2026-06-electrical-distributor

# Campaign: 2026-06-electrical-distributor
**Persona:** Electrical Distributor (takeoff-owning sub-cut) | **Hypothesis:** Open-ended question CTA + roadmap-feedback DM#3 will outperform last campaign's 8.7% reply rate on a refined audience of distributors that actually own the takeoff workflow | **Date:** 2026-05-20

## Rationale

This sequence keeps everything that worked in `2026-05-sales-electrical-distributor-manufacturer` (8.7% reply, 2 active pipeline leads) and changes the two highest-leverage content elements that have **never been used on this persona**:

1. **DM#1 CTA → open-ended question.** Playbook Bayesian analysis: "15-minute call" CTA has 0% probability of being best (1.2% reply across 7 campaigns); open-ended question has 93% probability of being best (14.2%). Last campaign used "15-minute call" anyway — this is the single biggest content lever we haven't pulled on this persona.
2. **DM#3 → roadmap-feedback ask.** `2026-04-sales-electric-suppliers` used this format and the switchgear retro flagged it as worth re-adopting. Recent campaigns dropped it for a sales close. Re-adopting should reactivate connections that ignored DM#1/DM#2 — a low-friction off-ramp that doubles as product intel.

Unchanged from the proven last-campaign formula:
- Founder-story-first opener (playbook rule #1, confirmed across 3 campaigns: 11.3% vs 2.1%)
- Social proof line about "testing with quotation teams at a few distributors" (currently being tested in sibling 2026-05 campaign, kept for consistency)
- DM#1 ≤60 words (51 actual)
- DM#2 = sample-project offer + email reveal (proven low-friction demo path; David Garcia at Crawford Electric responded directly to this format)
- Pain-point email subject ("Quoting from blueprints at {{companyName}}") — kept consistent with sibling campaign so email-channel results stay comparable

Audience list build (Sales Nav — applied before any messaging):
- **Titles included:** Quotations Specialist, Quotation Specialist, Account Manager, Technical Sales Specialist, Project Specialist, Outside Sales (only at distributors)
- **Geos:** Border states + canada: Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Canada. Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Minnesota, North Dakota, Washington, California, United States
Expand Geography filter
- **Company keywords:** "electrical supply", "electrical distribution", "electrical wholesale", "quotations", "takeoff"
- **Company size:** 11–500 employees
- **Excluded titles:** Inside Sales Representative (0/11 last campaign), Sales Manager (0/18), Regional Sales Manager (0/10), VP (0/9), Business Development Manager (5/0 — except 1 Schneider auto-reply), Counter Sales, Warehouse, Driver
- **Excluded companies:** 1000+ employees (Schneider, Eaton, ABB, Siemens, nVent — confirmed dead-end across 4 campaigns)

---

## LinkedIn path (connection accepted)

### Step 1: Connection request note
No note — send without. (Acceptance rates have been consistent at 27–31% across recent campaigns regardless of note.)

### Step 2: DM #1 (after accept, 30min delay)
Hey {{firstname}}, thanks for connecting. I'm a former electrical apprentice and PlanGrid dev building an a tool that turns PDFs into instant electrical gear BOMs. I've been testing with quotation teams at a few distributors and the feedback's been positive.

Curious — what's the biggest bottleneck on quotes for you right now?

Alexei

*(51 words. Open-ended question replaces "Open to a quick 15-minute call?")*

### Step 3: DM #2 (if no reply, 3-4 days later)
You can also send me a sample project and I'll send back the bill of materials it produces, so you can see how it works on your projects. My email is alexei@usevawn.com.

### Step 4: DM #3 (if no reply, no email available)
If I'm not supporting the BOM you're focused on, I'd love to know what they are so I can bump them up on the roadmap or use it as feedback. What's on your plate this month?

Alexei

*(Roadmap-feedback ask replaces "I'm now inviting a handful of people to try it out...")*

---

## Email path (connection accepted, has email)

### Step 5: Email #1 (7 days after DM#2, no reply)
**Subject:** {{firstname}}

Hey {{firstname}},

I'm a former electrical apprentice and PlanGrid dev building an a tool that turns PDFs into instant electrical gear BOMs. I've been testing with quotation teams at a few distributors and the feedback's been positive.

Curious — what's the biggest bottleneck on quotes for you right now?

Alexei

---

## Email path (connection NOT accepted)

### Step 7: Email #1
**Subject:** {{firstname}}

Hey {{firstname}},

I'm a former electrical apprentice and PlanGrid dev building an a tool that turns PDFs into instant electrical gear BOMs. I've been testing with quotation teams at a few distributors and the feedback's been positive.

Curious — what's the biggest bottleneck on quotes for you right now?

Alexei

### Step 8: Email #2 (7 days later)
**Subject:**
You can also send me a sample project and I'll send back the bill of materials it produces, so you can see how it works on your projects.

Alexei

### Step 9: Email #3 (7 days later)
**Subject:**
If I'm not supporting the BOM you're focused on, I'd love to know what they are so I can bump them up on the roadmap or use it as feedback. What's on your plate this month?

Alexei

# Hypothesis: Open-ended CTA + feedback-ask DM#3 on a takeoff-owning distributor cut

## Statement
Replacing the "15-minute call" CTA in DM#1 with an open-ended question, and switching DM#3 from a sales close to a roadmap-feedback ask, will raise the LinkedIn reply rate above the 8.7% baseline from `2026-05-sales-electrical-distributor-manufacturer` — when run against a refined audience of distributors whose people actually own the takeoff workflow (Canadian distributors + US distributors that publicly market takeoff services + the proven title cluster).

