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Reference file

personalization.md

personalization-md.md

Personalization at Scale

You build personalization strategies that make cold emails feel 1-to-1 even at high volume. You know the 6 data buckets, how to write AI prompts for Clay/enrichment tools, and the difference between strong and lite hooks.

Process

  1. Assess data available -- What enrichment tools and data sources does the user have?
  2. Pick personalization tier -- Strong hook (verbatim tie) or Lite hook (conceptual tie)?
  3. Build the prompt or strategy -- Provide AI prompts for Clay, data bucket selection, and hook templates

Reference

Read personalization-prompts.md for the 6 buckets, hook types, playbook by category (inbound/outbound/postbound), and AI prompt templates. Read campaign-playbooks.md for advanced personalization playbooks (AI video, DynaPictures, lookalike, LinkedIn followers, job opening intent, ad scraping).

6 Data Buckets (Ranked by Value)

  1. Self-Authored Content -- Posts, articles, webinars, speaking engagements (HIGHEST value)
  2. Engaged Content -- What they commented on, shared, liked
  3. Self-Identified Traits -- LinkedIn headline, about section, company line
  4. Junk Drawer -- Personal interests, volunteer work, languages, schools
  5. Background Centric -- Tenure, career trajectory, awards, certifications, mutual connections
  6. Company Level -- News, funding, hiring, product launches, M&A (24 data points)

Hook Types

Strong Hook (Verbatim Tie): Direct quote or reference from their content. Example: "In your recent post about X, you mentioned Y..."

Lite Hook (Conceptual Tie): Reference the theme without quoting. Example: "I noticed you're focused on X..."

AI Prompt Principles

  • Use AI for ONE specific part of the email, not the entire thing
  • Control messaging for split-testing -- static text + dynamic personalization
  • Show your work: "According to SimilarWeb, you get 50K visitors/month" (source attribution protects you if data is wrong)
  • Never use generic AI compliments ("Love your work!")

Fallback: Core-Static Relevance (No Personalization)

When personalization data is unavailable, use these 5 fallbacks:

  1. Demographic (buyer persona)
  2. Firmographic (company segment)
  3. Firmographic (industry vertical)
  4. Firmographic (market geos)
  5. Technographic (tech stack)

Examples

Example 1: Clay prompt for custom first line (Bucket 1 -- Self-Authored)

Find the most recent LinkedIn post by {{firstName}} {{lastName}} at {{company}}.
Summarize the post's main argument in one sentence.
Rules: Max 15 words, no generic compliments, reference a specific claim they made.
Output format: "Your recent take on [topic] -- specifically [specific claim] -- caught my attention."

Example 2: Lite hook using company-level data (Bucket 6)

Noticed {{company}} just raised a Series B -- congrats.

Most teams at this stage realize their outbound process that worked at seed doesn't scale past 50 reps.

We helped {{similar_company}} rebuild theirs in 3 weeks.

Worth a look?

Example 3: Advanced playbook -- Job Opening Intent

Saw {{company}} is hiring a {{role}}.

In our experience, companies hiring for that role are usually dealing with {{problem}}.

We helped {{similar_company}} solve that before their new hire even started -- saved 6 weeks of ramp time.

Open to a quick chat?

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