Cold email isn’t dead—it’s just changed. With the rise of AI-powered automation tools, there’s a fine line between a great outbound campaign and getting sent to spam on day one.
Here’s how to stay on the right side of that line.
✅ What Makes a Cold Email Work Today?
The old “Hey {FirstName}, I saw you’re the CEO of {Company}…” doesn’t cut it anymore. You need:
- Real personalization – not just a name and role. Reference news, tools they use, or even their content.
- Value first – offer insight or a quick win, not just “a quick call to introduce myself.”
- A clean, human tone – GPT helps draft, but you should still sound like a real person.
🔁 Automate the Right Way
Use tools like:
- Clay to gather data and generate insights
- OpenAI to write based on that data (custom to each lead)
- Cold email platforms (Instantly, Smartlead, Mailreach) to handle deliverability, warmup, and drip campaigns
Good automation doesn’t mean blasting. It means scaling quality.
🔒 Keep Your Deliverability Safe
This is the big one. Don’t skip:
- Email domain warmup
- Custom tracking domains
- List cleaning
- Reply handling (even with a VA or AI assistant)
If you’re not getting responses, it might be because no one’s seeing your emails.
Cold Email ≠ Spam — If Done Right
Done poorly, cold email is annoying. Done well, it’s powerful, scalable, and still one of the fastest ways to grow a business—especially when powered by the right AI tools.