# Cold email for first B2B SaaS customers: research before volume. - working worksheet

Reviewed alongside the Eli guide: https://hireeli.io/resources/cold-email-first-b2b-saas-customers

## Decision to make

Run a small founder-owned cold email experiment

Owner: ____________________
Review date: ____________________
Canonical page or destination: ____________________

## Buyer questions

- [ ] How should a SaaS founder write the first cold email?
- [ ] How many accounts belong in an early outbound test?
- [ ] What counts as real personalization?
- [ ] When should a founder scale cold outreach?

## Evidence-led work plan

### 1. Select accounts with an observable trigger

Choose one segment and one condition connected to the problem, such as a platform migration, new team, job opening or visible manual process.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 2. Write one problem hypothesis

Use four parts: the reason this company was selected, the workflow that may be difficult, the outcome affected and one question.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 3. Operate the twenty-account test by hand

Verify the recipient, send a small batch and wait long enough to read the signal.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 4. Classify replies before changing the copy

Separate wrong person, no problem, no urgency, existing solution, missing trust, price, timing and interested.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 5. Scale the learning, not only the send count

Add accounts when the same segment and trigger consistently produce relevant conversations and the company can follow up well.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

## Source ledger

- [ ] ICO: direct marketing guidance: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications/guide-to-pecr/direct-marketing/
- [ ] HubSpot: finding and keeping a first customer: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/first-customer
- [ ] Google Search Central: people-first content guidance: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

## Measurement boundary

Baseline date and exact context: ____________________
7-day observation: ____________________
14-day observation: ____________________
30-day observation: ____________________
Known limitations: ____________________

Keep technical eligibility, citations, recommendations, visits, leads and revenue as separate evidence. This worksheet does not guarantee an external ranking or commercial result.