personalize-email

name

personalize-email

description

Generate 1-3 personalized email variants for a single prospect. The composition bar adapts to the use case — cold_outbound demands a signal → pain → positioning chain; follow-ups / recaps / renewals lean on prior context and next-step framing. Supports cold_outbound, discovery_follow_up, demo_recap, re_engagement, renewal, expansion, objection_handling. Returns subject lines and mobile-readable bodies with a rationale chain. Use for sales prospecting, lead generation, account-based selling, buyer-intent-driven outreach, B2B prospecting. Triggers on phrases like "write a cold email", "personalize an email", "draft outreach", "follow up on this prospect", "email this prospect", "outbound to X", "send a chaser".

Personalize Email

Generate personalized email variants. Calls get_gtm_context(detailed: true) unconditionally, resolves the prospect, runs a relationship-context pre-flight, pulls signals + CRM context, and composes 1-3 variants tuned to the chosen use case. Iteratively refinable.

The bar — adapts by use case

The composition bar depends on what the email is trying to do. Don't force a cold-outbound frame onto a follow-up.

Use case	Anchor for the variant	Pain-bridge required?
cold_outbound	Signal → pain → positioning chain (specific, recent, verifiable signal; concrete inferred pain; GTM-context value prop)	Yes — mandatory
re_engagement	Fresh new signal since the last contact → reconnection frame	Yes (lightweight — the signal IS the reason to reach back)
discovery_follow_up	Prior conversation reference → next-step framing	No (the prior touchpoint replaces the pain bridge)
demo_recap	Recap of what was shown / heard → concrete next step	No
renewal	Outcome recap → renewal moment + stakeholder ask	No (anchor is the contract, not a pain)
expansion	Existing outcome → adjacent need / persona	Pain-bridge ON the adjacent need, not the existing relationship
objection_handling	Acknowledge stated objection → reframe	No (the objection IS the anchor)
chaser (treat as a re_engagement variant)	One new fact or framing since the last send → "still relevant?"	No

Universal — every variant: specific to this prospect (no template feel); concrete next action; honest about state; ≤ use-case length cap.

The rule in one line: never default to "let me find a pain" when the use case calls for "what happens next."

Always-on context: get_gtm_context

Call get_gtm_context(detailed: true) first. Parse offerings into:

offering_profile = { offering, pain_points[], value_props[], proof_bank[], cta_ladder[] }

Anchor on one offering_profile. Pick one value_prop. Never invent stats or customer names — only what GTM context / proof_bank provides.

Input

• Prospect identifier (required) — ZI person ID / email / name+company / name+domain.
• Use case (default cold_outbound) — drives length, framework, CTA, and bar (see above).
• Outreach context (recommended) — natural-language goal ("competitive displacement against [vendor]", "follow up on last week's pricing conversation").
• Prior touchpoint summary (recommended for follow-ups / recaps / chasers) — what happened last + named participants + open thread. Without it, the skill falls back to account_research + contact_research to reconstruct.
• Sender info (optional) — name, title, email, phone, signoff. Otherwise omit signature.
• User-supplied template/content (optional) — wins over everything below. Use as skeleton; fill placeholders only.
• Variant count (optional) — 1 / 2 / 3. Default: governed by persona-fit discipline.
• Preferred angle (optional) — curiosity / value-frame / urgency.
• Recipient email — required for sending. Refuse if unresolvable.

Use-case routing

Use case	Length	Framework	CTA style
cold_outbound	50–80	AIDA or Becc Holland 4-line	Lowest-friction tease
discovery_follow_up	up to 120	PAS (pain known)	15–20 min fit check
demo_recap	80–120	Recap → next-step	Concrete next-step proposal
re_engagement / chaser	50–80	Curiosity / new-signal hook	One-line ask
renewal	80–120	Outcome-recap → renewal step	Tied to contract step
expansion	80–120	Outcome-recap → adjacent need	Fit check on adjacency
objection_handling	up to 120	Acknowledge → reframe	Direct one-question response

Frameworks: AIDA (cold) · PAS (pain known) · Challenger (provocative insight) · Becc Holland 4-line (Premise / Hook / CTA / Push-Pull — cold + re-engagement).

Signal → pain mapping (cold-outbound + re-engagement)

Used when the use case requires a signal → pain bridge. For follow-ups / recaps / renewals, the bridge is the prior touchpoint or contract moment, not a new pain.

