Everybody and their grandma says you need personalization to make cold email work. But many use “personalization in cold emails” loosely. So, what does the word mean in the context of cold emails? One of the best insights we’ve seen is from Instantly’s Co-Founder:
“The most powerful cold emails feel like they were written one-to-one because they were built on systems that enable one-to-few thinking at scale. True personalization is how you structure your research, segment your lists, and tailor your message logic.”
The key takeaways from this message are system, structure, and scale. That’s how you make personalized cold emails work. What does this look like in practice? Let’s get personal.
Personalization as a System: Build Before You Write
To systemize personalization in cold emails, you must build the proper infrastructure to support it. These are your non-negotiable setups that carry over to every cold outreach campaign you do.
Who Are You Targeting?
Before exporting every lead from your favorite prospecting tool, ask yourself what type of business or person benefits most from your offer, goals, and buying stage. The more intentional your targeting, the less effort it takes to make your message feel personal. Let’s say you’re helping fitness coaches sell group programs. A message to a general “online business owner” list won’t cut it. But if you narrow down to fitness coaches currently selling only 1:1 offers, your messaging can get sharp fast:
“Saw you’re fully booked with 1:1 clients—are you considering group coaching to scale without burning out?”
If they say yes, that’s a sign that they’re a good candidate. If they say no, then maybe you could find another angle. But you can’t waste time on leads who aren’t ready, even if your offer aligns with their goals. That’s where intent signals come into play.
What Signals Tell You They’re a Good Fit?
Intent is everything. Just because someone could use your solution doesn’t mean they’re actively looking or even open to changing how they do things. That’s why identifying intent signals is key to filtering tire-kickers and focusing on real opportunities. Start by looking for behavioral clues that suggest they’re in a buying or transition mindset. Let’s say you sell a platform that helps teams streamline onboarding. You notice a company recently had a job listing for a “People Operations Manager” and announced they’re now 100% remote. That’s a clear signal they’re likely rethinking how they onboard and support new hires in a remote setup. Your message could say:
“Saw you’re hiring a People Ops Manager and shifting to a fully remote model. That’s a big move. Are you exploring ways to make onboarding more consistent and scalable across time zones?”
Spotting signals like these tells you when to reach out. But timing alone isn’t enough. To write a message that lands, you need to understand why they might care in the first place. That means digging into the real challenges they’re likely facing behind those signals.
What Problems Do They Face?
Good personalization is about relevance. When you speak directly to a problem your prospect is actively trying to solve, your message shifts from a pitch to a suggestion. For example, you’re contacting a mid-sized marketing agency that posted about hiring account managers.
That’s a sign they’re growing, but it could also mean their team is stretched thin trying to keep up with client demands. In that case, your message might address the challenges of efficiently managing client workloads, automating parts of their outreach, or helping them generate leads.
How to Structure Personalization: Logic Over Templates
Templates are essential for personalization. But think in terms of logic and structure. Write email templates that adapt based on lead data. That’s why we emphasized our prospecting system earlier. Understanding our prospects lets us segment them into groups with similar pain points.
The more data, the more personal and relevant the emails for each segment will be. Then, all that’s left is to structure the data. Let’s use the coaching example from earlier for two segments of the same target audience. Here’s what our structure could look like:
- {{Quick introduction as to why you’re reaching out}}
- {{Aligning offer to solve pain points/achieve goal}}
- {{Sharing case studies to provide trust/expertise}}
- {{Soft CTA that provides value}}
Email targeting coaches doing 1:1 sessions:
Email targeting coaches launching their first offer:
Personalization at Scale: Quality and Quantity
Cold email is a numbers game, but you don’t have to compromise quality for quantity. With the right tools and structure, you can personalize at scale, with each email feeling tailor-made for each prospect. Here’s what you’ll need:
Prospecting Tools
Personalization in cold emails starts with how you build your list. When you can filter by specifics like “marketing leads in New York” or “CEOs at recently funded startups,” your message becomes easier to personalize and more likely to resonate.
For example, Instantly SuperSearch lets you filter leads by location, role, and company size, then enrich those leads with verified emails and valuable data points. The stronger your list criteria, the less effort you need to customize individual emails.
Enrichment Tools
Enrichment tools like Clay, Clearbit, and Dropcontact transform lead data into actionable information. Instead of guessing their pain points or goals, enrichment gives you a clear idea of what matters most to prospects. For example, with enrichment, you can access information like company details, the tech stack prospects use, job changes, industry updates, or social activity.
AI Tools For Personalization
Prospecting tools get you basic contact information and details. Enrichment adds essential context to your lead list. And, AI tools bring everything together and let you personalize emails.
That’s where tools like ChatGPT come in. Here’s a sample lead list.
After exporting your enriched lead list, upload it to ChatGPT and prompt it to create new columns based on enriched company context, descriptions, and pain points. Then, you can use those columns as variables for your email templates.
And if you want to scale this without the headache of manual data entry, Instantly.ai makes it easy. You can upload your lead list or pull leads directly from SuperSearch, then connect your preferred AI models via API. From there, you can create custom data columns, write spintax-powered personalized templates, and automate sending, all within one platform.
Key Takeaways
If you want to land more deals with cold email, your approach has to go beyond {{first name}} personalizations and static templates. Cold email personalization must be “built on systems that enable one-to-few thinking at scale.” You can do this by:
- Getting a clear understanding of your audience, their pain points, and intent signals
- Structuring email templates based on logic and lead data
- Personalizing emails at scale using the right tools and strategies
nandbox App Builder
When advertising or making apps for distinct groups of people, the same rules of personalization apply to nandbox App Builder. Like personalization in cold emails’ success hinges on sending the correct message to the right people, nandbox’s no-code platform allows businesses make apps that are perfect for their users’ needs. nandbox lets you break down features, design elements, and user flows based on what your audience wants and how they act. This is true whether you’re making a fitness coaching app, a tool for onboarding remote teams, or a client management solution for a marketing agency. You may make an app that feels “built just for them” by combining targeted app features with careful user experience design. This is the same way that a well-structured cold email feels one-to-one at scale.
