How to Automate Outreach Without Losing Personalization

Introduction To The Balance Between Scale and Human Touch 

Modern link building and digital marketing build speed, scale and consistency but people still prefer to communicate in an authentic and human way when they reach out to them. The way a lot of marketers do their outreach does not consider this fact and often step too far into the automated world and as a result send messages that are so automated they appear to be robotic in nature and therefore not received; this is not what smart automation is supposed to do.  

Smart automation is about enhancing the human aspect of outreach with the use of technology to create efficiencies for the marketing teams utilizing these tools such as GuestPostCRM for many aspects of their workflows, the success of which will depend on how thoughtfully the marketing team applies the technology. When applied correctly, automation allows for greater efficiency while still preserving the authenticity, impact and trust that is so important to successful outreach. 

Understanding Outreach Automation 

Outreach Automation is simply a way of using technology to assist with repetitive outreach tasks. This includes, but is not limited to: discovery of potential prospects, storing contact information, following up after the initial communication with the prospect and tracking how well the outreach campaign was performed. Automation allows an individual to send a much higher volume (hundreds versus dozens) of emails and personalise and schedule them.  

However, there is no guarantee that Automation by itself will deliver a successful campaign. Without an established strategy to support the automated outreach, it can quickly become “Spam” very quickly. The goal of creating automated outreach systems should be to help companies maintain their ability to personalise messaging while automating it as much as possible. 

Why Personalization Still Matters 

The key difference between being ignored and getting attention is personalization; the proper reaction by a person depends on how relevant that message is to his/her interest, challenges, and goals. When a person receives a personalized message through outreach, the added value of that personalization builds credibility and shows that you respect the person’s time.  

An automated outreach that doesn’t contain any personalization typically has low open and reply rates and it also harms the reputation of the brand. The advantages of personalization, even at a basic level, increase engagement, as it shows that the sender has done their homework. 

Common Myths About Automated Outreach 

Many marketers believe that personalization and automation cannot work together. This misguided belief causes teams to make a choice between slow manual outreach or automated campaigns that are fast but ineffective. In fact, personalization can be performed in a systematic way.  

The personalization of outreach can be incorporated into an automated workflow with the ability to integrate different personalization fields such as name, website, niche, recent content and pain points without compromising the quality of the campaign. 

Building a Personalization-First Automation Strategy 

To successfully automate outreach, you need the right data first. The better your data’s structure and accuracy is, the better your chances of creating useful and relevant outreach messages.  

By creating segments based on factors such as niche, authoritative status, geographic location, and intent, you can customize your outreach messages for multiple segments at once. Rather than sending out a single generic e-mail, you would instead produce numerous customized e-mail templates that convey the same message to each of the target audience’s segments. 

Role of Data in Smart Outreach 

Personalized outreach relies on data. The types of data required to generate personalized messages include contact information (including name, address, e-mail address), web page traffic, publishing frequency and content theme.  

With an automated outreach system, automated tools can extract information collected about your audience into dynamic fields so that every recipient receives an email as if it were uniquely written for them. Consequently, automation becomes an automated assistant to support your campaign rather than simply a quick fix. 

Email Templates That Still Feel Human 

Many people say that templates make outreach seem robotic, however, it is not the templates that are to blame, it is actually the poorly written generic template. A good template has a natural conversational tone as well as using placeholders that allow for flexibility.  

When a good template is mixed with segmentation, it makes it feel like a very personalized outreach. An ideal template should also allow for contextual customization while keeping the same level of efficiency. 

Timing and Frequency Matter 

Personalized messages can also be looked at as “failed” if you send them during inappropriate time frames or send them at too many different intervals. Automation provides you with an opportunity to regularly optimize and test your sending schedule based on engagement patterns.  

The benefits of automation are the ability to easily manage the frequency of your follow-ups so that your audience does not get bombarded. Thus, sending messages at a reasonable time frame will help to build and maintain a trust relationship and increase response rates. 

Follow-Ups Without Being Annoying 

Follow-ups play an important role in outreach but many outreach campaigns mishandle automated follow-ups. Automated follow-ups should add value to a sales process rather than repeating the same information multiple times.  

Each week (or what a company refers to as a touch point) can provide a slightly different framing of the sales pitch, context to the prospect’s challenge, or additional benefits to the prospect. The automation provides consistency across different automated outreach activities while added personalization provides relevance. 

Human Review in Automated Workflows 

One effective way to maintain human touch points within the automated outreach is by inserting human checkpoints within the automated process. A company should review the templates, segments and sample emails prior to launching a sales campaign to ensure quality control prior to sending out the sales emails to the targeted prospects. Periodic audits of the responses are useful in refining message development and identifying what material resonates the most with the audience. 

Integrating Content Insights Into Outreach 

When outreach attempts coincide with a recipient’s existing content strategy, it strengthens their chance of receptivity to a message. Citing relevant articles, referencing shared audience members, or emphasizing commonalities of interest adds credibility to any outreach message that might otherwise be perceived as unrelated or uninspiring. However, within the context of a well-executed outreach campaign, even the slightest reference such as sparkpressfussion establishes the depth of how aligned and relevant a brand can be to the overall outcome of an outreach endeavor — and importantly, not appear contrived or forced. 

Measuring Success Beyond Open Rates 

When determining the effectiveness of a specific outreach effort, traditional engagement metrics such as the number of opens/opens on a specific email, click-throughs, etc., are merely surface-level indicators.  

True impact is assessed through the volume of replies, relationships built and ultimately, long-term partnerships. Automation platforms support an organization having a more thorough understanding of their outreach success metrics, so that they may continue to improve the way they personalize their outreach as they continue to engage with potential collaborators. 

Scaling Outreach for Teams 

As teams expand, maintaining consistency can be difficult. Automation helps to keep a team aligned in its voice and messaging standards, as well as how team members conduct follow-ups. Automation does not reduce personalization, but rather it establishes a consistent, repeatable framework within which personalization can occur. 

Ethical Outreach and Long-Term Reputation 

Automation should never be used to manipulate or deceive individuals. As such, clear communications with honest intent and respectful follow-ups (whether through automated channels or not) are essential to protect one’s brand reputation. Ethical outreach focuses on creating mutual value and generating a positive experience for both sender and recipient, rather than concentrating solely on generating quick wins. Automation allows for maintenance of ethical practices at scale. 

Tools and Features That Support Personalization 

Modern outreach systems provide an array of capabilities, including dynamic fields and conditional logic to help tailor messages based on recipient actions (e.g., opening an email or visiting a specific web page). This ability to adapt messages through automation makes the communication feel more personalized and human-like. 

Continuous Improvement Through Feedback 

Automating outreach through email or other means of communication ensures that while using technology we do not lose the ability to provide each recipient with an individualised message. Therefore we need to make sure that as digital users are being inundated with messages each day, we take the time to personalise the message that gets sent to them. 

Conclusion 

When automating an immediate response to an email, it does not mean that automation does not work; quite the opposite. There are significant advantages to creating and using a system for automated outreach, including: ensuring consistency in how we engage with our audience and ensuring the best reporting mechanism is in place. Additionally, automating outreach gives an organisation more time to focus on building relationships with the individuals they are connecting with vs. simply providing them with an instant reply.