Personalization That Actually Works

Everyone talks about personalization, but most "personalized" outreach is just mail merge. Here's how to personalize at scale without sounding like a robot.

Levels of Personalization

Level 1: Company and name. Everyone does this. It's table stakes, not differentiation.

Level 2: Role-based. Different messaging for CTOs vs VPs of Sales. Better, still generic.

Level 3: Situation-based. Recently raised funding? New in role? Hiring aggressively? Now you're relevant.

Level 4: Individual. Referencing their specific content, decisions, or stated priorities. This is true personalization.

Scaling Level 3 and 4

You can't individually research everyone. Build triggers—new funding from Crunchbase, job changes from LinkedIn, hiring signals from job boards. Let data tell you who to prioritize for deep research.

The 80/20 Rule

80% of your list gets Level 2-3 personalization. 20%—your highest-value targets—get Level 4. Allocate research time accordingly.