220,000 people for a 1% return?
That is normal for cold outreach. Most emails are ignored or declined, so volume is the strategy. If one signing can drive many profitable video views, paying staff to send thousands of emails can still pay off.
What happened after a creator replied?
The goal was to get on a phone call to build a relationship and negotiate price. Dickens said calls greatly improved the odds of closing a deal. Only after interest was established would the team discuss rates and video terms.
Where do you find email addresses for that many influencers?
Most creators list a business email in their TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube profiles for brand deals. Marketers copy those addresses into spreadsheets or prospecting tools. Larger operations also buy data or scrape public listings, then send in bulk.