I have a question for you. For years, we've all been preaching the message to recruiters, sourcers, and sales people: "Personalize your outreach! Don't send generic, all-about-you emails and InMails!" But now I get so many personalized AI generated emails, that truly look like they're form-based, that it's easy to tell they're not personalized by a human and adding words like "truly inspiring" just makes me cringe. Like this: ---- Hi John, I hope this email finds you well. I recently came across your impressive work with Recruiting Toolbox, Inc. and was particularly struck by your dedication to improving in-house recruiting capabilities for companies like Disney, Nike, and Amazon. Your approach to transforming recruiting organizations and elevating recruiters to talent advisors is truly inspiring. ---- Do you think AI or CRM personalization is better than no personalization? Do you think people on the receiving end know this is a fill-in-the-blank templated email, where every person the sender emails is probably "truly inspiring"? :) I guess the good news is that senders can test what works, and adjust. What are you seeing? Are you getting higher response rates from this kind of automated personalization vs maybe more generic outbound messages vs human personalization? Is the human personalization distinguishable? (I think it is, but maybe you disagree). Would love you to share your experiences.
Two points if I may so I don't do a full on rant: Any message that starts with this is likely 💩 : "I hope this email finds you well." "personalized AI generated emails": are not personalized. Personalized is me sending a message to the people I met last week at the 1,200 person tech conference or the 900 person data analytics conference. Personalized is mentioning the opening session, the long line at lunch, or how they are building their team. Sending a generic, "Hey Mohammed, it was good to see you at the event and here is a link to my Calendly" is not personalized. We might need to work on our definitions. Addition: a personalized email incudes something unique to them. Like a link to the upcoming DevOps Days MSP event, link to this weeks best places to work in Minneapolis list, or a podcast on a topic thety are into. AI generated personalized messages are still AI. Our industry continunes to do everything it can to not be human and avoid any interpersonal action. In that sense, we are ripe for an AI takeover. Yes, this is the short PG version 😉
Diane Spencer
4mo
John Vlastelica, these AI-generated emails in my messages on LinkedIn make it hard for a candidate to stand out. Emily Mucken showed in a post she had 99+ unread messages in her box. I see the same thing. We post a role and get the same AI-generated email from the majority of candidates who apply on LinkedIn. They also apply in my ATS, and send messages to my corporate recruiting email. I am sure it will correct itself, but right now, the technology is not necessarily helping the candidate. It also hurts the relationship with the recruiter, as many don't understand why we can't respond immediately.
Christina Selk
4mo
I think "personalized" emails like the one you received in your example are missing the point. IMO personalized messages don't get a higher response rate simply because they are personalized. They get a higher response rate because the message resonates with the receiver. You have to connect the personalization to answer "WIIFM?" for the candidate.
Susan LaMotte
4mo
I'd ask a different question. Do they even want digital reach outs? I think the answer to your question is "it depends." You have to ask the candidates. We don't utilize market research nearly enough in talent acquisition. Go to the source! What matters most to them? Some audiences want a quick short reach out, some want longer, detailed, personalized connections. And many more are sick of digital reach outs and want a phone call, personal referral or to meet in person. It all depends on the role, the target and the persona.
Karen Murphy
4mo
Perhaps it's time to simply pick up the phone and make a genuine person-to-person connection.
Tommy Weinert
4mo
This is a tricky one - AI is destroying response rates. The future (and the past) are all about multichannel with strategic timing.
David Rees
4mo
This is a natural human response to new mediums - phones, email, texts, etc - everything starts out shiny and new and then people find a way to leverage it and we all get jaded. Short and simple is the new way to say "I'm not insulting you with an AI message". (nobody tell the AI!)
Andrew Gadomski
4mo
IMHO - it doesn't matter. A true leverage of AI is aggregation of tens of thousands of profiles / people, perform matching, and then reducing the prime group to a secondary group. That secondary group is based on the candidate pattern of movement, likely pay based on talent intelligence, and other factors only AI can do since the human cost is too high. Knowing that hundreds will be reached out to, only a few need to react, one click apply, and move into an automated interview process and scheduling. Remember - AI messaging doesn't have to be better. It just needs to be placed in front of the most likely person to respond without bias. When that doesn't happen then humanity is needed and valued tremendously.
Brett G.
4mo
It just feels off most of the time and I have not scene any that show roi or differentiators to what I’m currently using. I don’t think sales is going to win with this aproach until they start using data or valuable info you would get from prospecting the old school way, using other sources than just LinkedIn. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if anyone sees this comment and uses it in their approach…
I help hiring teams improve speed, quality, diversity. Ex-Amazon, Ex-Expedia.
4moAnd I just got this second email from the same person/company. Given your extensive experience and impressive track record in improving in-house recruiting capabilities, I believe our advanced sales profiling could be a game-changer for you. Our AI optimizes over 50 communication parameters to tailor each email perfectly to your prospect's preferences, ensuring higher engagement and conversion rates. Imagine the impact this could have on your training programs and consulting practice.