In the series of “bad cold emails,” here’s another one I got 👇. Yes, it was simple. Yes, it was polite. But totally empty. From the subject line alone, I already knew it wouldn’t bring any value. Still, I opened it… and I was totally right. Here’s what went wrong: ➡️ No understanding of my team — we don’t even have a Founder’s Office team at Saleshandy. ➡️ No icebreaker, just “I’m the CEO, we helped 500 businesses” — exaggerated claim, started a year ago. ➡️ CTA: “Let’s set up a call” in the very first email. Here’s the thing: Sometimes, not personalizing is better than pretending to personalize. If your email doesn’t make me feel like you actually know me, it’s dead before I hit reply. What’s worse: fake personalization or generic templates? Tell me your thoughts in the comments.
Bang on Dhruv Patel If the email doesn’t feel like it’s meant for me, it’s an instant delete. Quality > random templates always.
I’d rather no one try than someone pretend to know me. Authenticity beats clever lines every time.
Most bad outreach fails before the pitch. Pretending to personalize breaks trust faster than a generic template ever will.
Fake personalization is like seasoning without salt 😅 looks right, tastes wrong
If you don’t actually see me, why should I see you?
I’d rather get a boring generic email than one that pretends it knows me when it doesn’t.
Completely agree. fake personalization kills trust instantly.
It’s the 'I’m the CEO' flex in line one that always gets me. 🤣
Fake personalization is worse ... at least generic emails don’t insult your intelligence.
ok guys I see a lot of experts gathering here. I just started my carrer in sales, so can you look through the following email I am sending to financial companies located in MENA: Dear {{firstName}}, I notice your infrastructure is located in area with physical threats to data center facilities associated with geopolitical risks. When data center outages occur, the financial impact is severe. A single 90-minute downtime costs enterprises approximately $505,500 in losses. For financial companies like {{companyName}} , even brief unavailability can be catastrophic. We've analyzed recent data center catastrophes, their root causes, and how a Tier IV data center in a neutral jurisdiction effectively mitigates these risks. If this analysis would be valuable, I'm happy to share it. Best regards, Murat