Pros
- Excellent deliverability analytics
- High level of email personalization
- Sophisticated email sequence builder
- Multichannel outreach - calls and LinkedIn
- Easy-to-understand analytics dashboard
- Automatic pause when recipient replies
Cons
- No LinkedIn email finder
- No built-in email templates
- A/B testing feature costs extra
Best or unique feature
- Comprehensive and visualliy appealing analytics
Deliverability
Email Sequences & Follow-ups
Pricing & Trial
Prospecting & Email Verification
Multichannel Outreach
Personalization & Customizability
Analytics & Metrics
Are you tired of manually sending out hundreds of cold emails to potential clients, only to receive minimal responses?
Well, it’s time to meet your new best friend: Woodpecker!
No, I’m not talking about the bird that hammers away at trees all day.
Woodpecker is a powerful email automation tool designed to make your life easier and your sales process more efficient.
In this Woodpecker review, we’ll evaluate how you can create and schedule personalized emails, track responses, and improve your outreach strategy—all without lifting a finger.
We’ll also take a deeper look into the critical features, the pros and cons and look at the pricing of this cold email tool.
Evaluation Criteria for a Cold Email Outreach Software
When selecting a cold email outreach software, there are various assessment standards that you should take into account. Below are some of the essential aspects to bear in mind:
- Deliverability: To ensure your emails reach your target audience's inbox and avoid getting stuck in the spam folder, search for software that offers email warmup tools, can assist you in landing in the primary inbox, includes email throttling and human-like sending, and assesses spam risks.
- Prospecting & Email Verification: The quality of the leads you reach out to affects the success of your email outreach. Find software that includes lead generation tools, a LinkedIn email finder, and an email verifier.
- Personalization & Customizability: To make your cold emails more engaging and less generic, search for software that provides email templates, dynamic images, and dynamic videos to personalize your outreach for each individual recipient.
- Email Sequences & Follow-ups: One email may not be enough to get a response, so consider software that includes an email sequence builder and the ability to pause the sequence when a recipient responds.
- Multichannel outreach: Look for software that offers more than just email outreach. Search for features such as cold calling, SMS capabilities, and LinkedIn outreach options.
- Analytics & Metrics: Keep track of your outreach efforts and evaluate their effectiveness by using software that includes dashboards, open rate and click-through rate tracking, A/B testing options, and sales team metrics reporting.
- Pricing: Finally, compare the software's price with other options on the market and look for software that offers a trial period to test it out before committing to a long-term subscription.
1. Deliverability
Rating for Deliverability
When evaluating Woodpecker, one of the key factors to consider is deliverability. The good news is that Woodpecker has a high overall delivery rate. This implies that if you have well-tested email templates and a clean prospect list, your email outreach efforts are more likely to succeed.
It is important to note, however, that factors such as the quality of your email list and the content of your emails might have an influence on deliverability. Thus, if you’re not getting the results you desire, take a look at these elements and make any necessary adjustments.
In general, we find that Woodpecker is a reliable email outreach tool that can help you connect with your target audience.
Deliverability Monitoring
One of the standout features of Woodpecker is its Deliverability Monitoring feature. This feature allows you to track the deliverability of your emails and identify any issues that may be affecting your outreach efforts.
With this feature, you can see which emails are getting delivered, which are bouncing, and which are ending up in spam folders. This information is critical to ensuring that your emails are reaching your target audience and that your outreach efforts are as effective as possible.
With the Deliverability Monitoring feature, you can quickly identify and address any deliverability issues, helping you to improve the success of your email campaigns.
Email Warm-up Tool
The Warm-up tool is another feature of Woodpecker. This tool is intended to assist you in progressively improving your email sending reputation with internet service providers (ISPs). You may reduce the likelihood of your emails being identified as spam by starting with a lower volume and gradually increasing over time.
The Warm-up tool is a useful feature for anyone new to email outreach or trying to enhance deliverability rates. Nevertheless, our evaluation shows that the Woodpecker Warm-up Tool was just around average in terms of efficacy.
While it did help warm up some emails, we still experienced issues with deliverability for some messages. So, while the Warm-up tool is a helpful feature, it may not be a silver bullet for improving your email deliverability.
