Cold email gets a bad rap, and honestly, most of the time it's deserved. If you're blasting out the same cookie-cutter template to everyone, you're just adding to the noise—and wasting your time. But with a little effort, you can make your emails feel like they were written for a real person (because, well, they should be). This guide is for anyone using Bloobirds who wants to get more replies without spending hours rewriting every message from scratch.
Let’s cut through the fluff and break down exactly how to personalize email templates for cold outreach in Bloobirds, what’s worth your time, and what you can safely ignore.
1. Understand What “Personalization” Really Means
Personalization isn’t just slapping someone’s name in the subject line and calling it a day. If the rest of your email reads like it went out to 200 people, you’re not fooling anyone.
Real personalization means: - Showing you know something specific about the person or their company. - Connecting that detail to why you’re reaching out. - Not overdoing it—if it feels forced, it probably is.
What’s not worth your time: - Overly complex mail-merge tricks (they break, and everyone sees through them). - Gimmicks like {{favorite_color}} or fake “I loved your recent post…” unless you actually did.
2. Set Up Your Email Templates in Bloobirds
Before you can personalize, you need a solid base template. In Bloobirds, templates help you avoid rewriting the same intro and sign-off every time.
How to do it: 1. Go to the Templates Section: In Bloobirds, find the “Templates” or “Email Templates” area under your settings or outreach tools. 2. Create a New Template: Start with a simple, direct structure: - Short subject line (avoid clickbait) - Brief intro (who you are and why you’re reaching out) - A line or two for personalization - Clear ask or call to action - Sign-off
Pro Tip:
Don’t try to cram five “personalization tokens” into your template. Leave one or two spots open for genuine, manual edits.
Example Basic Template:
Subject: Quick question about {{company_name}}
Hi {{first_name}},
I noticed {{personalization}}. I thought it might make sense to connect because {{reason_for_reaching_out}}.
Would it make sense to chat for a few minutes next week?
Best,
{{your_name}}
Keep it simple. The more you automate, the less real it sounds.
3. Identify the Right Personalization Fields
Bloobirds supports dynamic fields (think: {{first_name}}, {{company_name}}), but don’t just use whatever’s available.
Which fields actually matter: - First Name: Seems obvious, but double-check for weird formatting or nicknames scraped from LinkedIn. - Company Name: Clean this up (e.g., drop the “Inc.” or “LLC” unless relevant). - Job Title: Use sparingly; often sounds awkward. - Personalization: This should be a catch-all for your custom sentence—manually added for each prospect.
What to skip: - Anything you can’t tie directly to your message. - Details that don’t change how you approach them (e.g., city, industry, unless hyper-relevant).
Pro Tip:
Have a “personalization” field in your template and workflow. You’ll fill this out in Bloobirds before you send, based on your research.
4. Do the Minimum Effective Research
Yes, research matters. No, you don’t need to spend 20 minutes on every prospect.
Find one detail that: - Relates to their job, company, or recent news. - Gives you a reason to reach out (beyond “we help companies like yours…”).
Where to look: - LinkedIn profiles (a quick scroll is plenty) - Company websites (the “About” or “News” section) - Recent press releases or blog posts (if they’re actually relevant)
Examples of good personalization snippets: - “Saw you recently expanded to Germany—congrats!” - “Noticed you’re hiring SDRs—must be a busy time.” - “Read your post on remote onboarding—great points about team culture.”
Skip: - Flattery for the sake of flattery (“Love your website!”) - Generic “saw you’re in X industry” lines that could apply to anyone.
Pro Tip:
Set a timer. Give yourself 2-3 minutes per contact. If you can’t find anything interesting, move on or bump them down your list.
5. Fill In and Customize Before Sending
Now you’ve got your template, your fields, and your research. Here’s how to bring it all together in Bloobirds:
Step-by-step: 1. Start from the Template: When composing a new email, select your template in Bloobirds. 2. Fill in the Dynamic Fields: Make sure {{first_name}}, {{company_name}}, etc. are correct. Spot-check for weird data issues. 3. Write a Custom Personalization Line: In the {{personalization}} spot, add your 1-2 sentence nugget from your research. 4. Adjust the Reason/CTA: Tweak the reason for reaching out or the call to action to fit what you found, if needed. 5. Proofread: Read it out loud. If it sounds stilted or generic, fix it. 6. Send—or, better yet, schedule for a time when they’re likely to check email.
What to watch out for: - Broken merge fields (nothing kills trust faster than “Hi {{first_name}}”) - Awkward transitions where personalization is dropped in - Overly long emails—keep it tight
6. Test, Track, and Iterate
No template is perfect out of the gate. Bloobirds gives you basic analytics—open rates, reply rates, etc.—so use them.
What to actually track: - Reply rates: The only number that matters. Opens can be misleading (thanks, Apple Mail). - Positive replies: Not just any reply—did you start a real conversation? - Negative feedback: If you get “Please remove me” often, something’s off.
How to improve: - Swap out personalization styles (try different types of snippets) - Shorten or tighten up your templates - Test different calls to action
Ignore: - “Best time to send” hacks (they rarely move the needle much) - Overanalyzing open rate spikes
7. What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore
Works: - One solid, specific detail per email - Short, clear asks - Sounding like a real person
Doesn’t work: - Long-winded intros about your company - Fancy formatting or HTML-heavy templates (keep it plain text) - Over-automation (if you can’t tell it’s a template, they can)
Ignore: - Personalization for its own sake. If you’re stretching, it shows. - Tools that promise “AI personalization at scale” (it always sounds fake, at least for now).
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel or write a novel for every cold email. Set up a basic template in Bloobirds, spend a couple of minutes on genuine research, and focus on making each message sound like you actually care (because, hopefully, you do). When in doubt, err on the side of brevity and honesty.
Personalization isn’t magic—it’s just a little effort applied in the right place. Start simple, see what works, and tweak as you go. That’s how you actually stand out from the crowd.