AI won’t save your cold emails (but it can make them not suck)

Oct 6

You know—cold emails, LinkedIn DMs, the stuff that fills your inbox with “just checking in” and “quick question” messages.

Most of it? Trash.

Why? Because it’s generic.

Which is wild, because AI now makes it ridiculously easy to personalize your outreach… if you actually know how to use it.

Here’s what I’ve seen working:

Outbound isn’t about scale. It’s about signal.

Forget “Dear {FirstName}” personalization.

If your idea of custom is changing the company name and job title… don’t bother.

Instead, use signal-based personalization:

These are your green lights. AI can help you find them. But you still have to know what to look for.

Not every prospect needs a haiku written in their honor.

Think of it in three levels:

Tier 1: Name + company = hello.
Tier 2: Name + role + a real insight = I see you.
Tier 3: Deep-dive signal + pain point + proposed fix = damn, this person gets me.

Tier 3 is your sniper round. Use it on dream clients, whales, or that one CTO who liked your tweet last week.

AI tools can:

But it can’t know your ICP. Or your positioning. Or why your thing matters.

That’s your job.

The tools are here to scale insight, not replace it.

Instead of “Would you like a demo?” try:

“Saw your team’s hiring SDRs—curious if outbound’s eating too much of your week?”
“Noticed you just rolled out a new pricing page—open to feedback from someone who’s seen 37 SaaS launches in the last year?”
“If you had to cut your sales stack in half, what would survive?”

These start conversations. Which, last I checked, is the whole point.

That’s it for now.

If your cold outreach still feels… cold, it’s probably not your tool. It’s your targeting.

AI can help you move faster—but only if you’re already pointed in the right direction.

More soon.

Yours,

—R