What failed cold outreach with a generic pitch

I scraped 200 emails and sent the same three-paragraph pitch about our platform. Two replies. One unsubscribe threat. The pitch talked about us, not their workflow. No proof I understood their stack or pain. It read like every other SaaS cold email—and it was. What eventually worked was ten highly researched notes to people who had publicly complained about the exact problem we solve, with a specific suggestion and no ask on the first message. Lower volume, higher signal.