Cold Emailing

9 top tools to automate email personalization

Lucas Perret
LAST UPDATED
August 29, 2024
READING TIME
7 min.

Personalizing your cold emails increases average response rates by 32.7%.

In other words, email personalization is the key to getting more replies from your prospects.

If your email isn't personalized

⬇️

it won't catch your prospect's attention

⬇️

you won't have meetings booked

⬇️

and you won't be able to grow your business.

But researching your prospects' pain points and crafting unique emails takes hours of manual work…

So how can you hyper-personalize your outreach campaigns at scale and open new business opportunities?

In this article, get a suite of 9 tools that will save you hours of work, help your emails stand out, and boost your reply rates!

Tool Top Features Pricing
lemlist Hyper-personalization; Automated follow-ups; ICP Generator; Email finder + verifier; AI Variables $39-$159
Taplio Qualified LinkedIn leads; Comment posts and answer comments ; AI-generated posts $49-$149
Clay Build lists automatically; Many data sources $149-$800 (+ custom pricing)
Trumpet Buyer-centric; Build buyer journey; Personalised pods £39-£125 (per user)
Lavender Target hiring companies; Email assistant; Personalize your emails; Email Reporting $0-$69
Lonescale Target hiring companies; Customer monitoring Custom pricing
Surfe Add LinkedIn contacts to CRM; Email + phone number finder; LinkedIn personalized messages $29-$69
Humantic Predict human behavior; AI personalization $180-$1,840
Reply.io Jason AI; Multichannel sequence; Personalized emails and follow-ups $59-$139

9 tools that will help you send hyper-personalized cold emails

1. lemlist

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Capterra - 4.6/5 (376 reviews) | G2 4.4/5 (226 reviews)

Overview

lemlist is the ultimate personalization tool for those with busy schedules that can’t afford to deal with writer's block, or outreach.

lemlist is right there with you offering  broad lead database, personalized icebreakers, task management, automated follow-ups and warmups, and so much more.

Concerning personalization, you can:

  • Use text variables to automatically personalize any part of your message, grab leads' attention, and build trust (e.g., intro line, pitch, CTA).
  • Use image variables with leads' names, logos, website screenshots, etc., to stand out from competitors' emails
  • Use video variables & custom thumbnails to give value to your prospects on a more personal level
  • Use liquid syntax to include custom code variables that will automatically adapt to your lead’s position or specific info about your leads.
  • Use AI variables to generate personalized elements like icebreakers based on your leads’ info.

Pricing & Funcionalities→

Free plan available

lemlist’s pricing ranges from $39 to $159 and offers the possibility to change your currency to euros, pounds, and dollars.

All plans include lemcal, although Email Starter does not include lemwarm.

Aside from the paid plans, you can give lemlist a go with our whole range of free tools!

2. Taplio

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.5/5 (1 review) | Product Hunt - 4.1/5 (24 reviews)

Overview:

With Taplio you can get qualified LinkedIn leads.

Taplio offers a range of features such as post-scheduling, relationship building, lead generation, analytics, and more, all available within a single platform. Taplio's AI-powered content creation feature helps take the stress out of creating content.

  • Access detailed analytics to see the content where your target audience engaged the most and use it as personalized icebreakers
  • Add people who engaged with your content to your lemlist campaigns within seconds
  • Create a LinkedIn CRM system to engage with specific replies and boost your reply chances

→ Free trial ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Starter ($39/month billed yearly)
  • Standard ($65/month billed yearly)
  • Pro ($199/month billed yearly)

3. Clay

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.9/5 (136 reviews)

Overview:

With Clay, you can build lead lists automatically from built-in sources, such as LinkedIn.

  • Automatically find your prospects' information from 50+ different data sources in seconds - for example, their job title, company size, and industry, which can help tailor your email content to their specific interests and needs
  • Add your leads directly to a sales automation tool like lemlist, and send outbound campaigns in less than 5 minutes.

→ Free trial ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Limited free plan
  • Starter ($149+/month)
  • Explorer ($349+/month)
  • Pro ($800+/month)
  • Enterprise (custom pricing)

4. Trumpet

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.7/5 (296 reviews) | Capterra - 5/5 (1 review)

Overview:

Build buyer journeys with Trumpet.