2. Prospecting & Email Verification
Rating for Prospecting
Woodpecker provides a built-in email verifier that ensures that the email address you are trying to reach is valid. The verification happens during the sending process, saving you time and eliminating the need for a separate email verification step.
However, if you prefer to verify your email list first before hitting send, you can integrate third-party software such as NeverBounce and Bouncer.
It’s worth mentioning that Woodpecker doesn’t include a LinkedIn email finder. This means you’ll need to utilize a different tool or service to discover emails for your LinkedIn connections.
Prospect Management
Despite its limitation on lead generation, Woodpecker’s prospect list has a lot of useful features that can help you manage your outreach efforts. It features a specific column for the last response date, for example, which may help you track interaction and follow-up with prospects who have expressed interest in your outreach.
Furthermore, the prospect list includes timezone information, which may assist you arrange emails to be sent at the most appropriate time for each target. Finally, you may put up to 15 snippets in the prospect list, which can be utilized to tailor your outreach and boost the likelihood of a response.
3. Personalization & Customizability
Rating for Personalization
When it comes to personalization and customizability, Woodpecker offers a lot of options to help you tailor your outreach efforts to your target audience. The prospect lists in Woodpecker include a bunch of columns, such as company, title, address, and industry, which can help you add a high level of personalization to your messages.
What’s more, you can add up to 15 custom snippets, which you can assign to any information or note that you may need to include. This level of customization can be incredibly helpful when you’re trying to connect with specific audiences or tailor your messaging to different groups.
With Woodpecker, you can make sure that your outreach efforts are as personalized and effective as possible.
Email Templates
During this Woodpecker review, I found that this cold email tool does not provide any built-in email templates. I would consider this a downside.
Nevertheless, it does provide a great deal of freedom in terms of creating and updating your own templates. You may add as many templates as you like to Woodpecker, and you can simply manage them from within the platform.
This might be a useful tool if you have numerous campaigns operating at the same time or if you operate with a large team. Furthermore, Woodpecker allows you to modify your templates in order to make your outreach efforts as focused and successful as possible.
Overall, while the lack of built-in templates may be a downside for some users, Woodpecker’s template management and personalization features make it a strong option for anyone looking to create and manage their own email templates.
4. Email Sequences & Follow-ups
Rating for Sequences
Email sequences and follow-ups are critical components of successful email outreach campaigns, and Woodpecker offers a lot of great features in this area.
The automation feature that Woodpecker offers may save you a lot of time and work while also ensuring that you follow up with your prospects at the right time.
What’s more, Woodpecker offers a lot of customization options when it comes to your email sequences, including the ability to add custom fields and snippets, which can help you create more personalized and effective outreach messages.
Sequence Builder
The sequence builder in Woodpecker is a standout feature of the platform. The UI is amazing, making it incredibly easy to create and manage your email sequences.
With the sequence builder, you can add conditions based on whether your prospects have opened, clicked, or replied to your initial email, and you can personalize follow-up emails accordingly. This level of customization can be incredibly effective when it comes to engaging with your prospects and increasing your response rates.
Overall, the sequence builder in Woodpecker is a great tool for anyone looking to create and manage effective email sequences.
5. Multichannel Outreach
Rating for Multichannel
Woodpecker has a multichannel outreach capability that may be an effective tool for communicating with prospects across several platforms. However, it’s important to note that this feature is only available on Woodpecker’s Sales Assistant plan, and is not included in the Woodpecker Cold Email plan.
If you wish to use Woodpecker’s multichannel outreach capabilities, you’ll need to upgrade to the Woodpecker Sales Assistant.
That being said, the multichannel outreach feature in Sales Assistant is well worth the effort, as it can help you engage with your prospects across different channels, including LinkedIn and Twitter, and can help you increase your response rates and overall engagement.
Overall, if you’re looking for a powerful tool for multichannel outreach, Woodpecker’s Sales Assistant is definitely worth considering.
Woodpecker Sales Assistant
When reviewing Woodpecker, it’s worth noting that the platform offers a Sales Assistant tool, which can be a great option for users who need a more robust set of features. However, during my Woodpecker review, I found it difficult to switch between the different products from Cold Email to Sales Assistant.
In addition to all the features available with Woodpecker Cold Email, the Woodpecker Sales Assistant tool also includes multichannel outreach via LinkedIn and voice calling, which can help you reach your prospects through different channels and increase your chances of making a connection.
