Importance of Personalization in Outbound Marketing

Teams who take a “boil the ocean” approach to outbound will fail. Here’s how to fix it and build sequences that actually drive results: Step 1: Focus your team on accounts most likely to buy now, invest at a premium, and become long-term customers or referral sources. This means moving beyond “anyone who fits the ICP” and zeroing in on high-priority targets. Step 2: Create deeper, more meaningful segments from that refined group. Traditional segments are great for organizing territories but fall short for crafting sequences that resonate. Instead, you need segmentation that helps your team speak the language of specific sub-groups. Use multiple layers of data—firmographics, intent signals, and contact-level insights—to break your TAM into smaller, actionable groups. Step 3: Launch micro-campaigns that target those precise segments with messaging designed to feel tailor-made. When you take this approach, personalization becomes scalable because it’s rooted in segmentation. Your reps don’t waste time on one-off customization, and your messaging feels 99% relevant to the prospect. I've been teaching this process as #ValueBasedSegmentation for the better part of a decade. It’s the key to building sequences that drive higher CTRs, replies, and engagement without tedious manual effort. ➡️ With this approach, you’ll: - Improve email performance - Write copy that prospects actually care about - Give your team a clear roadmap for focused outbound 📌 How are you helping your team build relevance into their outbound sequences?

Personalization is not just about using a prospect's name. To provide a truly personalized experience, you should learn your prospect's language, communication style, and what's important to them right now. Sound complicated? It's really not. Everyone utilizes social media. Learning about your prospects has never been easier. The vast majority of decision-makers, executives, and C-suite members use some form of social media every day. They actively absorb content, watch trends, learn new skills, and find areas of opportunity. You can start right here on LinkedIn. Look at their profile and see what they're posting, commenting on, and liking. Is there a common thread to their messages? Maybe they like data, facts, and figures. They could discuss their vision, the future of their industry, and current concerns. Do they post content or write a blog? Read it. It's the best way to meet them. This is their language. Communicate with them the way they communicate with others. Note the topics they discuss or engage with; these are your lead-ins to having a conversation with them. Join groups related to their industry, learn the hot topics and their jargon and acronyms. Your research should extend beyond the person, the company, and their current role. It's about tailoring your message to them and engaging them like a coworker or trusted partner.

The one-size-fits-all approach to customer experience is dead weight. Companies that rely on cookie-cutter solutions are missing the mark. The notion that a single, off-the-shelf strategy can cater to every customer is not just outdated; it’s a blatant insult to the intelligence of your audience. Every customer is unique. We’re all snowflakes people? Preferences, needs, and behaviors are as diverse as the platforms customers use to interact with your brand. Yet, many organizations stubbornly cling to the idea that if a strategy works for one, it must work for all. That’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole and expecting a perfect match. It’s lazy, ineffective, and, frankly, it pisses off the very people you’re trying to serve. The irony is that while technology and analytics have evolved exponentially, many CX leaders still rely on the same tired, generic models. They obsess over metrics like Net Promoter Score and CSAT without digging deeper into the nuances behind the numbers. The blind reliance on broad data reduces complex human behaviors to mere statistics, stripping away the personal touch that modern consumers demand. It’s a one-dimensional view of a multidimensional reality. If you’re serious about delivering real value, it’s time to ditch this cookie-cutter mindset. Embrace a strategy that acknowledges the individuality of each customer. When you force everyone down the same narrow path, you’re not just oversimplifying their journey—you’re actively alienating them. Instead, invest in understanding what truly drives each customer’s experience. Leverage granular data and real-time feedback to build tailored interactions that resonate on a personal level. In today’s market, where customers expect personalization and genuine engagement, sticking to outdated models is a recipe for stagnation. Companies that fail to adapt are destined to be left in the dust by more agile competitors who understand that real customer experience is as varied as the customers themselves. This isn’t a call for half-measures or incremental tweaks. It’s a wake-up call to challenge the status quo. Reassess your CX strategy and ask yourself: Are you truly listening to your customers, or are you just ticking boxes? Stop romanticizing simplicity when complexity is the reality of modern consumer behavior. Instead of forcing your customers into a one-size-fits-all mold, give them the respect they deserve by crafting experiences that acknowledge their individuality. The future of CX isn’t about fitting everyone into the same template, it’s about recognizing and celebrating what makes each customer unique. It’s time to kick the cookie-cutter approach to the curb and build a customer experience strategy that is as dynamic and diverse as the people you serve. #customerexperience #cx #personalization #marketing #innovation