  • You can create micro-sites in under 30 seconds and offer a unique experience to your prospects that converts them faster

→ Free trial ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Pro (£29 per user/month)
  • Scale (£60 per user/month)
  • Enterprise (£100 per user/month)

5. Lavender

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.9/5 (58 reviews)

Overview:

Lavender is an email assistant fully powered by AI

What can you do with Lavender?

  • Create a list of targeted leads based on criteria such as job title, industry, and company size
  • You can get personalized intros, news, data, and insights that will help you write custom emails
  • You can get AI-powered suggestions on how to optimize your emails for more replies

→ Free plan ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Basic ($0/month)
  • Starter ($29/month)
  • Individual Pro ($49/month)
  • Team Plan (starting at $8.5K/year)

6. Lonescale

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 4.9/5 (49 reviews)

Overview:

Target hiring companies with Lonescale.

LoneScale helps revenue teams create & close more pipelines by delivering the most likely buyers.

How can Lonescale help you?

  • Get leads from the companies that are hiring so you can use that milestone to personalize your emails
  • Filter job offers by keywords and expressions so you can find companies with pain points you can help them solve
Screenshot 2023-04-26 at 18.07.55.png

→ Free trial ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Customers Job Changes: Custom pricing
  • Signal-based outbound GTM: Starting at $1,250/month

7. Surfe

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.8/5 (38 reviews) | Capterra - 5/5 (2 reviews)

Overview:

Get CRM data directly to LinkedIn with Surfe.

  • Access your CRM fields directly from LinkedIn so you have all the data you need to send personalized messages
  • Sync multichannel conversations without manual efforts

→ Free plan ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Limited free plan
  • Essential ($29/month/user yearly billing)
  • Pro ($69/month/user yearly billing

8. Humantic.ai

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.8/5 (233 reviews)

Overview:

Humantic.ai can predict human behavior accurately.

How can this help?

  • Get insights about your prospect's personality so you can write messages that target their pain points and boost your reply chances - for example, whether they are critics, prefer working alone, etc.
  • Write generic emails in one click with Generative AI.

PersonalityProfileV4-01.jpeg

→ Free trial ✅

→ Paid plans:

  • Startup ($180/month billed annually)
  • Growth ($760/month annually
  • Enterprise (custom pricing)

9. Reply.io

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

G2 - 4.6/5 (1,258 reviews) | Capterra - 4.6/5 (96 reviews)

Overview

Reply.io is designed to automate personalized cold email campaigns and follow-ups.

With advancements in AI technologies, it helps you automate the communication process as much as possible while maintaining a personal touch.

How can it help?

  • Include automatic warmups and follow-ups to your sequence.
  • You can include LinkedIn steps in your sequence, including Connect requests, Messages, InMail, etc.

Pricing

Free plan

Paid plans

Reply offers three different tiers:

-> Sales engagement

  • Email Outbound: $49/month
  • Multichannel: $89/per user/month
  • Agency: $166/month

-> AI SDR: Starts at $259/month

-> AI Chat: Starts at $50/month

Key takeaways

Here are the top 3 reasons why you should send hyper-personalized emails with the help of 8 sales automation tools:

→ Prospects are more likely to engage with emails that address their challenges and are relevant to their needs

→ You're showing a willingness to go the extra mile in prospects' research which helps you build rapport more easily

→ You can stand out from other generic emails and catch your prospects' attention quicker