Overall, if you’re looking for a more advanced set of features with multichannel outreach support, you should sign up with the Sales Assistant instead of just the Cold Email.
6. Analytics & Metrics
Rating for Analytics
When it comes to analytics and metrics, Woodpecker offers a user-friendly report that provides a wealth of useful information. You can easily see metrics like invalid email addresses, sent emails, bounced emails, and emails that were successfully delivered to the inbox.
Furthermore, the platform gives information on how many of these emails were opened, responded to, and unsubscribed from. This can provide you with a better understanding of how your email outreach is performing and allow you to make necessary changes to your campaigns.
Overall, I found the analytics and metrics offered by Woodpecker to be comprehensive and easy to understand, making it a valuable tool for anyone looking to improve their email outreach efforts.
7. Pricing & Trial
Pricing
Woodpecker offers three distinct products, but the more expensive options are essentially upgrades of the basic plan. If you’re considering using Woodpecker, it’s important to understand the pricing structure. Here’s a breakdown of the different pricing plans available.
Woodpecker Cold Email
If you’re looking for an affordable way to start your cold email outreach campaigns, Woodpecker Cold Email plan might be a great fit for you. Woodpecker Cold Email offers a 30-day free trial for its cold email feature. After that, the pricing plans are as follows:
- $39 per month per email slot with 1500 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $44 per month per email slot with 6000 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $49 per month per email slot for unlimited prospect contact
Woodpecker Sales Assistant
If you want to take your email outreach to the next level, you might want to consider Woodpecker Sales Assistant. This tool has all the features of the Cold Email plan, plus the multichannel outreach features.
Woodpecker Sales Assistant also offers a 30-day free trial. This is great for those who want to try out the multichannel outreach feature before committing to a plan. The pricing plans for Sales Assistant are as follows:
- $49 per month per email slot with 1500 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $54 per month per email slot with 6000 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $59 per month per email slot for unlimited prospect contact
Woodpecker Agency
Woodpecker Agency is another offering from Woodpecker and it also provides a 30-day free trial. It includes all the features of Woodpecker Cold email plus the added capability of managing multiple clients.
This is a great feature for agencies or businesses that work with multiple clients. Additionally, Woodpecker Agency has some other unique features not found in Woodpecker Cold email and Sales Assistant plans. The pricing for Woodpecker Agency starts at:
- $44 per month per email slot with 1500 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $49 per month per email slot with 6000 monthly prospects that you can contact
- $54 per month per email slot for unlimited prospect contact
There are also add-ons available for all plans, whether it’s Woodpecker Cold Email, Woodpecker Sales Assistant, or Woodpecker Agency. For $5 per month per email slot, you can include API and Integration features, and for $10 per month per email slot, you can add the A/B testing feature.
Additionally, it’s important to note that the unlimited plan still relies on your email service provider’s sending limit.
The pricing plans are based on the number of prospects you can contact per month, and you can add more slots if you need to increase your monthly prospect limit. Overall, the pricing is competitive, and the plans offer good value for the features provided.
30-day free trial with this link
Frequently Asked Questions About Woodpecker
Here are some frequently asked questions about Woodpecker and its features to help you better understand the software and make an informed decision.
What are the Downsides of Woodpecker?
Although Woodpecker is an excellent tool for email marketing, there are a few drawbacks to be aware of. To begin, you must upgrade to Woodpecker Sales Assistant in order to use the multichannel outreach tool. You must upgrade to Woodpecker Agency if you wish to handle several clients.
This implies you’ll have to pay more to have access to these extra features. Another disadvantage of Woodpecker is that the user interface may be better.
Because the navigation menu is positioned on the top nav bar, you must scroll up every time you need to access it. The navigation menu would be considerably more useful if it were put on the left sidebar.
What are the Best Alternatives for Woodpecker?
If you’re searching for different options for automating your email outreach, there are several alternatives to Woodpecker that you might want to consider.
While Woodpecker is a fantastic tool for sending personalized cold emails, it’s always a good idea to explore other options to find the best fit for your specific needs.
