Cold email isn’t dead. But cold lists? That’s another story.
The real issue with most cold outreach is the list behind it. Outdated, scraped, or purchased lists lead to low reply rates, high bounce rates, and spam flags. And when you’re sending 500+ emails a day, every percentage point matters.
So how do you fix it? You stop thinking of cold email as a volume game, and start treating it like precision targeting. By layering behavioral intent signals into your outbound list building, you can reach buyers who are actively researching your solution. Not guessing. Not hoping. Just sending the right message to the right people, at the right time.
Even smart outbound teams struggle with list quality. Most traditional cold email lists are built from web scraping tools, firmographic filters like “CMOs at Series A SaaS,” or enrichment platforms that guess intent based on job title alone.
But those methods only tell you who someone is not what they’re doing. And that distinction matters. It’s the difference between emailing every Head of Rev Ops you can find, versus reaching the 2% who are actively comparing B2Battribution platforms right now.
This is where intent signals change the game. When someone is reading reviews, searching for keywords, comparing competitors, or clicking through buyer guides, they’re telling you they have a problem and they’re looking for a solution.
Intent doesn’t just add context. It adds timing.
We break this down further in how we define intent.
Behavioral signals are what separate a good list from a spray-and-pray dump. They give you insight into who to prioritize, what to say, and when to reach out based on what someone is actively doing, not static demographics.
At Slopeside, we consider a warm lead someone who:
Our Pass product filters thousands of contacts daily based on these rules. You’re not uploading 10,000maybe-relevant emails. You’re getting a curated feed of buyers showing real commercial behavior.
This means fewer sends, higher reply rates, and better deliverability across the board.
Where does the data come from? Slopeside uses verified, privacy-compliant signals from across the web to identify B2B buyers based on search behavior, content consumption, competitor research, and product page visits.
Let’s say a VP of Marketing at a SaaS company normally browses one or two general industry articles per day. That’s not intent, that’s routine behavior. But when that same person takes six distinct actions within 48 hours, visiting multiple demo pages, comparing software providers, downloading a pricing guide that’s a behavioral spike. That shift signals a real buying journey has started. If they match your ICP and pass verification, they’re added to your daily list.
This isn’t enrichment after the fact. It’s pre-qualified, behavior-first targeting.
Timing is everything in cold outreach. Intent signals decay quickly. If someone was researching onboarding platforms last quarter, that doesn’t mean they still are.
That’s why Slopeside prioritizes recency. Our leads are filtered by behavior within the last 7 days. Not last month. Not last quarter.
This keeps your outreach tight, relevant, and aligned with what prospects actually care about today.
Let’s compare how warm lists actually shift performance.
Scenario A: Cold List
Scenario B: Warm List (via Pass)
Fewer emails. Better results. No spam folder.
Just because you get the email doesn’t mean you need to start there.
Many of our clients use Pass data to:
Multi-channel makes warm lists even warmer.
If your outbound strategy is SDR-led instead of tool-led, our Run product lets your team request verified leads based on very specific use cases.
Run is best suited for agencies managing outbound for clients, teams that rely on cold calling or one-to-one outreach, and founders who want verified lead delivery without the hassle of manual list building.
Both Pass and Run solve the same core problem: you need better contacts. The difference is how hands-on you want to be.
At the end of the day, email is still one of the highest ROI channels in outbound.
But it only works if you start with real people showing real behavior.
Slopeside helps you identify and verify those people so your list building isn’t just accurate, it’s timely.
Pass delivers verified, intent-based contacts showing active research behavior. If you’re tired of spam complaints, ghosted sequences, and false positives, it might be time to make the switch.
Stop treating every email as a cold open. Build warm lists that drive cold email results.