The metrics-obsessed, MQL-chasing playbook that I helped create at Marketo is steering us away from marketing's fundamental truth: "do right by the customer." But the funny thing about doing right by customers – building brand through genuine value exchange, truly understanding their needs, letting them control the process – these aren't revolutionary ideas. They're timeless principles we've buried under automation workflows and pipeline metrics. That's why I wasn't surprised to find clues to the new B2B playbook in Dale Carnegie's 1936 classic "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Before marketing automation, before we turned relationships into MQLs, Carnegie understood something we need to rediscover. 🤔 Here's what his ideas tell us about fixing today's broken B2B playbook: 1. "Become genuinely interested in other people" Stop viewing buyers as MQLs to be harvested. Start seeing them as humans seeking solutions. This isn't just feel-good advice – it's the foundation of sustainable pipeline generation in an AI world where generic outreach is increasingly ignored. 2. "Give before you expect to get"  Create content so valuable people would pay for it – then give it away ungated. Trust builds pipeline better than form-fills. When everybody else is building walls, build bridges. 3. "Let the other person feel the idea is theirs"  Today’s buyers don’t want to be sold. They want to do research on their own and begin the buying process on their own terms. In fact, by the time B2B buyers first contact sales, 80% of the time they already have a preferred vendor, and that vendor is the winner 80% of the time! 4. "Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language" Personalization isn't just a buzzword. It's about making every interaction feel tailored and relevant. This goes beyond just using {{FirstName}} or even having AI attempt something that sounds personalized but is ultimately soulless – it's about understanding and addressing individual needs with the right offer at the right time. 5. "Let the other person do a great deal of the talking" Active listening is crucial in B2B. Use voice of customer data, social listening, and direct feedback to shape your strategies. Your customers often have the answers – you just need to listen. 6. "Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely" In a world of commoditized tech, emotional connections matter. Build a community around your brand. Celebrate customer wins. Make your champions feel like the heroes they are. The old marketing playbook is broken. Buyers are burned out on aggressive tactics and shallow automation. It's time to stop treating marketing like a gumball machine and start doing right by the customer experience — exactly as Dale Carnegie advised almost 90 years ago. Who knows? You might just win some deals – and influence some customers – along the way. #B2BMarketing #CustomerExperience #GoToMarket

Here’s a common myth about personalization: All you need is a customer’s name to make it effective. True personalization goes much deeper, it’s about understanding behaviors, preferences, and needs to create meaningful experiences. Collecting the right data isn’t just about volume, it’s about relevance. You can’t offer genuine personalization without truly knowing your audience. Here’s how I’ve approached it: ➜ Identify key data points. Don’t collect data just for the sake of it. Focus on what will actually help you understand your customers better, things like purchase history, browsing behavior, and engagement patterns. ➜ Leverage tools wisely. Using the right tools is crucial. We’ve integrated platforms (like HubSpot) to ensure we’re gathering and utilizing data that matters, not just creating noise. ➜ Respect privacy. Personalization should never come at the cost of privacy. Being transparent with your audience about what data you collect and how you use it builds trust. ➜ Test and refine. Data isn’t static, and neither should your approach to personalization be. Continuously test what works and refine your strategy to meet your customers' evolving needs. ↳ By focusing on relevant data, not just more data, we’ve been able to create personalized experiences that resonate, leading to stronger customer relationships and better results. What’s been your biggest challenge in collecting data for personalization? How are you overcoming it? #data #personalization #hubspot