Pros
- Unlimited A/B testing variants
- Multi-channel support
- Advanced variables or conditions
- HTML code editor in emails
- Unlimited number of follow-ups
- Built-in Jason AI integration
Cons
- No image personalization
- Email validition takes very long
- Chrome extension is not working
Best or unique feature
- Free Data Search feature
Deliverability
Email Sequences & Follow-ups
Pricing & Trial
Prospecting & Email Verification
Multichannel Outreach
Personalization & Customizability
Analytics & Metrics
Reply.io is a great alternative to Woodpecker, especially if you need a tool with a built-in multichannel outreach feature. You can use it for sending not only cold emails but also social media messages, calls, and even text messages. Additionally, it has a built-in feature similar to the Woodpecker Agency upgrade, which allows you to manage multiple clients and use multiple domains for your email campaigns.
Pros
- Custom pre-header to boost open rates
- Free email warm-up tool included
- Built-in email verification tool
- Email sequence stop when recipient replies
- Comprehensive sales overview and reporting
- A/B testing with up to 26 variants
Cons
- No multichannel outreach features
- No tracking for email forwarding
- No feature for dynamic texts on images
Best or unique feature
- Best for ensuring high deliverability rate
Deliverability
Email Sequences & Follow-ups
Pricing & Trial
Prospecting & Email Verification
Multichannel Outreach
Personalization & Customizability
Analytics & Metrics
SalesHandy is another alternative worth considering, especially if you’re looking for a tool with an excellent email verification feature. With SalesHandy, you can easily clean your prospect list and remove those invalid email addresses. It also has a free email warm-up tool, which helps you establish a good sender reputation and avoid getting flagged as spam.
Pros
- Built-in HTML code support
- They offer a permanent free plan
- Hundreds of built-in customizable templates
- Unlimited number of follow-ups
- Powerful email finder
- Gmail tracker that tracks real-time email activities
Cons
- Lacks image personalization
- No multi-channel outreach
- A/B testing is an extra feature you need to purchase
Best or unique feature
- Best for prospecting and lead generation
Deliverability
Email Sequences & Follow-ups
Pricing & Trial
Prospecting & Email Verification
Multichannel Outreach
Personalization & Customizability
Analytics & Metrics
Snov.io is a great option. It has a drag-and-drop feature that makes creating email campaigns easy. Plus, it has pre-made campaign templates and email templates to help you get started. The email finder tool is also a big plus, as it helps you find the email addresses of potential leads. With the integration of Hippo Video, you can add video personalization to your emails as well. The best part? Snov.io has a trial plan that costs $0 per month and can be renewed on a monthly basis.
By comparing features, pricing, and user reviews, you can find the right email automation platform that meets your specific requirements, whether you need multichannel outreach, advanced features, or excellent email verification.
So, take some time to explore the available alternatives and choose the one that suits your business goals and budget the best.
Is Woodpecker Customer Service Any Good?
Based on my personal experience, Woodpecker’s customer service is not as good as I expected. While I did receive a response to my initial query within 83 minutes, it took another two hours to receive a solution from the dedicated department. When I asked a follow-up question, however, I did not receive a reply even after 17 hours.
While this experience may not be representative of Woodpecker’s overall customer service, it is worth noting that my particular experience was not as prompt or satisfactory as I had hoped.
Key Takeaways from the Woodpecker Review
In summary, Woodpecker is a great email automation tool for businesses that want to improve their outreach campaigns. Its main features include personalized email campaigns, A/B testing, and email verification.
The platform offers three plans: Woodpecker Cold Email, Woodpecker Sales Assistant, and Woodpecker Agency, all of which offer different levels of features and pricing. Each plan comes with a 30-day free trial. However, the user interface could be improved, and there’s no built-in LinkedIn email finder.
If you’re looking for an alternative to Woodpecker, there are several options worth considering. Reply.io is a good choice for those looking for built-in multichannel outreach, while Saleshandy is ideal for users who want a strong email verification feature. Snov.io is an excellent choice for users who want a more advanced tool that can do multiple functions at once. However, the downside is that there’s a steep learning curve.
The key takeaway from this is that Woodpecker is a versatile tool that can be useful for businesses that want to improve their email outreach campaigns. It’s important to consider your business’s specific needs when selecting a plan, as each one offers different features and pricing.
Additionally, it’s worth exploring alternative options to determine which platform best suits your business’s goals and budget.
