Cold outreach is rough. Most people ignore your emails, and let’s be honest—99% of cold emails sound like they were written by a robot. If you’re trying to send emails that don’t sound like spam, but you don’t have hours to handcraft every message, this guide is for you. We’ll walk through how to use dynamic fields in Reply.io so your emails feel personal, even when you’re sending them by the hundreds.
Why Bother Personalizing Cold Emails?
Everyone says “personalization increases reply rates,” but that’s only true if it’s real. Slapping someone’s first name on a generic template isn’t fooling anyone. Good personalization is about showing you put in some effort—enough that the recipient feels like you actually meant to reach them.
But… doing this one by one is slow, boring, and impossible at any real scale. That’s where dynamic fields come in.
What Are Dynamic Fields in Reply.io?
Dynamic fields (sometimes called “merge tags”) are placeholders you drop into your email templates. When you send, Reply.io automatically swaps these out for each contact’s info—like {FirstName}, {Company}, or even custom fields you set up.
Think of it as a mail merge, but for cold outreach. You set up your template, fill your contact list with the right info, and let Reply.io do the grunt work.
Step 1: Set Up Your Contact List (Don’t Skip This)
Dynamic fields are only as good as the data you feed them. Garbage in, garbage out. If your contact list is messy or missing info, your emails will look weird—or worse, broken.
What you need: - A spreadsheet (or CSV) with all your contacts. - Each column should be something you might want to reference: First Name, Last Name, Company, Job Title, Website, etc. - Bonus: Add custom fields for personal notes (e.g. “Recent Event” or “Shared Interest”).
Tips: - Double check for typos and blank fields. Nothing kills trust faster than “Hi {FirstName},”. - Decide early what’s must-have info (like first name) vs. nice-to-have (like recent news). - If you’re scraping or buying lists, expect to spend real time cleaning things up.
Step 2: Import Your Contacts into Reply.io
Once your spreadsheet is tidy: - Go to the Contacts section in Reply.io. - Click “Import” and upload your CSV. - Map your spreadsheet columns to Reply.io fields. You can create new custom fields here if you want. - Spot-check a few contacts after import. If something looks off, fix it now—not after you’ve sent 1,000 emails.
Pro tip: If you’re planning on referencing a recent blog post, LinkedIn activity, or something else unique, add that as a custom field—even if you only have it for some contacts. You can use fallback values later.
Step 3: Build Your Email Template with Dynamic Fields
Now for the fun part. In your email draft, use curly braces to drop in dynamic fields:
Hi {FirstName},
Saw your recent work at {Company}—impressive stuff.
Reply.io’s built-in fields:
- {FirstName}
- {LastName}
- {Company}
- {Email}
- …and any custom fields you added.
Custom fields: Use smart names you’ll remember, like {RecentEvent} or {PersonalNote}.
Using Fallback Values
People forget this, but it’s huge. If you don’t have a field filled out for every contact, your email can look broken. Reply.io lets you add fallback values, so if {Company} is blank, it can drop in something generic.
Example:
Hi {FirstName},
I’m reaching out to folks at {Company|your team}.
If the company is missing, the email will say “your team” instead.
Don’t go overboard—fallbacks are for avoiding embarrassing blanks, not making every email sound generic.
Step 4: Make Your Personalization Actually Personal
Dynamic fields get you part of the way. But if every email says the same thing except the name and company, people tune out fast. Here’s what actually works:
- Use fields that show you did some homework (like
{RecentEvent}or{SharedConnection}). - Reference something specific—did they just win an award, launch a product, or post on LinkedIn?
- Keep it tight. One solid personalized line is better than three generic ones.
What doesn’t work: - Overloading with too many fields. (“Hi {FirstName} at {Company}, I see you’re a {JobTitle} in {City}.”) - Fake personalization (“I noticed you’re in {Industry}!” when you clearly didn’t.) - Using dynamic fields for things you don’t actually know.
Step 5: Preview and Test—Don’t Skip This Either
Before you hit send, preview your emails as if you’re the recipient.
- Use Reply.io’s preview feature to see how each field will look.
- Send test emails to yourself and a colleague. Check for awkward phrasing, missing fields, or weird fallbacks.
- If anything looks off, fix it in your contact data or template.
Pro tip: If you’re using custom fields for manual research, start with a small batch. Send to 10-20 people. See what gets replies before you scale up.
Step 6: Automate Sending, But Watch the Volume
Now you’re ready to actually send. Reply.io can automate your campaigns, but don’t just blast out hundreds at once.
- Start with smaller batches. This lets you catch problems fast.
- Monitor replies. Real personalization gets real responses, sometimes fast.
- Adjust your template or fields if people are confused or if you spot mistakes.
Spam filters are getting smarter. If you send too many emails that look the same—dynamic fields or not—you’ll still get flagged. Mix up your templates, or stagger your sends.
What to Ignore (Unless You Have Time to Kill)
- Obsessing over every single field. The basics (name, company, something specific) go a long way.
- Fancy HTML or images. Most cold emails do better plain text.
- “AI Personalization” plugins that promise magic. They’re rarely as good as a real human touch.
Real Talk: What Works and What’s Just Hype
Dynamic fields are a tool, not a silver bullet. They make your life easier, but they won’t make a bad list or a lazy template suddenly land you meetings. The best results still come from some real research and effort—just enough to make a human connection.
If you’re new to this, start simple. Set up a basic template, add a couple of real personal touches, and see what happens. You can always get fancier once you know what works for your audience.
Keep it simple, don’t try to do everything at once, and remember: one good email beats a hundred generic ones. Iterate as you go, and you’ll figure out what actually gets replies.