It is a truth of human nature that we all have an “affinity bias.” 

This is the social psychologist’s term to describe our natural liking for people who we think are like us. When we meet someone who appears to share our background, experiences, interests, and attitudes—even at a minor level—we’re a lot more open to them than to the average stranger.

Sales professionals have used the affinity bias to their advantage for as long as the profession has existed. But today it’s easier than ever to use organic commonalities to warm up your cold outreach from the start.

A word of caution: Personalizing emails requires attention to detail. Done poorly, it can turn off a prospect more than if you’d just sent a generic email.

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Bad Personalization

What does bad personalization look like?

• Mistake 1: Lazy complimenting. Starting with “I am impressed by your track record at [insert company name]” is no longer interesting to prospects. It feels false because it usually is.
• Mistake 2: Inauthentic connection attempt. Maybe you see your target went to Colorado State University and decide to put “Go Rams!” in your email despite never having set foot in Fort Collins. This is likely to look like a cheap, disingenuous attempt at creating affinity.
• Mistake 3: Overdoing it. It’s possible to do too much research and come across stalkery. Things like “I see your wife’s sister plays roller derby” is likely to drive away a prospect. 
• Mistake 4: Sloppy sending. You’ve probably gotten tons of emails calling you by the wrong name, getting your title wrong, or totally misunderstanding what your role or organization does. Take the time to get personalization right.

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Hyper-Personalization Done Right

With these pitfalls in mind, how can a rep send a hyper-personalized email that gets read and acted upon?

Let’s start with a definition of hyper-personalized outreach. We use the term to mean outreach to sales prospects that is fully bespoke—i.e., tightly tailored to the prospect’s unique background, personality, and role at work, and that clarifies how their business priorities intersect with the solution you offer.

When looking to hyper-personalize your outreach, it’s a good idea to start by thinking about any commonalities you have with the prospect. Don’t just look for a personal detail you can parrot back to them (“Go Rams!”). Instead, kick off with a mention of a person, company, place, or idea that will immediately draw your prospect’s eye, something you have in common with them and that they will want to talk about.
Crucially, it should be something you authentically share with the prospect. 

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Examples:

• You both support the same hockey team.
• You both worked at Morgan Stanley out of college.
• They’re connected on LinkedIn with a mentor of yours.
• They shared a quote on Twitter from your favorite book.
• They served in the Navy at the same time your sister did.

These are small things, but they are far better at gaining a few seconds of precious attention than one-sided, surface-level personalization. You can take it to the next level by mentioning something only an insider would know about the commonality (e.g., the new recruit on the hockey team, that one VP at Morgan Stanley you think they might know). Especially when you feel the connection yourself, you can write your email subject line and opening in a way that is genuine, real, and compelling.

You may be asking, Doesn’t that take a ton of time? It certainly can. It’s easy to get lost in prospect research and then look up and realize half your day is gone. It’s often time well spent, but today, tools like nCommon can quickly surface commonalities without leeching hours of your time. By using AI to pinpoint opportunities for a connection, you can do hyper-personalization while preserving your productivity.

Will you be able to find a hyper-personalized commonality with everyone you want to connect with? No. For these prospects, don’t force it. (Remember, the key is authenticity.) A better approach for these prospects is to focus on a hyper-personalized business case for your email, which we will discuss in an upcoming post.

But when you can find an authentic person, place, institution, or interest you share with the prospect, using it wisely can help you harness the affinity bias to get your email read—and responded to.