The Death of "Hi First Name": Personalization at Scale
Generic templates are dead. Here is how to use enriched data to write messages that actually get replies.
We’ve all received them. The “personalized” email that starts with: “Hi [Name], I see you work at [Company]. I’d love to chat about synergies…”
It’s lazy, it’s obvious, and it gets deleted immediately.
Real personalization proves you’ve done your homework. It builds trust before you even ask for a meeting. But doing deep research for every prospect is impossible at scale… or is it?
The 10-80-10 Rule of Email Copy
The best cold emails follow a simple structure:
- 10%: Highly personalized hook (shows you know them).
- 80%: Relevant value proposition (your core offer).
- 10%: Soft call to action (interest-based).
The challenge has always been that first 10%.
Automating the Hook with AI
You can now use AI workflows to generate unique openers based on live data.
Example: The “Recent News” Hook
Workflow:
- Scrape the “News” or “Press” section of the company website.
- Identify a recent product launch or partnership.
- Generate a sentence connecting that news to your offer.
Output:
“Saw you just launched the new mobile app—congrats on expanding to iOS. That shift usually comes with new support challenges, which is why I’m reaching out…”
Example: The “Hiring” Hook
Workflow:
- Check their careers page.
- Identify open roles in relevant departments.
- Frame your solution as a way to help that growing team.
Output:
“Noticed you’re aggressively hiring for SDRs right now. Onboarding that many new reps is tough, so I wanted to share how we help teams ramp faster…”
Don’t Fake It
The key to AI personalization is relevance, not flattery. Don’t compliment their website design if it’s ugly. Don’t congratulate them on a generic award.
Use Lead Spice to extract meaningful signals—technology changes, strategic shifts, hiring patterns—and use those as the foundation for a conversation.
Scale Without Spam
This isn’t about spamming more people. It’s about reaching the right people with a message that actually matters to them. When you combine clean data, smart qualification, and deep personalization, you don’t need to send 1,000 emails to get a meeting. You might only need 50.