You're not fooling anyone with those {first-name} {company-name} emails Those mail merge tokens aren't personalization. They're lazy automation pretending to be thoughtful outreach. Buyers see right through them. After tracking hundreds of outbound campaigns, here's what I'm seeing One-size-fits-all email blasts are dying faster than most teams realize → Generic emails with basic tokens get 0.3% response rates → Truly personalized outreach gets 4-7% response rates The tools exist today to go beyond placeholders and create genuinely personal outreach But most teams are still stuck sending the same templated sequence to everyone in their territory. While you're debating whether to use {first-name} or {company-name}, your competition is researching actual business challenges and writing messages that feel like they were crafted specifically for that buyer. Before your emails were just being ignored, NOW they're being filtered out before buyers even see them Stop hiding behind templates and start doing the work that actually gets responses. — Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Jake Dunlap for more. Want to master modern outreach strategies? 📚 Grab The Innovative Seller: https://lnkd.in/gRzXSRs6

For years, I thought personalization was this: - Using a landing page template - 98% of the content is the same - Swap a company logo and name  - Maybe if we're getting crazy, add a title Wow, so ABM of me.  Not to mention the risk I was taking on: What if I used the wrong logo?  Am I even allowed to use the logo?  What if I misspell the company name?  What if I show the page to the wrong company? Now, add the volume I had to manage. Having approx. 0 time for analysis and testing. Then it hit me — Personalization ≠ being *personal*. 70% of users want custom experiences. But that doesn't mean having their PII and pictures of grandma splattered across pages. I simply need to meet them where they are. Key = relevant experiences Amplitude released a report on personalization at scale and had cool examples that were neither too generic nor too personal. Like Goldilocks' porridge. 1) Segment users by behavior, not PII  For example, to move users from free -> paid. - Look at who upgraded in the last 60 days.  - Create a cohort who show similar behaviors. - Create landing pages relevant to that cohort. 2) Message timing - Pop-ups directing users to a product demo  - Use on BOFU high-intent pages, not TOFU - Look at intent to learn vs purchase 3) Recency effect How often have you gotten an ad for a product you purchased? Or a reminder for a bill you already paid? WORST. Exclusions are as important as inclusions. Personalization ultimately comes down to good, targeted, and relevant marketing. (Link to report in comments)

Sending two newsletters a week to your entire mailing list is not a retention strategy 👇 Relevance is the most important aspect of email marketing. And personalization is almost the only way to achieve relevance. And personalization is not adding the name to the subject line... Consider the following example. You are a new customer of a brand, you are happy with your order and you receive the first newsletter... Nothing for you, unfortunately. The question is, how many chances will you give the brand before you stop opening the newsletter? The answer is: it depends on the relevance. As a customer, can I expect that there will be something for me soon? To ensure this relevance, you need to segment and work with flows instead of just campaigns. RetentionX can help you build these segments and then track what happens to them. We show you who to target, with what offer, at what time and through what channel. Customer by customer. Because a customer who has ordered 10 times before needs a different communication than a customer who is hearing about your brand for the first time. If you analyze your current mailing list, you will find that you probably have more than 60% dead subscribers. These are subscribers who have not interacted with any of your emails for 3+ months. The reason for this is that you have fallen into the irrelevant set and are probably just in their spam queue. But you are still paying the monthly tool fees for them....