… which helps you book more meetings and grow your business! 🚀

P.S. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see this ultimate 4-step framework that will give you tips on building personalized multichannel campaigns that get 17-30% reply rates! Only 45 mins. 100% value. 100% free.
Lucas Perret
Growth Manager @ lempire | Just a guy obsessed with tech & way it solves business problems
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G2 Rating
Price
Best for
Standout feature
Con
4.9
star
star
star
star
star
$30/mo
$75/mo
$2,999/mo
Large, distributed sales teams
AI evaluation precision, gamified KPIs
Lack of tracking system
4.6
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Sales operations and finance teams
Powerful configurability
Limited training resources and complex to navigate
4.4
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Mid-market and enterprise businesses
Comprehensive incentive management
Potentially high cost and steep learning curve
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
$15/user/mo
$40/user/mo
Enterprise: custom price
Complex sales structures and businesses of all sizes
Complex sales structures and businesses of all sizes
Steep learning curve
4.6
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Collaborative teams
Connected planning
Complexity and steep learning curve
4.6
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Companies with complex sales structures
Complex incentive compensation management (ICM) with high efficiency and accuracy
Complexity for smaller teams and potentially high costs
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Companies who want to automate commission calculations and payouts
Simplicity and ease of use
Lack of features like redirection
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
$30/user/mo
$35/user/mo
Custom: upon request
Businesses that need a comprehensive and user-friendly sales compensation management software
Ease of use and adoption
Lack of ability to configure the product based on user needs
4.8
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Companies with modern sales culture and businesses who want real-time insights
A built-in dispute management and real-time visibility
Users say it works slowly, customer support is slow
4.9
star
star
star
star
star
$30/user/mo
$50/user/mo
Smaller sales teams
Powerful automation
Lesser user base and average user interface
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
Not publicly available
Companies with scalable needs
Automated Commission Calculations
Lack of filtering by date, no mobile app
ERP vs. CRM
ERP
CRM
Summary
Backbone of a business's internal operations.
Backbone of customer-centric interactions and operations.
Goal
To centralize and streamline core business processes in a company.
To increase customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty, and boost sales.
Focus
Internal operations and processes across departments (finance, accounting, inventory, supply chain, HR, and sales).
All interactions with leads and customers.
Manages
Internal business data like financial data, inventory levels, production details, supply chain, HR info.
All customer data like contact info, purchase history, communication history, customer preferences and more.
Users
Finance, accounting, operations, supply chain, and HR departments.
Customer-facing teams like sales, marketing, and customer service.
Benefits
Streamlines operations, improves data accuracy, enhances decision-making, boosts collaboration, increases productivity.
Improves customer relationships, increases sales, strengthens customer service, personalizes marketing campaigns, provides insights.
Price
$150 per user per year on average.
$10 to $30 per user per month on average.
PRM Tool
Rating
Feature
Pro
Con
Mobile App
Integrations
Free Plan
Pricing
4.65
star
star
star
star
star-half
Org-wide alignment
User-friendly layout and database
Suboptimal as a personal CRM
square-check
Lack of tracking system
square-check
Team: $20/month
Business: $45/month
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
Social Media Integration
Easy contact data collection
No marketing/sales features
square-check
Lack of tracking system
square-xmark
7-day trial
$12/month
4.75
star
star
star
star
star-half
Block Functions
High customization capability
Not a dedicated CRM
square-check
Limited
square-check
Plus: €7.50/month
Business: €14/month
N/A
Open-source
Open-source flexibility
Requires extensive manual input
square-xmark
Limited
square-check
Self-hosted
$9/month or
$90/year
3.1
star
star
star
Simple iOS app
Ideal for non-tech-savvy users
iPhone only
square-check
iOS only
Limited
square-xmark
1-month trial
$1.49/month or
$14.99/month
3.6
star
star
star
star-half
Smart Contact Management
Feature-rich and flexible
Reported bugs
square-check
Rich
square-xmark
7-day trial
Premium: $13.99/month
Teams: $17.99/month
4.4
star
star
star
star
star-half
Customizable Interface
Customizable for teamwork
Pricey for personal use
square-check
Rich
square-xmark
Standard: $24/member
Premium: $39/member
4.7
star
star
star
star
star-half
Integrated Calling
Integrated Calling
Too sales-oriented & pricey
square-check
Rich
square-xmark
14-day trial
Startup: $59/user/month
Professional: $329/user/month
4.8
star
star
star
star
star
Business Card Scanning
Business Card Scanning
