Personalization at Scale: An Outbound Email Strategy

When you’re writing a cold outreach email (or sending a cold Linkedin message), your task may seem simple -- but it can actually be very difficult. Response rates are low, and decision makers’ inboxes are flooded with canned, generic sales messages from hundreds of other people trying to get their attention.

It may seem like a hopeless endeavor, but you can use the market’s overall disregard for personalization to your advantage - not only with what you say but also with how you say it.

At Crystal, we advocate for a more personalized approach. Personalization at scale is an outbound strategy that helps you:

• Get the attention of a new prospect that you’ve never met.
• Instantly earn their trust and build rapport.
• Increase your chances of a response.
• Attain higher conversion rates

This isn’t a silver bullet, but a new mindset for cold outreach. Once you view people through the lens of their personality, rather than some assumptions about their job title or other general attributes, you’ll start creating your own mental models and systems to improve as you go.

How different personality types like to interact via email

The Crystal Personality Map (which is rooted in DISC) can tell us the basics about each personality type’s email preferences:

D style

D personalities want emails to be brief, to-the-point, and as efficient as possible. Be careful not to include a surplus of detail or open-ended questions.

I style

I personalities want emails to be casual, expressive, and relational. Avoid being too serious or focusing on facts and figures.

S style

S personalities want emails to be warm, trustworthy, and friendly. Be consistent in using a kind, encouraging tone, and try not to be forceful or overly direct.

C style

C personalities want emails to be detailed, informative, and accurate. Take the time to understand their reasoning for decisions by asking them questions, but do not skip over important information or involve emotion.

How to compose an email that will resonate with prospects

When formulating an email, it is most important to consider three factors:

 What do they want? Why do they want it? How do they want to interact?

Though understanding all three aspects of the interaction sounds difficult, Crystal’s Personality AI makes it easier than ever to effectively appeal to others, even in a form as brief– and usually impersonal– as email.

Step 1: The Subject Line

The subject line is arguably one of the most important parts of an email. It’s your chance to make a sparkling first impression within the mountainous pile of uninteresting jargon in the modern buyer’s inbox.

Step 2: The Greeting

While it may seem like a trivial personal preference, your opening is one of the easiest but most impactful parts of your email to tailor.

Step 3: The Introduction

Different personality types have vastly different preferences for how you begin your message body. This is often one of the most significant “shifts” for people to make away from their natural style when tailoring an email.

Step 4: The Body

In general, personalities north on the DISC map prefer shorter emails and those in the south prefer longer ones. However, there are many additional nuances to consider:

Step 5: Call to Action

Every outreach email you write should have a specific call to action - the thing you want your prospect to do in response. By asking the reader a question or giving them a direction, you’re helping to ensure a response. Below is a breakdown of how each personality types prefer calls to action in an email.

Step 6: The Closing

Your email closing doesn’t matter as much as the opening, but it’s an area to potentially slip up - people often have strong preferences and pet peeves for how others close their emails.

How Can I Tell My Prospect’s Personality...Before We’ve Met?

Use the Crystal Chrome Extension to gather insights about your prospect’s personality, including what communication style is most likely to resonate before you send the first email. Whether you need to build personal rapport, request meeting times, negotiate, collaborate, or pitch a sale, you can start guessing less and sending emails more confidently.

Get started with Crystal today!