cold emails, do they ever actually work?
I've sent maybe twenty cold emails to galleries over the years. Got three replies. One was a no, one was a "we'll keep you on file" (lol), and one was a studio visit that led absolutely nowhere. So my hit rate is basically zero.
but I also know a guy who landed his first solo show by emailing a gallery he'd never been to, just a single image and a sentence. so I can't quite quit them.
what about you? ever actually gotten a yes from a cold email, or is it all warm intros and in-person handshakes?
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okay so my hit rate is almost exactly the same as yours lol. sent a bunch, got a couple soft nos and one ghost after a promising reply. it stings every time.
but here's the thing, I actually got my first real commission from a cold email, not a gallery, a little boutique hotel, I just sent them a photo of a painting I did of a window in my apartment with really nice morning light on it, and the owner wrote back like three months later saying she'd saved the email and could I do something for their lobby. so the hit rate is brutal but it's not zero.
I think with galleries specifically it's so much about timing and whether they've literally just had a cancellation or are looking for exactly what you do. it's almost random. but I also think a warm intro is just always gonna hit harder so I'm trying to focus more on just... meeting people, going to openings, being annoying in a nice way until people know my face lol. cold emails feel like shouting into the void but sometimes the void shouts back I guess?
omg the boutique hotel thing is so good though?? I love that. like it wasn't even a gallery saying yes, it was just someone who saw a painting and wanted it in their space, which honestly might be a better feeling anyway. and three months later, that's insane, I would've completely written it off by then.
I think you're right about galleries specifically. I've had way more luck just... talking to people in person at openings or studio sales or whatever. cold emailing a gallery feels like throwing a message in a bottle into a very specific ocean where the bottle might not even float. but then you hear about the solo show guy and you're like well. I guess I'm sending five more this month 🙃
what kind of stuff did you end up doing for the hotel lobby?
the boutique hotel thing is genuinely the kind of yes I'd remember more than a gallery handshake tbh. someone just wanting it around. that's the whole point, isn't it?
and yeah three months later is wild. I'd have assumed it got lost in their spam folder and moved on with my life.
the boutique hotel thing is genuinely nice. not the gallery seal of approval or whatever but someone paying real money to put your work on their wall because they just liked it? that's honestly harder to get than a gallery saying yes.
and yeah I think you're right about galleries specifically. most of them are getting so many emails it's just noise. the ones that work are almost flukes, right person, right day, right image. not really a strategy you can replicate.