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Start with one specific website problem you can verify, then explain it plainly in a brief, personalized email. That is the practical idea behind finding businesses with bad websites as prospects—not proof that the approach improves reply rates or sales. The account that prompted the idea describes moving from browsing sites without a clear pitch to using observed issues to shape outreach, but it provides no measured results or independent validation. The original Reddit post also does not establish which tool, if any, was used to analyze sites.
What the approach means in practice
Rather than emailing a business with a generic claim that its website is “bad,” look for a concrete issue that matters to a visitor and that you can confirm yourself. The observation gives your message a relevant opening and lets you describe a possible service without pretending to know the business’s priorities.
Examples mentioned in the post include outdated design, slow speed, poor mobile experience, and weak SEO. These are starting points for inspection, not diagnoses to copy into a sales email without checking. A tool or automated report can suggest where to look, but the source does not establish its accuracy or how the author verified its findings.
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How to identify a useful, verifiable issue
- Choose a relevant business. Focus on a business whose site you can review and whose online experience connects to the service you actually provide.
- Inspect the site as a visitor. Try the pages and actions a customer would use. Note a specific, visible problem rather than relying on a broad score or label.
- Verify the observation. If a report flags speed, mobile usability, or search visibility, check the underlying page or behavior. Distinguish what you observed from what you infer; a single slow load, for example, does not by itself prove a site is consistently slow.
- Decide whether your service addresses it. If you cannot explain a credible next step, do not use the observation as a pretext for a pitch.
- Keep the outreach focused. Mention the page or experience, describe what you saw, and ask whether the recipient is open to discussing a relevant improvement. Do not claim the issue is causing lost customers or revenue unless you have evidence.
Write an email that is specific without overclaiming
A useful message makes it easy to understand who is writing, what they noticed, and why they contacted this business. Keep the observation factual and modest. Avoid implying that you performed a comprehensive audit when you only checked one page, or that a technical finding proves a business outcome.
For instance, you might say that you noticed a particular page was difficult to use on a phone and ask whether improving that experience is a current priority. This is more credible than declaring the entire site broken or promising that a redesign will increase sales. Personalization can make a message more relevant; the available account does not show that it guarantees a response, client, or better result.
U.S. commercial email rules and sender trust
In the United States, whether CAN-SPAM applies depends on a message’s primary purpose. The Federal Trade Commission says messages consisting only of commercial content must comply; for mixed-content messages, the subject line and placement of commercial content help determine the primary purpose. Review the FTC’s CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for the requirements relevant to your campaign. Its guidance includes accurate sender and routing information, a valid postal address, and a working opt-out mechanism. The FTC also warns that hiring another company to handle email marketing does not transfer away the business’s legal responsibility. These points describe U.S. federal guidance; requirements elsewhere may differ.
Trust also depends on how the message arrives. Identify yourself and your company accurately, make it clear why you are contacting the recipient, and honor opt-out requests. The FTC’s small-business cybersecurity guidance discusses SPF, DKIM, and DMARC as email authentication measures; configuring them may require technical expertise. Authentication helps establish that a message is associated with the sending domain, but it does not prove deliverability or sales effectiveness.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsDo not use urgency, fake credentials, or security scare tactics to make an offer seem necessary. The FTC’s guide to scams targeting small businesses describes deceptive offers and threats involving business websites and online listings. That material concerns scam prevention, not a study of legitimate sales outreach, but it is a strong reason to keep your claims transparent and avoid language that resembles a threat.
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What this method can—and cannot—tell you
The method offers a way to find a specific reason for contacting a business and to avoid an interchangeable opening line. The account describing it does not name a tool, document the accuracy of its findings, or report recipient responses. There is no substantiated response-rate, conversion, time-saved, or revenue figure for this approach in the available sources.
Treat each observation as a conversation starter, not evidence that the business needs your service. Track your own outreach responsibly if you want to assess whether this way of selecting prospects is useful to your work, and do not present an unmeasured outcome as a promised benefit.
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