How to Research a Prospect in 5 Minutes (Before You Write)

The 5-Minute Prospect Research System

Most people spend 5 minutes writing a generic email and 0 minutes researching the prospect. Flip it: 5 minutes of research, 2 minutes of writing.

Minute 1: Their company website

• What exactly do they sell? (One sentence, their words)
• Who do they sell to? (Check the homepage hero + customer logos)
• Any recent change? (New product, new team page, new pricing)

Minute 2: Their pricing or product page

• What is the product's core promise?
• Does anything look fresh (new feature, new integration)?
• One specific detail you can reference — this is your first line.

Minute 3: Their LinkedIn or team page

• Who is the founder / decision-maker?
• What is their background (previous company, role, posts)?
• Anything they wrote recently that you can reference?

Minute 4: Their recent activity

• Check their latest blog posts, tweets, or LinkedIn posts
• What are they talking about right now?
• A trigger: hiring, funding, launch, event, or a problem they named

Minute 5: Search their name + your problem

• Google: [name] + [outbound / sales / growth / your category]
• One article, podcast, or post they made — reference it

The 2-Minute Email Formula

Now write:

1. Line 1: One researched detail (their product, their post, their trigger)
2. Line 2: Who you are in one sentence (not your company pitch)
3. Line 3: One relevant question or low-pressure ask
4. Sign-off: Your name

That is it. No company history, no feature list, no "I hope this finds you well."

Why This Works

The email feels like it was written for them — because it was. Prospects reply to emails that show you looked, even when the product fit is imperfect.

Tools like ColdCrow automate the writing part: paste a prospect profile and get a researched-feeling email in seconds. The 5 minutes of research is still yours — and it is the part that compounds. Try it free at copywise.vercel.app/try