Personalization 2.0: Breaking the Deadlock of Cold Newsletters

To put it mildly, mass scripts do not work in 2025. Most leads in managerial positions receive dozens of similar messages every day. To stand out in such a competitive environment, you need to write in a way that compels people to respond.

Netpeak Ukraine's test funnels show that 90% of replies are written in response to messages that make the recipient feel like they were written specifically for them. Below, I will present the algorithms and techniques that increased our partners' campaign conversion rates from 1% to 11%.

Why personalization works

1. Algorithms love it.

LinkedIn and email services prioritize unique content when ranking search results.

2. As people scroll through massive amounts of content, they tend to click on what stands out.

Mass option (ignored):

Personalized version (catchy):

The numbers speak for themselves: 

What is personalization based on?

Strong personalization is more than just inserting a name. It always includes these three things:

1. The context of the company or the individual. What is happening to them right now? Is there a product release, fundraising, a new job opening, a post, or a mention in the news? 

2. A pain point or challenge that is likely relevant to them:

• A new Head of Growth signals that the team is focused on growth, looking for new channels, or rebuilding the funnel.

• An e-commerce site without a newsletter subscription form probably doesn't use email marketing as a retention channel, so they're losing their base and the opportunity to increase sales.

• A job opening for DevOps/SRE indicates technical debt or the need to stabilize the infrastructure.

3. A signal that you not only know the company or person but truly understand them.

How to launch personalization on a large scale

It can be scaled if built on the right logic and automation.

1. Segmentation + logic = template
For example, we segment leads based on their position and pain points, which should be relevant to the offer.

Message template:

2. Search for data for the template

To determine the role of the lead, you will need LinkedIn or Sales Navigator. Use these tools to determine the following:

• Position and area of responsibility. E.g., CMO, involved in AI, and responsible for automation.

• Activity in the feed/groups. E.g., comments, reposts, and posts mentioning the user in a message.

• Team size and company stage. E.g., startup, scale-up, or enterprise.

• Location and regional focus. E.g., working with clients in the EU or with a team in Dubai.

Use tools such as BuiltWith and SimilarWeb to explore the website and identify potential pain points. Look for these elements:

• Products/features. Does it have a chatbot, email forms, or a SaaS model with a trial period?

• Tech stack. Examples include React, Shopify, WordPress, and Stripe. Use BuiltWith.

• Traffic level and sources. How active is the company? What channels do they use? Use SimilarWeb.

• Pain points or opportunities for improvement: a lack of subscription options, weak retargeting, and slow website loading.

3. Create a template

To create a more complete template, you will need Clay, Zapier, and ChatGPT.

1. Clay combines data from different sources, such as LinkedIn, your website, email, and CRM, and extracts specific variables.

2. Zapier configures integrations, such as updating Google Sheets when there is a new lead in the CRM.

3. ChatGPT generates custom insights and short, personalized messages based on data.

Below is an example of personalization for an IT company targeting FinTech products with payment infrastructure.

The goal is to provide:

• Support in developing core financial logic

• Verification modules, AML/KYC, and card integration

• Optimization of transaction speed, API, and backend

Step 1: Collecting data

From Sales Navigator, extract the following:

1. Company name.

2. Website.

3. Position: CTO, Product Lead, or Head of Payments.

Add the following to Google Sheets:

1. Has_KYC_flow (yes or no). Is the verification process described? Look for it in the FAQs, the onboarding process, or Google site:[domain] kyc.

2. Payment_API_visible (yes/no). Is there a public API or documentation? Check in the footer or Google site:[domain] API.

3. Transaction_delay_complaints (yes/no). Are there any complaints about delays? Analyze Trustpilot, Reddit, or Google search.

4. Mobile_App_rating (1–5). Check the app rating through the App Store or Google Play, or use a scraper such as SerpAPI or Apify.

Step 2: ChatGPT prompt

Write a concise prompt to analyze the collected information.

ChatGPT generates the following:

Step 3: A template for a newsletter

Manually write the introduction and conclusion, and ChatGPT will fill in the rest.

Step 4: A ready message

Step 5: Scaling

1. Collect 50-100 company names in a Google Sheet.

2. Write one prompt in ChatGPT to generate 50 personalized responses.

3. Insert the options into the template.

4. Send out the mailing.

What to remember

1. Personalization means paying attention to context and speaking plainly.

2. An honest message is worth more than a "warm" letter. If the message is not relevant to the recipient, it is spam.

3. Scaling is possible and necessary, but only if the structure is flexible and not based on a template.

4. AI speeds up the process. Good data leads to strong copy, while insufficient data leads to poor personalization.

5. Always include a call to action (CTA). Without a clear next step, even the best hook is ineffective.

6. Measure and update. Use A/B testing to evaluate hooks. Remember that triggers age quickly, so data needs to be refreshed.

Want to see how it works? Contact us, and we'll show you an example from your niche.

You definitely will be impressed by the level of personalization.