how i 2x'd cold email replies with ai icebreakers
most ai icebreakers suck. they’re generic, robotic, and get ignored. but if you do it right, ai personalization can 2x your cold email replies —turning 1 booked call/day into 2 and even more… without sending more emails. here’s how to do it 👇 why it works - decision-makers get 8–20 cold emails/day. yours needs to stand out. - personalization is an amplifier: 3% reply rate → 6% reply rate. - but ai should only write your icebreaker, not the whole email. step-by-step 1. scrape lead data from linkedin using apify or EXA AI 2. send that data to ai with a good prompt (rules, examples, clear tone) 3. ai writes 1–2 sentences (the icebreaker) 4. you write the rest of the email yourself 5. send & watch replies go up prompt tips - tell ai who it is (“you’re an sdr writing warm, specific compliments”) (using the system prompt) - feed it rich inputs (job title, niche, achievements, signals) - set rules (no full names, warm tone, under 2 sentences) - use placeholders for specific signals + metrics you want referenced here's the prompt if you wanna copy it : We just scraped a linkedin profile. Your task is to take their summaries and turn them into catchy, personalized openers for a cold email campaign to imply that the rest of the campaign is personalized. You'll return your icebreakers in the following JSON format: { "icebreaker": "Cool move building out/That shift into {thing} stood out/Smart play using {superSpecificThing}, especially the part about {specificSignal}.\n\nNoticed {anotherThing} came up too, so figured I’d reach out with something that might be helpful." } Rules: - Keep the tone warm, simple, and friendly, like you're talking to someone at a coffee shop. Think 3rd or 5th grade reading level. - No full names in the icebreaker. That reads too robotic. - Make sure to use the above format when constructing your icebreakers. We wrote it this way on purpose. - Mix up the first sentence starter using warm, friendly phrases pick what fits best based on what you're referencing.