How to Boost Your AI Outbound Reply Rates

If your signal-based outbound isn't getting results, here are the most common gaps and how to fix them.

Check off as many as possible - every fix adds another 1-2% to your reply rates, and they stack.

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1. Are you stacking signals?

If your team or AI is using generic company and contact data, your emails are ignored or land in spam.

If your emails use surface-level personalization that's obviously automated, like: "Congrats on your funding! Do you have 15 minutes to evaluate our tool?" or "I saw you commented on John Smith's post. Can we chat?", you will not get a response.

If your emails combine multiple signals (like below), you're on the right track. 👍

Note: signals should be scattered throughout the sequence so that they sound natural.

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2. Are your AI emails conversational?

Do your emails sound like they came from marketing? No offense to marketers; I'm one myself. But buyers can spot a generic marketing email from a mile away.

Ask your marketing team for the key messaging, use cases, customer stories - but do not rely on marketers to write your outbound emails. Most marketers don't have outbound experience, so their emails will sound like marketing emails, i.e. lower reply rates.

Outbound emails must be relevant AND conversational. Using multiple signals helps with relevance (step 1). Keeping the tone conversational as if it were from a peer will likely get you more responses.

We recommend collecting your team's emails with the highest reply rates. Replicate the messaging, tone, verbiage, and angles to your AI emails.

💎 If you're a UserGems customer, simply upload these emails to train Gem-E (AI outbound agent). It already knows your ICP, persona, and is specifically optimized for signal-based outbound.

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3. Are you running multi-touch sequences?

If your sequences only have emails or only calls, you're missing out on buyers who prefer the other channels.

We recommend high-value sequences to have as many channels as possible - emails, calls, LinkedIn engagement, gifting, etc.

Space your steps further in the beginning of the sequence, e.g. 3-4 days in between each step, and reduce to 1-2 days in between later. This warms up your prospects gradually about your topic; being too aggressive upfront gets you unsubscribed.

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4. Do your reps execute the entire sequence?

30% of replies come after step 7 of a sequence. But many reps only execute 1-2 steps in their sequence, and start looking for new prospects. Then they wonder why they don't hit their numbers consistently, or managers wonder why the average performance doesn't improve.

At UserGems, we want to instill discipline in our reps:

• One of the KPIs for SDRs is to complete their tasks. At the team's weekly meeting, each SDR updates the entire team on the number of outstanding tasks they have, how many meetings they booked last week and whether they need to catch up this week.
• The managers also monitor the number of touches for each prospect, especially high-value signals and prospects.

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5. Use automation

Signal-based outbound requires timely execution - you need to act while the signal is fresh.

Yet many teams hesitate to use automation, worried it will feel impersonal. The reality? Missing the window entirely is worse than an automated but timely touchpoint.

Recommendations:

• Set up a safety net: If reps don't action leads within 3-7 days, automatically trigger an AI sequence. Better to reach buyers before competitors than miss the opportunity altogether.
• Automatically reassign the lead to another rep if the original owner doesn't engage quickly.

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6. Are your emails landing in Spam?

Make sure you work with an email deliverability expert for this:

• Turn OFF tracking for Opens and Clicks in your sales engagement tools (Outreach, Salesloft, Gong Engage, etc.)
• Limit 20-50 emails sent per inbox per day
• Use a sales engagement tool that allows you to use and rotate multiple inboxes per rep
• Hire a contract email deliverability expert to monitor the deliverability of every domain. Do this monthly.

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7. Are your reps using Gem-E for cold calls?

💎 If you're a UserGems customer, have all your reps install the Gem-E Chrome Extension.

It instantly pulls up information about the buyer and their signals - when your reps are on the call (or emails). It is the cheat sheet for your team.

"I know you're not expecting a cold call, but give me 30 seconds. I have good reasons to call you:

• [signal 1] You recently joined ACME, and execs often evaluate tech stack in their first 90 days.
• [signal 2] Someone from your team was checking our product and pricing pages.
• [context] John Smith from your team evaluated us last year."

Our reps have 3x more conversations and book 3X more meetings each month since they started using the Gem-E Chrome Extension.

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8. Do you use gifting? (bonus)

Buyers are humans - most people appreciate good, thoughtful gifts. Here are some ways to use gifting while staying genuine and human:

• Personal milestones: new job, new promotion, marriage, baby, etc. "Sending you a small gift to celebrate this moment!"
• Gift for their team. "Want to send your team donuts and coffee to kick off a new quarter. When should I have them delivered?"

Important: Do not ask for the meeting in the same email with the gift - especially if the gift is for their personal milestone. When you give first without asking, the buyers will more likely accept your ask later.

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9. Do you include calendar links and CTA?

This might sound obvious, but many teams overlook these small details which could negatively impact reply rates and meeting rates.

Make sure to include ONE call-to-action in each email.

• For the gifting emails where you don't want to ask for a meeting immediately, you can say: "Hope you enjoy this gift. No need to respond. I can imagine how hectic it must be for you right now. I'll circle back in a couple of weeks to see if there's anything I can help you with."

Make sure to include a calendar link - in the email copy - to make it as easy as possible for your buyers to book a meeting.

Tip: You can have it in your signature, but people tend to ignore this area when they read (orGmail hides the signature after the second email)