Mobile only
square-check
Limited
square-check
$9.99/month
4.45
star
star
star
star
star-half
160+ app integrations
Comprehensive integrations
No free app version
square-check
Rich
square-xmark
14-day trial
$29.90/month or
$24.90/month (billed annually)
Capterra Rating
Free Trial
Free Plan
Starting Price (excluding the free plan)
Maximum Price (for the most expensive plan)
Best for
4.5
star
star
star
star
star-half
square-check
14-day
square-check
€15/month/seat billed annually
€792/month/3 seats billed annually + €45/month for each extra seat
Versatility and free plan
4.2
star
star
star
star
square-check
30-day
square-xmark
But it offers reduced price to authorised nonprofit organisations
€25/user/month
€500/user/month billed annually (includes Einstein AI)
Best overall operational CRM
4.3
star
star
star
star
star-half
square-xmark
square-check
Limited to 3 users
Comprehensive incentive management
€52/user/month billed annually
Small-medium businesses and automation
4.5
star
star
star
star
star-half
square-check
14-day
square-xmark
€14/seat/month billed annually
€99/seat/month billed annually
Sales teams and ease of use
4.1
star
star
star
star
square-xmark
square-check
Limited 10 users
$9.99/user/month billed annually
$64.99/user/month billed annually
Free plan for very small teams up to 10
CRM goal
Increase the sales conversion rate for qualified leads from marketing automation campaigns by 10% in the next 6 months.
SMART Breakdown
1. Specific: It targets a specific area (conversion rate) for a defined segment (qualified leads from marketing automation).
2. Measurable: The desired increase (10%) is a clear metric, and the timeframe (6 months) allows for progress tracking.
3. Achievable: A 10% increase is possible based on historical data and potential improvements.
4. Relevant: Boosting sales from marketing efforts aligns with overall business objectives.
5. Time-bound: The 6-month timeframe creates urgency and a clear target date.
Actions
Step 1: Refine lead qualification criteria to ensure high-quality leads are nurtured through marketing automation.
Step 2: Personalize marketing automation campaigns based on lead demographics, interests, and behavior.
Step 3: Develop targeted landing pages with clear calls to action for qualified leads.
Step 4: Implement lead scoring to prioritize high-potential leads for sales follow-up.
Step 5: Track and analyze campaign performance to identify areas for optimization.
Outcomes
Increased sales and revenue
Improved marketing automation ROI
Marketing and sales alignment
Data-driven marketing optimization
Table
CDP Software
CRM Software
Approach
Data-centric
Customer-centric
Focus
Interactions across various channels and touchpoints, both online and offline.
Sales, marketing, and customer service interactions.
Functionality
Automatically collects, organizes, tags, and makes data available in real-time.
Helps businesses track customer interactions, sales pipelines, prospects, and service requests.
Goals
Personalized customer experiences across all channels.
Better customer relationships, streamlined processes, and improved profitability.
Benefits
Data integration, management, and accessibility, allowing for detailed analysis and segmentation.
Better communication within teams and with customers by organizing information about customer interactions and history.
Data Handling
Handles both identified and anonymous data, stitches together various data points.
Deals primarily with identified customer data.
Use Cases
Personalized marketing campaigns, targeted advertising, content customization across multiple channels.
Managing campaigns and leads, enhancing customer service, providing better customer support, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Examples
Insider, Bloomreach, Salesforce Marketing Cloud CDP
HubSpot, Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightning Professional, and Zoho CRM
CRM
Free plan
Best feature
Best for
Con
1. HubSpot CRM
square-check
Sales automation
Sales teams
Up to 1,000 contacts
2. Insightly
square-check
Custom fields
Basic needs
Not enough info about the free plan
3. Agile CRM
square-check
Deal and sales pipeline tracking
Small teams
Up to 10 users
4. Zoho CRM
square-check
Lead and contact management
Businesses of all sizes
Limited to 3 users
5. ClickUp
square-check
Unlimited tasks and unlimited members
Personal use
Up to 100MB storage
6. EngageBay
square-check
Live chat
Small and midsize enterprises
Up to 1,000 branded emails per month
7. Bitrix24
square-check
Unlimited users and 5 scrum teams
Big teams
Up to 5GB of cloud storage
8. FreshSales
square-check
Easy to use and simple setup
Beginners
Up to 3 users
9. Mailchimp
square-check
Very beginner friendly
Marketing teams
Send up to 500 branded emails per month
Type of Affiliate Marketing
Unattached
Related
Involved
Format
Paid advertising
Social media or YouTube channels
Dedicated website or blog
Focus
Quick income
Your niche
Your audience
Engagement with your audience
square-xmark
square-check
square-check
square-check
square-check
Very close connection with your audience
Pro
Little effort
Higher credibility thanks to your niche
Long-lasting and scalable
Con
Paid ads cost a lot
Potential for bias since you don’t use the thing you promote
Require time, effort, and dedication

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