Five first-contact emails built on a Swiss company change
A company you would like as a customer publishes a change in the commercial register. It has opened a branch, merged with a sister company or named a new managing director. That gives you a reason to write now. What the email should say is less obvious, because the notice records a legal fact and leaves the business reason open.
The five B2B outreach email examples below each start from a change of the kind the SHAB publishes every week. For each one you get what the notice establishes, what it leaves open, the seller's guess about what it means, a draft email with callouts, and review notes. The companies, people, notices and sellers are invented. The register wording quoted follows the form the SHAB uses.
These emails are step 5 of the Swiss B2B prospecting workflow. They assume the company has already been researched: the account-research worksheet shows the completed brief behind the first example.
What a first message built on a change contains
Every draft below has the same four parts, in this order:
- The fact, with its source and date. "The SHAB notice of 2 September" lets the reader check what you mean in a minute.
- Your guess, worded as a guess. "If", "perhaps" or a question. The notice is evidence of a legal change. What it means for the company's purchases is your hypothesis.
- What you do, in one sentence, in terms of the situation the change creates.
- One question that is easy to answer, including with a no.
The drafts stay under 85 words, greeting and signature aside. They are written in English here. Send yours in the language the company works in: German to the companies in Visp, Neuhausen, Liestal, Zurich and Lenzburg, French to an office in Martigny.
1. Two branches registered in two cantons
The company. Felsgrund Ingenieure AG, an engineering and geology office in Visp (Valais) that works on natural hazards: rockfall, flooding, avalanches and landslides.
What the register shows. The SHAB of 2 September registers a branch in Martigny, with a notice in French. The SHAB of 9 September registers a second branch in Thun, in the canton of Bern. The company's website, in German and French, lists all three offices.
What it leaves open. Whether the two offices are new or have existed for a while and were only now registered. The website gives no opening date, and the notices give no headcount.
The seller and the guess. An IT services firm in Valais that runs the computers and shared files of small offices. Its guess: a team working from three sites in two language regions has to share plans and survey data between them, and the setup that worked for one office may be under strain.
- 1 The fact, with both dates and the source. The reader can find both notices.
- 2 The open point, said plainly. "Congratulations on your expansion" would claim something the register does not show.
- 3 Who is writing, described through what the two firms have in common: Valais, engineering, two language regions.
- 4 The guess, worded as a condition.
- 5 A question with an easy no. "In-house" lets the reader decline without explaining.
Review notes. At an office of this size, IT is often decided by a partner or the managing director, so the email goes to one of the people the register lists with signing authority. A reply saying the offices have existed for years is still useful: you learn that the firm has run three sites for a while, and you can ask how. The weak point is the third sentence. If the seller cannot name an engineering office it actually serves, the sentence should go.
2. A merger of two sister companies, with a new name
The company. Ostwind Kellenberg AG in Neuhausen am Rheinfall (Schaffhausen), formerly Ostwind Haustechnik AG. It installs and services heating, sanitary, air-conditioning, refrigeration, solar and ventilation systems, with a 24-hour emergency service.
What the register shows. The SHAB of 1 October publishes the merger: Ostwind Haustechnik AG takes over Kellenberg Kälte AG, also in Neuhausen, under a merger contract of 15 September, and renames itself Ostwind Kellenberg AG. The notice states that the same shareholder holds all the shares of both companies. The website already carries the new name.
What it leaves open. How separate the two firms were before. With one owner and one town, the teams may have shared offices, vans and planning for years, and the merger may only make that official.
The seller and the guess. A maker of scheduling and service-report software for building-technology firms. Its guess: two service teams under one name may still plan their call-outs in two different ways.
- 1 The fact, with both company names. The reader sees at once which notice you mean.
- 2 The detail that weakens the guess, taken from the notice itself. Saying it first shows you read the whole entry.
- 3 Who is writing, in one sentence.
- 4 A question that works whatever the answer. "Already shared" ends the exchange politely. "Still to come" opens it.