Just got early access to this 68-page report on the future of personalized marketing— Here are my 🔟 key takeaways you need to know 👇 There is nothing I'm striving for more than 1:1 personalization at scale across ALL channels. And AI is enabling that in a way that has never been possible before. I dug into Attentive's report that surveyed 3,300 consumers on what brands can do to improve their shopping experience. 1️⃣ Personalization = Performance Consumers reward brands that get them. 96% are more likely to purchase when messaging is tailored to their behavior and preferences. 2️⃣ Discovery is broken Too many choices = paralysis. Easier product discovery is the #1 thing that consumers want. AI-driven recs and guided shopping are the new table stakes. 3️⃣ Rich Communication Services (RCS) will change the consumer experience RCS is about to make SMS feel like an app. Think interactive carousels, in-text purchases, and rich media—all in your native messages app. 4️⃣ Build trust around privacy 64% of consumers are actively protecting their data—but 71% still want brands to learn their habits. Transparency + value = trust. 5️⃣ Cross-channel sync is critical 85% subscribe to both email and SMS. 58% are more likely to purchase if promotions are aligned—but content must be differentiated per channel. 6️⃣ Timing is everything 61% engage in the evening, but habits vary wildly. AI-driven send-time optimization can boost conversions by up to 22%. 7️⃣ Consumers want to choose their content 86% want to control what they receive by channel. Let your audience self-select—then respect those preferences. 8️⃣ Personalize content by psychographic Gen Z wants behind-the-scenes and values; Boomers want tips and product intel. One-size-fits-all doesn’t work across generations. 9️⃣ AI is the personalization engine Brands using AI-powered journeys are seeing up to 200% more revenue from triggered messages. It’s not just about automation—it’s about contextual relevance. 🔟 Zero-Party is table stakes 99.6% will share data for the right incentive. Quizzes, preference centers, and interactive onboarding flows are your best friends. The TLDR: True 1:1 personalization is here—and the brands that embrace AI, RCS, and data-driven empathy will win. What trends you are seeing? Drop your thoughts below & check out the link in comments for the full report 👇. Thank you Kalah Melon Izaac Tedrow Todd Needle for the early look!   #Marketing #Personalization #AI #ConsumerInsights #UnifiedCommerce

Most businesses are doing it wrong - and it's costing them. If you're still using a templated, cookie-cutter approach, you're getting left behind. The future belongs to companies that understand one simple truth: personal wins every time. Why? Because we live in the age of data overload, yet customers feel more disconnected than ever. They crave real connection, authenticity, and tailored experiences. Not generic marketing, not mass-targeted ads. But something that says, “This was made just for you.” Most businesses think they’re doing personalization. But they're not. Sending a mass email with a first name in the subject line? That’s not personalization. Personalization is about delivering value at the exact moment your customer needs it, in a way that speaks directly to them. At Burns Funding, we take this approach to heart. No two entrepreneurs are the same, so why would their funding solutions be? Our team builds custom strategies for every client, digging deep into their unique journey. It’s not just about throwing money at a business - it’s about truly understanding the person behind it and creating a plan that sets them up for success. Here’s why personalization is non-negotiable in 2024: ❖ Your data is worthless unless it becomes action. You’re swimming in data. Everyone is. But it’s useless unless you turn it into actionable insights. Businesses that do this right, those that build tailored customer experiences based on real behaviors, will dominate their markets. ❖ Customers don’t want to be a number. In a world full of automation, what customers crave most is human connection. Personalization is how you break through the noise. The companies that succeed tomorrow will be the ones that create lasting emotional ties today. ❖ Personalization = Revenue. Personalized experiences can increase sales by 20% or more. That’s not some fluffed-up number; it’s what happens when people feel like your product or service is made just for them. It’s not a tactic, it’s a business growth accelerator. Most businesses are still waiting for their customers to come to them. That’s a losing game. The businesses that understand how to reach out, meet customers where they are, and anticipate their needs - those are the ones that win. Are you offering something unique, something tailored to your audience’s exact needs? At Burns Funding, we don’t just fund businesses, we partner with entrepreneurs to customize the perfect financial strategy for their future. Personalized funding. Real results. Let’s create something powerful together. Want to learn more? Send me a DM. #Personalization #Entrepreneurship #BurnsFunding #BusinessGrowth #CustomerExperience #CustomSolutions