Signal	Recency	Implied pains	Buying window
M&A — acquirer	90d	Integration complexity, redundant tooling, vendor consolidation, IT security review	3–9mo post-close
M&A — acquiree	90d	Loss of autonomy, vendor contract review, rip-and-replace risk	0–6mo post-close
New CEO / C-suite hire	30d	Strategy reset, 100-day plan, vendor relationship reset, budget reallocation	60–180d
Funding round	90d	Enterprise-grade tool need, hiring acceleration, scaling pains. A: replace founder tools · B: process formalization · C+: enterprise readiness	3–6mo
Hiring plans / surge	30d	Onboarding load, tooling gaps revealed by scale	0–6mo
Layoffs / restructuring	60d	Cost pressure, consolidation, automation appeal. Sensitivity > urgency	6–12mo
Product launch	90d	GTM readiness, sales/marketing alignment, enablement gaps	0–6mo
Earnings / financial results	30d	Public commitments → execution pressure	30–90d
Intent topic spike	14d	Active research; score 80+ + audience A/B = warm	0–60d
Partnership announcement	60d	Co-sell pressure, competitive disruption to incumbent vendors	3–6mo
Pain Point scoop	90d	ZI-curated pain — already the bridge	0–90d

When multiple signals exist, choose by (recency × buyer-relevance × stage-alignment). Recency weighted heavily — a 14-day signal beats a 60-day one.

Personalization ladder — use exactly one, never stack

Tier	What	When
P0	Neutral trigger (role + market trend)	Last-resort fallback
P1	Role/segment insight (ICP-level)	When company-specific signal is thin
P2	Company-specific event (news / product / metric)	Default for cold_outbound
P3	Individual-specific (quote, prior interaction, CRM note)	Strongest; re_engagement / discovery_follow_up
Tier 0 override	User-supplied template content	Always wins; fill placeholders only

Proof-source hierarchy — use exactly one, in order

1. Direct prior result with this account/contact (from contact_research / CRM).
2. Peer / segment outcome (from proof_bank).
3. Product evidence without metrics (capability → expected outcome).
4. Fallback: generic capability statement.

Never invent stats or customer names. If proof_bank is empty, drop to tier 3 or 4 — never fabricate.

Tone calibration

When tone isn't supplied, infer by seat:

• Executives (C/EVP/SVP) — outcome-first, concise, numeric proof, direct CTA.
• Directors / Managers — problem → approach → outcome → CTA.
• Practitioners / ICs — workflow friction → concrete benefit → quick next step.

Universal: ~Grade 8 reading level. Slightly casual; slightly unsure phrasing ("might be off-base, but…").

Anti-patterns — fail-fast checklist

If any fires, regenerate.

1. Generic congratulations. Banned openers: "Congrats on", "Saw the news about your", "Hope this finds you well", "Loved your recent post about" (without naming + thesis).
2. "Just checking in" / "circling back". Dead. Use a signal or don't follow up.
3. Self-introduction-first. "We're a leading provider of…" / "Hi, I'm…" / "We help [persona]…" — lead with the prospect.
4. "I noticed..." crutch. Stating a public fact without doing something with it.
5. Signal without payoff. Naming a signal then jumping to product pitch — skips the bridge.
6. Forcing a pain bridge on a non-cold use case. Follow-ups, recaps, renewals don't need a freshly invented pain. The anchor is the prior touchpoint or contract moment.
7. Generic praise. "Love what you're building" / "Big fan." Must tie to a specific achievement.
8. Meeting ask as primary CTA on cold. Tanks reply rate. Use a tease.
9. Length > use-case cap. Emails over 150 words are 42% less likely to get a reply.
10. AI-generated feel. Hedging, em-dashes everywhere, abstract claims with no verifiable detail.
11. Padded subject lines. Long, punctuation, numbers, first-names, brackets. Keep to 2–6 lowercase words.
12. Stale signals. 90d most categories / 30d hires-exec moves / 14d intent.
13. Multiple CTAs. Exactly one per email.
14. Bullets in emails <100 words. Fragments the mobile read.
15. Invented stats / customer names. Hard rule.
16. Personalization stacking. One ladder tier only.

Workflow

1. Pull GTM context (always)

get_gtm_context(detailed: true) → offering_profile. If empty, flag.

2. Honor input data first

INPUT DATA FIRST, TOOLS LAST. If user supplied template / sender info / recipient email / prior touchpoint summary / outreach context, use directly. Only call tools for missing data.

3. Resolve the prospect

• ZI person ID → use directly.
• Email → enrich_contacts(email).
• Name + company → enrich_contacts(firstName/lastName/companyName); fall back to search_contacts.
• Resolve the prospect's company ID.
• Recipient email required — refuse if unresolvable.
• Multi-recipient rule — use only the first; never reference others.

Stale-record handling. If lastUpdatedDate >12mo OR current companyName doesn't match user-named company: use company-level signals only, skip contact_research, surface caveat, suggest verifying role.

