The constraint
Arch is an established UK digital product studio, building custom web platforms and mobile apps since 2005, with engagements upward of £50,000 each.
The work sold itself once a conversation started. Starting the conversation was the problem: growth ran on referrals and reputation, which meant the pipeline moved when the network moved and stalled when it didn't. The brief was a repeatable way to open doors with mid-sized organisations and enterprises, without diluting a consultative, no-hard-sell brand.
What we built
A complete outbound engine running in Arch's name. We mapped their addressable market and split it by vertical, built private sending infrastructure with warmed inboxes, and put the gap engine to work: every prospect researched individually, every email pitching a specific build idea that prospect's business was missing. Replies came back to a managed inbox where a human answered, qualified, and booked.
The plays that ran
Vertical rotation. We measured verticals against each other instead of guessing. The best converted one opportunity per 168 contacts; the weakest, one per 1,044 — a six-fold spread inside the same account. Sending was re-weighted toward the winners, week after week.
Colleague-name personalization. Emails that named a real colleague at the prospect's company were tested against matched campaigns without one. The lift: roughly 1.6 to 1.7x on opportunity rate. It became standard on the account.
Delivery filtering. Measurement showed Outlook-hosted recipients converting far below the rest. Excluding them roughly quadrupled the measured opportunity rate on this account — the same list, the same copy, better placement.
Idea-led pitches. No template blasts. Each email proposed one concrete build — a portal, a booking flow, an internal tool — grounded in what the engine found on that prospect's website, stack, and job posts.
Results
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Contacts reached | 25,000 |
| Replies | 917 (~3.7% reply rate) |
| Qualified meetings | 47 |
| First engagement value | >£50,000 |
One 90-day window, June to September. The partnership is ongoing: 300+ meetings booked to date.
“What's shone through with your approach is how innovative it is. You're helping us get our foot in the door with some amazing brands.”
What this means for you
If your dev shop closes when it gets in the room but referrals decide how often that happens, this is the same build: your market mapped and measured, a researched idea per prospect, and meetings arriving on your calendar while your team ships client work.
Built with: ClayInstantlyAI research agentsPrivate inboxes