Review notes. The notice also states the assets and liabilities taken over, to the franc. They are public and the email leaves them out: quoting a company's balance sheet back to it in a first message reads as surveillance. The new name is the most concrete change for anyone selling vehicle lettering, signage or printed stationery, and for them the first sentence would stay the same while everything after it changes.
3. A managing director promoted from within
The company. Sonnhalde Küchenbau AG in Liestal (Basel-Landschaft), a family business in its third generation that makes custom kitchens and interiors in its own workshop.
What the register shows. The SHAB of 7 September registers a new managing director. The bracket after her entry, "bisher: ohne eingetragene Funktion", shows that she was already registered with joint signing authority and no stated function. In the same notice, a board member becomes chair and the previous chair leaves.
What it leaves open. When she took over in practice, and what she plans to change. The company's website does not mention the new role.
The seller and the guess. A consultancy that sets up production planning for Swiss joineries and kitchen makers. Its guess: a new managing director sets priorities for the coming year, and the workshop may be one of them.
- 1 The fact, addressed to the person it concerns.
- 2 A reading of the "bisher" bracket. She is new to the role and familiar with the company, so "welcome to Sonnhalde" would be wrong.
- 3 What the seller does, in the reader's own terms.
- 4 The guess, worded as a condition, with a small and concrete offer.
- 5 A choice of timing, which is easier to answer than "are you interested?"
Review notes. A register entry for a person also lists their place of origin and where they live. None of that belongs in the email. The change of chair is a second fact from the same notice, and the draft leaves it out: one reason to write is enough, and the chair does not run the workshop. Send it in German, and copy the spelling of the name from the notice. A guessed email address may have mangled it.
4. A capital increase that does not support the guess yet
The company. Quorra AG in Zurich, a university spin-off that sells software for sales teams.
What the register shows. The SHAB of 29 September records an ordinary capital increase from CHF 120,000.00 to CHF 132,500.00: 125,000 new registered shares at CHF 0.10 each. It also records conditional capital, which lets the company issue shares later, for example to employees exercising options or to lenders converting a loan.
What it leaves open. How much money came in. The register records the nominal value of the new shares, CHF 12,500, and leaves out the price investors paid for them. It names no investors either.
The seller and the guess. A recruitment agency that places sales staff at Swiss software companies. Its guess: new money means new sales hires. Three weeks after the notice, Quorra's careers page says: "There are no open positions right now."
A draft the situation invites, and one to avoid:
- 1 A claim the source does not make. The register shows new shares. "Funding round" is a guess about who bought them and for how much.
- 2 The hypothesis stated as a fact, and contradicted by the company's own careers page.
- 3 A meeting request before any interest, about plans the email assumes exist.
Review notes. The right move here is to wait. The capital increase happened, and the guess it was supposed to support has no evidence today. Save the notice, check the careers page again in a month, and write when a sales role appears. At that point the job advert is the fact the email can open on, and the capital increase is background you do not need to mention. For more on what the figures in such a notice mean, see what a capital increase means.
5. A register change that is housekeeping, and a better reason elsewhere
The company. Walzwerk Aarfeld AG in Lenzburg (Aargau), a family-owned cold-rolling mill that supplies strip steel to toolmakers.
What the register shows. The SHAB of 24 September publishes a new purpose clause and a change to how shareholders are notified. Read in full, the purpose is the same as before, operating a cold-rolling mill and trading metals, in updated wording. Shareholder notices may now go by email as well as by letter. These are amended articles of association, with nothing in them for a seller.
A better reason, from another source. In August, jobs.ch carried an Aarfeld advert for a head of HR (Leiter*in Personal) in Lenzburg. By mid-October the advert was gone, and the company's jobs page listed one opening, for a production mechanic.
What it leaves open. Whether the role was filled or the search was dropped.
The seller and the guess. A maker of payroll and time-recording software for Swiss manufacturers. Its guess: a new head of HR has started or is about to, and will look at how payroll and time recording work. Before writing, the seller confirms who took the role, from the company's website, the person's own public profile, or a call to reception. Until then, the email waits.
- 1 The confirmed fact. The job advert stays out of the email.
- 2 The guess, worded as the writer's own impression.
