What elements should I personalize in a cold email?

Effective personalization focuses on relevance, not generic flattery.

High-impact personalization elements:

Why them specifically: What about their role, company, or situation makes this relevant?

Company context: Recent news, funding, growth, or challenges they face

Role relevance: How your offering connects to their responsibilities

Shared connection: Mutual contacts, shared experiences, or common ground

Timing relevance: Why now matters for them

Lower-impact personalization:

First name (expected, not differentiating)

Company name (basic, but necessary)

Generic compliments (often transparent and hollow)

Elements to avoid:

Fake familiarity (pretending you've met when you haven't)

Excessive flattery (signals manipulation)

Personal details unrelated to business (feels invasive)

Obvious automation tokens (dear FIRST_NAME)

The test: Could this sentence apply to dozens of other people? If yes, it's not personalized. True personalization makes the recipient think, this person understands my situation.