Cold outreach to Education companies
The buyer is a decision-maker at an education company focused on increasing student enrollment rates. They respond to outreach that clearly outlines how a solution can enhance their online course offerings or streamline training processes. Demonstrating an understanding of their specific challenges, like course completion rates or student engagement metrics, will capture their attention.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 554 education company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- low student engagement
- high course drop-off rates
- inefficient training processes
- difficulty in scaling online offerings
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent course launches
Use LinkedIn or industry news sites to find education companies that have recently launched new online courses. This indicates they are actively investing in their offerings and may be more open to solutions that enhance these courses or improve student engagement.
- 02
Target institutions struggling with retention
Filter your list to include education companies that have reported low student retention or completion rates in their recent communications. These pain points make them more likely to be receptive to outreach that offers solutions to improve these metrics.
- 03
Highlight improvements in engagement metrics
Craft your email to include specific strategies that have proven to increase student engagement in online courses. Mentioning case studies or success stories from similar education companies can help establish credibility and relevance.
- 04
Follow up after 7 days with new insights
If you don’t receive a response, follow up a week later with additional insights or data relevant to their challenges, such as trends in online learning or tools that have improved course completion rates. This shows your ongoing interest and commitment to helping them succeed.
- 05
Propose a specific time for a call
In your follow-up, suggest a specific date and time for a brief call to discuss potential solutions. Offering a couple of options makes it easier for them to say yes, and it shows you value their time.
Can education companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 554 education companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 16.3% of 1–10-person companies against 80.2% of the largest — 64 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Boost your course completion rates
- Enhance student engagement strategies
- New insights for online training
Questions
- Why do education companies overlook outreach about student engagement tools?
- Education companies often receive numerous outreach messages and may prioritize those that directly address their immediate concerns, such as enrollment numbers or compliance issues. If your outreach doesn't clearly align with their current challenges, it risks being ignored.
- What common objections do education leaders have regarding new tools?
- Leaders in education frequently express concerns about the cost of new tools, the time required for implementation, and the potential disruption to existing processes. Addressing these objections proactively in your outreach can help mitigate their hesitations.
- How can I make my outreach stand out to education companies?
- To stand out, tailor your messaging to reflect their specific challenges and goals. Use data or examples relevant to their institution's recent initiatives, and focus on how your solution can directly impact their student outcomes.
- What timing is best for outreach to education decision-makers?
- The best timing for outreach is often just before the start of a new semester or academic year when education companies are looking to enhance their offerings. Additionally, reaching out during key enrollment periods can also yield better responses.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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