3.5. Relationship-context pre-flight (mandatory)

Tag the resolved company. Wait for user confirmation when the label is anything other than prospect.

• competitor — matches get_gtm_context.competitors. Hard-warn. Surface and ask: reroute to partnership/displacement-defense, acknowledge intentional targeting, or refuse.
• customer — in get_gtm_context.customers / proof_bank. Suggest switching use_case to expansion or renewal.
• partner — in get_gtm_context.partners / integration_partners. Surface co-sell / integration angle.
• prospect — default; proceed.

Pipeline-account check (specialization). Run account_research(zoominfoCompanyId, query="Open opportunities, active deal stages, named champions, last activity date"). Open opp → pipeline_account → suggest discovery_follow_up / expansion. Renewal date within 90d → suggest renewal. Active engagement → suggest discovery_follow_up.

4. Pull signals in parallel

Pull only what the use case needs:

• Always: enrich_companies (companyId, fields: description, industries, employeeCount, revenue, ...).
• Cold / re-engagement / chaser: enrich_company_signals (signalTypes: ["NEWS", "SCOOP", "INTENT"]) — returns recent news, scoops, and intent in one call. Rank and filter in step 5 (the news category, e.g. funding / M&A / product / leadership, is carried on each returned signal).
• Discovery follow-up / demo recap / renewal / expansion / objection_handling: primarily contact_research + account_research for prior-touchpoint reconstruction; news/scoops only as supporting context.

Always run contact_research for the prospect (unless record is stale), with a query tuned to the use case.

enrich_company_signals resolves intent topics server-side, so there is no need to pre-resolve topics via lookup — request INTENT in signalTypes and triage the returned topics in step 5.

5. Pick the anchor

• Cold / re-engagement: rank signals by (recency × buyer-relevance × stage-alignment). Recency: 0-14d = 1.0 · 14-30d = 0.7 · 30-60d = 0.4 · 60-90d = 0.2 · >90d = drop. 80-90d signals carry an "on the cusp" caveat. Buyer-relevance: CFO ↔ funding/earnings/M&A · CRO ↔ hiring/product launch · CTO ↔ tech-stack/product · CEO ↔ all. Pick top + record runner-up.
• Follow-up / recap / renewal / expansion / objection: the anchor is the prior touchpoint (or contract moment, or named objection). Pull it from prior-touchpoint summary first, then contact_research / account_research. If both are silent and no touchpoint can be reconstructed → refuse and surface the gap.

Refuse-to-produce gate (cold / re-engagement only). Refuse when two or more hold:

1. Signal layer thin — no company-level signal ≤60d.
2. contact_research GTM-irrelevant — nothing returned, OR what was returned maps to no value prop.
3. Positioning anchor weak — no clean value prop in GTM context maps to the inferred pain.

All three → refuse outright. One → proceed but flag. Route refusals to warming channels or a different prospect.

6. Bridge to the anchor (use-case-conditional)

• Cold / re-engagement: use the signal → pain mapping to infer the pain: "For [persona] at a company that just [signal], the dominant unsolved problem in the next 90 days is likely [specific pain] because [reason]." Iterate if generic.
• Other use cases: the anchor is the prior touchpoint / contract / objection. The body's job is to acknowledge, surface the next step, and remove friction — not to introduce a freshly imagined pain.

7. Anchor positioning in GTM context

Map the inferred pain (cold/re-engagement) OR the prior touchpoint (other use cases) to one concrete claim from offering_profile.value_props — never the elevator pitch. Pick one proof source per the hierarchy. If no value prop maps, flag and offer to reroute.

8. Compose variants

Persona-fit discipline:

• Strong fit → 3 variants.
• Moderate fit → 2 variants.
• Stretch fit → 1 variant with strong opt-out CTA. Don't force volume.

Variant angles:

• A — Curiosity. Lead with observation / question; tease.
• B — Value-frame. Concrete claim or stat tied to the anchor (pain for cold; outcome for follow-up; objection-reframe for objection).
• C — Urgency / window. Timing implication. Cold: only when signal ≤30d and buying window tight. Renewal/expansion: tied to contract date.

Length per use case. Apply chosen framework. Tone: slightly casual, slightly unsure.

Exactly one each: personalization tier · anchor · value prop · proof source · CTA.

9. Subject lines

2–6 lowercase words. No punctuation / numbers / first-names / brackets. Three patterns — generate then pick strongest:

1. Pain → Outcome (cold). "pipeline gaps shorten replies"
2. Trigger → Value (cold / re-engagement). "post-close stacks"
3. Recap → Next step (follow-up / recap / renewal). "monday's pricing thread"
4. Peer / Proof cue (any). "how X improved reply rates"

10. Signature

If sender_info available, emit with two trailing spaces per line for Markdown line breaks:

Best,␠␠
Jordan Smith␠␠
Senior Account Executive␠␠
[e-mail]

If no sender info → omit signature. Don't invent.

