If you’re sending cold B2B emails and getting nothing but crickets, you’re not alone. Most mass outreach ends up ignored, deleted, or worse — flagged as spam. Personalization helps, but who has time to craft 100 unique emails a day? This guide is for founders, salespeople, and marketers who want more replies without spending all day copy-pasting. Let’s break down how to actually use Supersend to personalize outreach so it feels like a real human wrote it — and do it at scale, without losing your sanity.
Why “Personalization at Scale” Is Usually a Lie
Let’s get this out of the way: most “personalized” outreach is just a first name and company name jammed into a template. Prospects see right through it. If your email could go to anyone with a pulse, it’s not personalized.
Real personalization means: - Referencing something specific about the person or their company - Showing you actually know who you’re emailing - Sounding like you wrote the email, not a robot
Supersend promises to help you do this with less manual work. But it’s not magic. Garbage in, garbage out. You’ll still need to do some thinking, but you can cut out 80% of the grunt work.
Step 1: Get Your List Right — Quality Over Quantity
Before you even touch Supersend, get clear on who you’re emailing. No tool can save you if your list is junk.
- Define your ideal customer. Who actually needs what you’re selling?
- Use good data sources. LinkedIn, Apollo, Clay, or even manual research beat most scraped lists.
- Gather context fields. For each contact, try to find at least one nugget: recent news, tech used, hiring, etc.
Pro tip: Don’t buy generic lead lists. You’ll just annoy people and trash your sender reputation.
Step 2: Prep Your Data for Personalization
Supersend uses CSVs or integrations to pull in your contact data. The richer your data, the better your emails will sound.
At minimum, you want: - First name - Company name - Email address
To really stand out, add: - “Icebreaker” or custom sentence (e.g. “Saw your team just raised Series A — congrats!”) - Industry or role - Any recent company news or achievements
How to prep: - Use columns in your spreadsheet for each personalization snippet. - Tools like Clay or PhantomBuster can help automate research for hundreds of leads.
Don’t overthink it. Even a single custom sentence per lead is enough to be better than 99% of outreach.
Step 3: Write Templates That Don’t Sound Like Templates
Your main template will use variables like {first_name}, {company}, and maybe {icebreaker}. But if your core message is bland, no amount of fields will save it.
Keep it short and direct:
Subject: Quick question, {first_name}
Hi {first_name},
{icebreaker}
I help {company} with {problem you actually solve}. Is this even on your radar right now?
– Your Name
Tips: - The icebreaker should be specific: “Read your post on remote onboarding — great tips.” - Avoid clichés (“Hope this finds you well”) and fake flattery. - Never pretend you know someone if you don’t.
What to ignore: “Spray and pray” approaches. If your template is so generic you could send it to anyone, you’ll get ignored.
Step 4: Connect Your Data to Supersend
Now, log in to Supersend and upload your CSV (or connect your CRM or Google Sheet directly).
- Map fields. Supersend will ask you to match your CSV columns (like “icebreaker”) with variables in your template.
- Preview emails. Actually look at a few. Make sure the merge fields work and the emails don’t sound weird.
- Fix weird data. If something looks off, update your CSV before blasting out 500 broken emails.
Pro tip: Send a few test emails to yourself or a teammate first. You’d be amazed how often a {first_name} comes through as “null.”
Step 5: Set Up Sending — Don’t Get Burned
Supersend lets you connect your email account directly (usually Gmail or Outlook). This is powerful, but also risky if you go too fast.
- Warm up your email account if it’s new. If you suddenly send 200 cold emails from a fresh account, you’ll get flagged.
- Start slow. Maybe 20-30 emails a day, then ramp up.
- Randomize send times. Supersend can space your emails out so they don’t all hit at 9:00 AM sharp.
- Set up custom tracking domains if you want to avoid spam filters (not required, but helps with deliverability).
Honest take: No tool can guarantee deliverability. If you get too aggressive, you will get flagged. Be patient.
Step 6: Automate Follow-Ups (But Don’t Be Annoying)
Most replies come from the second or third touch, not the first. Supersend lets you queue up follow-ups that stop if someone replies.
Best practices: - Keep follow-ups shorter than your first email. - Add value each time (“Just wanted to bump this — saw you’re hiring for X, can help with Y”). - Never send more than 3-4 total emails per contact. If they’re not interested, move on.
What doesn’t work: Guilt-tripping (“Did you get eaten by an alligator?”) or endless bumping.
Step 7: Track Results and Adjust
Supersend gives you stats: open rates, replies, bounces. But don’t chase vanity metrics.
- Look for replies, not just opens. Open rates are nice, but replies pay the bills.
- If reply rate is low: Tweak your template or targeting. Usually, it’s not the tool — it’s your message or your audience.
- A/B test. Try two icebreaker styles or subject lines. Don’t change ten things at once.
Ignore: “Industry benchmark” open rates. Your list, your message, your results.
Step 8: Keep It Human
The temptation to fully automate everything is strong. But the best results come when you mix automation with a bit of real human effort.
- Review your daily sends. If a prospect is high-value, tweak their email manually before it goes out.
- Respond quickly to replies. The whole point is to start conversations, not just blast and forget.
- Update your data regularly. People change jobs, companies pivot, news gets stale.
Pro tip: If you’re getting more unsubscribes than replies, dial back the frequency and double-check your targeting.
Things That Don’t Work (No Matter the Tool)
- Mass-blasting entire industries with the same pitch
- Pretending automated emails are 100% hand-written
- Overly aggressive follow-ups (“Just circling back… for the 7th time!”)
- Relying on AI to fake deep personalization (it’s not there yet)
Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Supersend can save you a ton of time, but it won’t fix bad lists, bad messaging, or lazy research. Start small. Make your emails feel like a real person wrote them. Test, tweak, and don’t be afraid to change course if you’re not seeing replies.
Remember: better to send 20 truly personalized emails and get 5 real conversations than blast 500 and get nothing but spam complaints. Keep it real, keep it simple, and you’ll stand out — even in crowded inboxes.