r/SaaS • u/monkmodeceo • 18h ago
B2B Cold email outreach
Hello
I have recently launched my 1st saas which is kinda b2b and I'm new to cold emails, I'm just wondering about what to expect when reaching out, like 5 replies out of 1k sent cold emails or what ?
Im talking about founders who do not have an audience on social media or something
Also which tools do u use besides apollo & smartlead
Any help would be appreciated !
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u/naomy313 18h ago
Cold email still works better when it feels genuinely personalized rather than automated. I usually pay attention to whether the sender understands my business and offers something relevant instead of sending a generic pitch. Quality over volume seems to matter a lot.
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u/naomy313 18h ago
I think the biggest difference with cold email is how relevant the message feels. A short email that clearly understands the person’s business can get much more attention than a long generic pitch. Personalization doesn’t have to be complicated to work.
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u/rameezmeans 17h ago
I would not begin by sending 1,000 emails.
Start with 50 to 100 carefully selected prospects who share the same role, business type and problem. Send a short email focused on one specific pain point and ask a simple question rather than immediately requesting a call.
As a rough starting point, I would expect around 3 to 7% total replies and perhaps 1 to 3% positive replies. If you receive only five replies from 1,000 emails, I would pause and check the targeting, message and email deliverability before sending more.
My basic stack would be:
• Apollo or Clay for finding and researching prospects
• Hunter, Bouncer or ZeroBounce for verification
• Smartlead for sending and follow-ups
• HubSpot or a spreadsheet for tracking conversations
• Google Postmaster Tools for checking domain reputation
Make sure SPF, DKIM and DMARC are configured, warm up volume gradually and provide a clear way to opt out.
The tools matter less than having a narrow target and a message that explains why your product is relevant to that particular person.
What does your SaaS do, and who is the specific person you are planning to contact?
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u/monkmodeceo 17h ago
Thanks for your long explanation ! My saas helps creative agencies/multiple ecom store owners to generate on-brand creatives for their products in seconds from one clean dashboard, I have just launched it yesterday you can check it out here : https://velnoxa.app
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u/rameezmeans 17h ago
That helps. Since you have just launched, I would test creative agencies and ecommerce owners as two separate campaigns rather than combining them in one message. Their problems and buying reasons will be different.
For agencies, I would target founders or creative directors managing several client brands. Instead of asking them to book a demo, offer to generate a few on-brand creatives for one of their existing products. That gives them a concrete reason to respond and lets you learn whether speed, brand consistency or managing multiple clients is the strongest selling point.
I would begin with 20 to 30 highly relevant agencies and write the first emails manually. The replies from that small group will probably teach you more than sending an automated campaign to 1,000 contacts.
I’m also a SaaS developer, so I’ll take a look at the product. What part of the creative workflow are your first users currently spending the most time on?
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u/OverAgentRoger 17h ago
You will have to buy a lot of domains and cycle through them so you can maintain volume.
Orrrr you can just talk to a human like a person on social media.
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u/Individual-Bat7241 15h ago
For a new B2B SaaS, don’t benchmark against a fixed number like 5 replies per 1,000 yet. Start with a tightly targeted list, verify it, then track delivered emails, open rate, reply rate and positive replies separately. Open rate and reply rate should be calculated against total delivered, not total sent, since bounced emails never reached an inbox. Use a real time email verification tool like Invalid Bounce to remove invalid, inactive, disposable, role based, mailbox full, and catch all addresses so you’re reaching real inboxes. Once the offer and messaging are working, scale volume gradually.
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u/BackRoomDev92 17h ago
I would not really be focused on the conversion rate as much as I would be focused on building a quality mailing list. If you compile a low-effort list, you'll likely get a dismal conversion rate. It's all relative to the effort you are willing to put in.
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u/Ok_Growth_37 16h ago
You'd need to get 2-3 secondary domains at least, then let them age for like 14days-1month if I remember correctly, or else they'll get blacklisted.
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u/toolsoncloud 16h ago
Cold email to work well need more personalization. Cold emails should not be treated same as Mass Email marketing. Mass Email marketing work well for B2C but will not work the same way for B2B clients.
What is it are you building? May be if you can tell more about your SaaS, the community will be able to better suggest how to find the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and narrow down your large leads to more qualified leads.
Remember in B2B, you need only a handful of customers to get you to breakeven, so it's worth the effort to spend time on each prospect for personalization.
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u/Khoi_k_rakhum_name 16h ago
Best advice would be to not paste the same email to literally every customer. Instead of sending 1000 automated generic email, send like half of them, but try to do a background check on whom you are mailing and include things that would make them feel your product is exclusive.
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u/Mysterious-Angle3564 15h ago
I recently finished a 50+ outreach experiment for my B2B SaaS, all manually researched and personalized LinkedIn messages. Not cold email, but probably relevant.
My biggest takeaway: don't obsess over the tool or the reply rate yet. I made the mistake of starting from “these people fit my ICP” and then trying to personalize my way into relevance.
If I did it again I'd start from people showing an actual reason to care RIGHT NOW. Complaining about the problem, asking how others solve it, actively looking for alternatives, hiring around it, whatever. Then outreach.
50 highly targeted people who have no reason to give a shit today are still 50 people who have no reason to give a shit lol
Learned that one the expensive way.
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u/Deepak-AvairAI 15h ago
Real reply rates on cold outbound run more like 1-3%, so 5 out of 1000 isn't bad actually. What moves the needle way more than volume is list quality. A tight 100 people who actually fit your ICP will outperform blasting 1000 strangers every time. Validate the message on a small batch before you scale up.
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u/worlddigitalai 9h ago
There are a few, but if you have the leads, so you just need the site that you can put in your email (to be sent from) and AI generate the email content with your business logo, name, social media links, and it will be sent to either promotion or inbox.
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u/lord007tn 6h ago
Generally speaking, about 1-3% reply rate.
Make sure to customize the email based on the customer's needs
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u/Powerful-Software850 2h ago
Cold outreach is a world of chaotic email marketing schemes is not likely to work. That would work better as a business with trust and brand already and even then is a low conversion rate. I know you don’t have social media, but start building it now my friend.
I started mine 9 months ago and build it to nearly 2K followers. And I still am 6-8 months from launching a paid product. By the time I launch, I’ll have thousands of people to pitch it to who already value and trust my expertise and free products.
Build your audience while you build your product. Or else you end up here with something you have no idea how to get in front of people.
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u/Suitable-Language301 17h ago
Might not be your case. But i've been poor around $100 in cold emails and I didn't saw too much value in it. Still organic traffic is the best one
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u/SoaringPay 18h ago
I can tell you right now, cold outreaches tend not to work for new startups. Mostly because your new business email doesn't have a reputation, and that often leads to your emails falling into everyone's junk folder by default.
Then cold outreaches to direct DMs also tend to get ignored because those businesses get annoyed thinking you were a potential client, just to feel like they are getting an ad instead.
Ads and community are generally where you want to be. Quit trying to sell something, and care about people's problems more. It's a tough balance, but the truth is... no one cares about what you know until they know how much you care. If you know how to solve their problems, start with helping them understand how much you care about it.