- 3 Who is writing, with a fit the reader can judge at once.
- 4 Timing that respects the start date, and a modest request.
Review notes. The register notice brought Aarfeld to the seller's attention and then had nothing to offer. Only the full text shows this: a summary reading "purpose changed" suggests a real change. Many notices are like it, such as a new auditor or a new address in the same street. The guide to Swiss company changes goes through what each kind of change establishes.
Wording that keeps facts and guesses apart
A first email goes wrong most easily when it states a guess as if the source had said it.
| Source | Wording the source supports | Wording that goes further |
|---|---|---|
| Capital increase | "The SHAB of 29 September shows new shares issued." | "Congratulations on your funding round." |
| Branch registered | "You registered a branch in Martigny on 2 September." | "Congratulations on your expansion into Romandie." |
| Merger of two sister companies | "With one owner behind both companies, your teams may already work together." | "Mergers always bring a painful integration." |
| Managing director registered | "The register shows that you now manage the company." | "Welcome to the company." |
| Job advert taken down | "The advert has come down since." | "Congratulations on the new hire." |
Before you send
- The company fits without the change. Start from a list of companies you would want as customers, as in building a Swiss target-account list.
- You read the whole notice. In the examples above, the clause that mattered most was never in the headline: the shared shareholder at Ostwind, the "bisher" bracket at Sonnhalde, the unchanged activity at Aarfeld. Reading a SHAB notice explains the fields.
- The event is recent. Compare the effective date with the publication date, and check that the notice is not a correction of an earlier one. For a job advert, find the date it was first published and check that it is still online.
- The source is about this company. A job advert on a group's careers site can be for a foreign parent or sister company, and a German or Austrian company can share a Swiss company's name. Check the employer and the work location named in the advert itself.
- A second source agrees, or at least does not contradict. The company's website and careers page are the quickest to check. At Quorra, the careers page alone was enough to stop the email.
- Right person, right language. The register lists who can sign for the company, and checking a Swiss company shows where to find them. Write in the language of the company's region, or in English to an international team.
- One email, written for this company. Swiss unfair competition law (Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UWG) requires prior consent for advertising sent automatically by email to many recipients, companies included. A single email written by hand, like the drafts above, is generally read as outside that rule. No Federal Supreme Court ruling is known on the point. Sign with your full name and company, and add one line under the signature: "If you'd rather not hear from me, just reply and I won't write again."
Timing
Register changes reach the SHAB a few days after they take effect. Across 305,902 SHAB records from a twelve-month window, the median gap was five days (see monitoring a Swiss company for changes). The decision behind the entry was taken earlier still. A new managing director or a removed job advert is worth writing about within a few weeks. A branch or a merger stays relevant for months, while the new structure settles in. Ask yourself where the company stands in its own change. Being two days faster than another seller rarely decides anything.
If you already know the company from an earlier conversation, the email is different: it starts from what was said then and why it stopped. Reactivating dormant and closed-lost accounts covers that case.
Where Prospex fits
Prospex builds a list of Swiss companies that match your customer profile and then shows the changes published about them: commercial-register notices, trademark filings, job adverts and website changes. Each change is dated and links to its source, so you can read the full notice before you write. Classification can be wrong, and a job advert can be attached to the wrong company, which is why the source link is there. The guess and the email remain yours.
See an example list, or create a free account and follow the companies you would like to write to.
Frequently asked questions
- How long should a first B2B email be?
- Short enough to read on a phone without scrolling. The drafts in this guide stay under 85 words: the fact with its source, the guess worded as a guess, one sentence on what the sender does and one question.
- Should a first email say where the information comes from?
- Yes. Naming the source and its date, for example "the SHAB notice of 2 September", lets the recipient check what you mean. "I noticed some changes at your company" reads as monitoring and gives them nothing to check.
- Is it legal to send a cold email to a Swiss company?
- Advertising emails sent automatically to many recipients need prior consent under Art. 3 para. 1 let. o UWG, also when the recipients are companies. A single email written by hand for one company is generally read as outside that rule. No Federal Supreme Court ruling on the point is known.