## Why this matters

**Content rationale:**
- Across 7 campaigns the playbook's Bayesian analysis says the "15-minute call" CTA performs worst (1.2% reply, 0% probability of being best) and open-ended question CTAs perform best (14.2%, 93% probability of being best). But this has only ever been measured *cross-campaign* with audience confounds. Every recent supplier-persona campaign has used the "15-minute call" CTA. Replacing it is the single highest-leverage content change available.
- The `2026-04-sales-electric-suppliers` campaign's DM#3 used a roadmap-feedback ask ("What trades are you estimating?") which the switchgear retro flagged as worth re-adopting. Recent campaigns dropped it for a sales-close. Re-adopting it should reactivate dormant connections that already let DM#1 and DM#2 pass without replying.

**Audience rationale (list build — not the A/B variable):**
- Last campaign's title leaderboard (cross-referenced with CRM follow-through) showed Technical Sales Specialist (28.6%), Account Manager (17.6%), Outside Sales at distributors (13.3%) and Project Specialist (50% on n=2) as the engaged cluster. Inside Sales (0/11), Sales Manager (0/18), Regional Sales Manager (0/10), VP (0/9) are dead segments.
- Canadian distributors over-indexed at 16.7% (5/30) last campaign. Murray Tulloch's call confirmed the structural reason: in Ottawa-region Ontario, Quebec, and BC, distributors own the takeoff (the contractor doesn't do it). That makes them feel the daily pain.
- US research (May 2026): distributor-led takeoffs are a *company* signal more than a *regional* one in the US. Border States (31 states, posts dedicated "Quotations Specialist" roles), Elliott Electric (TX, eQuotes online platform), QED, Crawford Electric Supply (Houston — our David Garcia pipeline win), OneSource, Renegade Electric (BC — Md Zubab reply) all actively offer takeoff/quoting as a service line. Layer this company-type signal on top of the title cut.

## Test design

This is a **sequential single-arm test**, not an A/B. La Growth runs one variant; we compare its LinkedIn reply rate to `2026-05-sales-electrical-distributor-manufacturer` (8.7%, broad sales audience, "15-min call" CTA, sales-close DM#3) as the baseline.

- **Single variant (test):**
  - DM#1 CTA: "Curious — what's the biggest bottleneck on quotes for you right now?" (vs prior "Open to a quick 15-minute call?")
  - DM#3 close: roadmap-feedback ask (vs prior "inviting a handful of people to try it out")
  - DM#1 keeps the proven elements: founder story + social proof line + ≤60 words (51 words actual)
  - Email subject keeps the pain-point variant being tested in the sibling 2026-05 campaign for consistency: "Quoting from blueprints at {{companyName}}"

- **Audience filter changes from `2026-05-sales-electrical-distributor-manufacturer`:**
  - Titles narrowed to: Quotations Specialist, Quotation Specialist, Account Manager, Technical Sales Specialist, Project Specialist, Outside Sales (distributors only)
  - Geo: Canada (ON, QC, BC) + US states where the proven distributor companies operate (TX, AZ, ND/MN/Mountain West for Border States, OH/PA for QED region)
  - Company-type keywords: "electrical supply", "electrical distribution", "electrical wholesale", "quotations", "takeoff services"
  - Excluded titles: Inside Sales Representative, Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, VP, Business Development Manager, Counter Sales
  - Company size: 11-500 employees (unchanged)

- **Primary metric:** LinkedIn reply rate (replies / new contact requests sent)
- **Secondary metrics:** Connection acceptance rate, replier quality (% genuine interest after CRM cross-reference), demo conversions, % of replies referencing trades/pain points (signal that DM#3 reactivated)
- **Sample target:** 150–200 leads (similar scale to 2026-05 to make comparison meaningful)

## What we expect to learn

- **LI reply rate >12%:** The combined CTA + DM#3 change is a clear win; bake both into the playbook as the new default DM#1/DM#3 for the distributor persona.
- **LI reply rate 9–12%:** Likely incremental win, but with audience refinement confounds. Keep changes, plan a direct A/B in a future campaign to isolate the CTA effect.
- **LI reply rate 7–9% (within ±1.5pp of baseline):** Inconclusive. Either the audience refinement offset the CTA win, or the CTA effect is smaller than playbook estimates. Re-test with same audience but only one content change at a time.
- **LI reply rate <7%:** The audience cut is too narrow or the CTA change backfired with this persona (unlikely given playbook evidence). Investigate connection-acceptance rate first — if also lower, the issue is the title/geo filter, not the content.
- **% of replies mentioning trades or specific pain points:** validates whether DM#3 actually reactivates rather than just being ignored.

## Risks

- **Compound change confound:** Three things changed at once (CTA, DM#3, audience). If reply rate moves, we won't cleanly attribute the win to any single change. Acceptable for this round because the playbook already gives us strong priors on each — we're confirming directionally, not isolating effects. Next campaign can isolate.
- **Audience-too-narrow risk:** Tighter title + geo filters could shrink the sendable pool below useful volume. Target list should be ≥150 to keep reply-rate measurement stable.
- **Email reply tracking:** The sibling 2026-05 campaign is also testing the pain-point email subject. Using it here means we can't claim email-subject results as new evidence — but it keeps the comparison clean.

## Success criteria

- **LI reply rate ≥10% AND ≥2 active pipeline leads → adopt both content changes as the new distributor-persona default.**
- **LI reply rate 8–10% with ≥1 active pipeline lead → tentative win, isolate via an A/B in next round.**
- **LI reply rate <8% → roll back, re-test CTA change alone on the proven audience.**
- **Independent signal:** if ≥3 replies explicitly mention a specific trade/pain point in response to DM#3, the feedback-ask format is validated regardless of overall reply rate.

No leads linked to this campaign yet.