2–3% is actually quite high considering that this is a cold email list.
In other words, these people are not actual leads.
These email contacts are basically just scraped.
Maybe a better approach would be to email and get them to sign up for something completely free.
When you do this, you smoke people out.
You first figure out people who are actually opening their emails and second, you figure out what their interests are.
Since the offer is free, they are more likely to identify themselves.
And once you get them to give their email for that free offer, then your list is now warmer than your previous list.
Now you're on to something.
You can then start sending them information to further filter them.
Maybe send them $1 offers to separate actual buyers from tire kickers.
Remember, even if you have a million people who are interested in your newsletter but they're not willing to habitually open your emails and they are not willing to spend as little as a dollar on your offers, then they have no business being on your list.
They're dead weight.
They don't add value to you.
The key is to turn a massive cold email list of maybe several hundred thousand, into a warm list of maybe a few thousand, and then separate that warm list into $1 or 50 cent offers between actual buyers and people who are willing to take action and tire kickers.
Once you separate them, then you focus on the ones that will actually buy.
Send them high-quality updates.
Interact with them.
Learn from them.
Ask them what they want to see and then you build a solid relationship.
That small list, as humble as it may be, can be your greatest asset because this is a list of people who actually buy.
Of course, you can destroy all of this by sending them spam or unrelated offers.