11. Self-check before output

• ☑ Word count within use-case cap.
• ☑ Subject 2–6 lowercase words.
• ☑ Opens with personalized hook (no generic greeting).
• ☑ Cold / re-engagement: signal → pain → positioning chain present and specific. Other use cases: prior-touchpoint anchor present.
• ☑ Exactly one each: ladder tier · anchor · value prop · proof source · CTA.
• ☑ ~Grade 8; mobile-readable.
• ☑ No clichés, jargon, filler, invented stats.
• ☑ Recipient email present.
• ☑ Signature: two trailing spaces per line OR omitted entirely.
• ☑ All 16 anti-patterns cleared (including #6 — pain not forced on non-cold use cases).

12. Rubric (final scoring)

Score 0–2 per dimension. Bar: ≥8/10. Drop or regenerate failures.

1. Specificity — verifiable fact about this prospect.
2. Anchor strength — for cold: pain bridge; for follow-up: prior-touchpoint reference; for renewal: contract moment.
3. Positioning — specific GTM-context claim.
4. Reciprocity — gives insight / framing / opt-out before asking.
5. Send-worthiness — would a senior seller press send?

13. Present + offer iteration

1. Accept variant.
2. Different signal (runner-up) — cold / re-engagement.
3. Different persona at same company.
4. Tighter anchor.
5. Switch angle.
6. Adjust tone (casual / formal / direct).
7. Switch use case.

Iterate from step 6. Track variant evolution. Terminate on accept or pivot.

Fallback rules

• Contact lookup fails → Hi [First Name] greeting; continue.
• No public/CRM history → skip contact_research; company signals only.
• Company sparse → role-based personalization (drop to P1).
• Sender info missing → omit signature.
• GTM context fails → generic capability statement (proof tier 4); surface gap.
• No signal passes recency floor (cold) → refuse; route to warming.
• No prior touchpoint reconstructable (follow-up) → refuse; ask the user for a summary.

Never block on a single missing tool (recipient email is the hard gate). Never invent data.

Output Format

TL;DR — Email for [Prospect Name], [Title] at [Company] · Pass [N]

Use case: [restate]. Framework: [AIDA / PAS / Challenger / Becc Holland].

Anchor. [For cold: signal + age + one-liner. For follow-up: prior touchpoint summary. For renewal: contract moment. For objection: stated objection.] Bridge. [For cold: inferred pain in one sentence. For others: omit OR brief next-step framing.] Positioning. [Specific GTM-context value prop.] Proof source: [tier 1/2/3/4].

---

Variant A — [angle]

Subject: [2–6 lowercase words] [Body within use-case cap.]

Variant B — [angle] (if persona fit ≥ moderate)

Subject: [2–6 lowercase words] [Body.]

Variant C — [angle] (if persona fit strong)

Subject: [2–6 lowercase words] [Body.]

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Rationale

Use case	[label]
Anchor	[signal+age / touchpoint / contract / objection]
Personalization tier	[P0–P3]
Pain (cold/re-engagement only)	[pain]
Value prop	[claim]
Proof source	[tier 1–4]
Framework	[AIDA / PAS / Challenger / Becc Holland]
Rubric	A: [X/10] · B: [X/10] · C: [X/10]

Iteration options

1. Accept [variant] → hand off to sequencer.
2. Different signal — anchor on [runner-up].
3. Different persona at the same company.
4. Tighter anchor.
5. Switch angle.
6. Casual / formal / direct.
7. Switch use case.

Caveats (when relevant)

• Relationship flag — if competitor / customer / partner / pipeline_account, variants assume user confirmed override.
• Thin signal — variants on weak base; warm on another channel first.
• Empty signal (cold) — 0 variants; route to warming.
• Stretch fit — 1 variant only.
• Stale-signal cliff (60–90d) — urgency angle unavailable.
• Edge-of-recency (80–90d) — on the cusp.
• Stale prospect record — verify role before sending.
• No prior touchpoint (follow-up) — refused; ask for a summary.
• GTM-context gap — positioning generic; update GTM context.
• Sender info missing — signature omitted.

Chain Targets

• Hand to a sequencer (e.g., Outreach, Salesloft).
• Multi-step sequence → run once per step with different signals + use cases.
• Batch personalization → personalize-at-scale (future scope).
• Different prospect at same company → re-run with new identifier.