When I see all those ads boasting about the “Best Solo Ads in town,” claiming “I’ve made 2 sales and one upsell with this traffic,” or stating “My subscriber list is filled with responsive subscribers,” it makes me reflect deeply.
Let’s consider this for a moment.
Most solo ad vendors are essentially email spammers—99% of them, to be precise. This isn’t a baseless accusation; some vendors have even admitted it to me privately (though I won’t name names). What does this mean? They often utilize a “rotator,” which allows them to repeatedly spam their lists with a link directed to a shared destination.
This shared destination is simply a rotator link that distributes clicks among the purchasers of those clicks. It’s quite sophisticated; they can track how many clicks are directed to each destination and whether those clicks originate from the U.S. or other tiered countries (where “tier” refers to the likelihood of individuals being buyers).
This is why, when you purchase solo ads, vendors rarely inquire about what you are promoting; they simply don’t care.
It wouldn’t make sense for them to send a targeted email to their list explaining what subscribers can expect upon clicking. Instead, they continue to send bulk emails to a burnt-out list, hoping that someone might click.
They possess their own statistics and can effectively estimate the percentage of opt-ins you might achieve.
Most of these solo ad vendors are eager to send you traffic; however, keep in mind that the majority of leads you acquire will likely be uninterested in offers beyond “Check out my system to earn $400 in two minutes with no effort” or “Discover how I use AI to make $1,000 a day” and the like. Please relate to this article to understand these kind of claims
In reality, these leads are primarily people who still believe in such quick-fix solutions, and they are unlikely to engage with serious products that promise rewards after genuine effort. Their interest in those types of offers is minimal.
So, yes, your list will grow, and its responsiveness may increase as well. However, it is crucial to analyze how many leads open the emails you send them after they opt in. You might be surprised by how low that percentage is.
THE GOAL:
So, what’s the point of buying this traffic? You do grow your list, you may eventually make some sales, and you get exposure for your interests.
The harsh truth is that the percentage of non-burnt and responsive leads is around 1%—this is largely a matter of luck. You might achieve one sale for every 200 clicks, depending on the appeal of your offer, and yes, you do get views.
Is anyone actually making money with solo ads? The primary beneficiary is the seller, of course. If you manage your strategy wisely in the mid-term, you might break even on your investment.
Forget about spending $200 and making $500 just by directing traffic to an opt-in page; you will need to nurture those leads over time. This is no easy task.
I used to promote a solo ad service—not by selling them myself, but by endorsing a vendor after verifying the responsiveness of his leads. Eventually, he offered me his list of 200,000 leads for $2,000-$3,000. I declined, recognizing that purchasing it would ruin any SMTP service in the near future, as had happened to him repeatedly. Although there were buyers and openers, most leads were burned out.
That’s why I shifted my focus to my own traffic sources, primarily involving dead domains I purchase and safelists. In the long run, this has yielded about 1-2% of leads, meaning I gain 1-2 leads for every 100 visits. Again, these leads also require nurturing to build trust before they make a purchase.
THE QUEST:
The question arises: If these vendors have such successful lists, why don’t they use them to promote products and make a substantial income? The answer is simple—they understand that the only way to profit from these lists is by selling to individuals who don’t know how to handle the clicks and are unlikely to nurture the leads. Eventually, these buyers can be told that “It didn’t work because of your offer,” or “Your opt-in isn’t functioning properly.”
THE REALITY:
Now, let’s address the reality: How many marketers actually check the responsiveness of leads acquired through solo ad vendors? I estimate that, at best, only about 3% do.
We tend to deceive ourselves when we spend money on something, convincing ourselves that “I may not have made any sales, but I gathered 120 leads—fantastic!” In the end, however, you’ve made no sales, and out of those 120 leads, you might only have about 2-4 genuine openers who will require nurturing in order to sell them even a small item in the coming weeks.