Why AI is killing cold outreach – and what you can do about it
Outbound lead generation is now a sea of ‘robot spam’. Here’s why.
Cold outreach is dead. Or, at the very least, the nurse has pulled the screens and it’s severely on life support. A once reliable tactic for businesses looking to generate leads has turned into a frustrating game of cat and mouse, and the culprit is artificial intelligence (AI). But don’t worry, this isn’t all doom and gloom. There’s a solution – we just have to be smart about how we move forward.
Whatever line of work you’re in – but particularly if you’re a business owner – you’ve likely experienced what I’m talking about. Those LinkedIn messages or emails that open with something like: “I saw you went to LSE” or “I’m also from London” – you know, the ones that make you roll your eyes and hit delete. At first, AI-generated cold outreach seemed like a godsend – mass personalisation at scale, what’s not to love? But then things went south, and fast.
Over the past year, tools like Clay and Instantly.ai made it easy to churn out highly personalised emails at a fraction of the time and cost it would take to do manually. It seemed too good to be true. And, of course, it was.
The rise of AI spam
The irony here is that AI, the very tool that led to this outreach frenzy, is now the one that’s killing it. A study last year by AI detection startup Originality AI found that spam rates for AI-generated content surged due to poor personalisation and the rising use of mass outreach strategies.
For their study, Originality analysed 8,795 public LinkedIn posts over 100 words long that were published from January 2018 to October 2024. In the first five years, AI-assistance was low. But the platform saw a spike in early 2023 (hello, ChatGPT), leading to a 189% increase in AI-use from January to February. In parallel, three years ago the average LinkedIn post was below 500 words. The rise of AI-generated text has seen this average now reach just under 1,500 words.
Elsewhere, in email marketing, both Google and Microsoft have ramped up their investments in AI detection systems to flag AI-generated content, sending spammy emails straight to the junk folder. In 2024, Microsoft even advised its users not to take its AI services too seriously and to avoid taking AI’s advice for things like email drafts.
So, what do we have now? Deliverability is dead. We’re in a constant battle of trying to outsmart AI detectors – and most businesses, especially the ones relying heavily on AI for outreach, are losing.
The decline of cold outreach
Industry data reflects this. According to HubSpot, response rates to cold emails have dropped to just 2.1%, down from 6% a few years ago. Similarly, another report found that only about 0.2% of mass cold emails actually lead to a meeting.
Furthermore, AI-driven outreach has contributed to a marked decline in deliverability. Statista shows that around 46% of email worldwide is marked as spam, often due to AI-written content, with many messages flagged for not meeting authenticity standards.
In fact, spam filters have become so effective that over 91% of outreach emails are ignored, as they fail to pass the test of relevance and personalisation. Consumers and decision-makers are filtering out these poorly executed AI-driven messages in favour of more targeted, personalised outreach.
Strategies to adapt
With traditional cold outreach waning, social selling has become a vital tool. Sales teams are using social platforms to engage with prospects before moving to direct outreach. 59% of sales teamsthat integrate social media engagement report higher conversion rates, as prospects are more likely to trust a brand they’ve interacted with online first.
Crucially, we can also bring back the human element. Face-to-face interactions and genuine relationship-building are irreplaceable. Whether it’s attending events or booking in-person meetings, there’s no AI tool that can replicate the trust and rapport we build in person. When you meet someone in real life, you’re engaging in a conversation that AI can’t duplicate, no matter how sophisticated the algorithms get. That’s why in the coming years I believe events will become even more important.
Also, if done right, LinkedIn can still be a powerful platform for generating several meetings a month. However, it requires a strong personal brand and a thoughtful outreach strategy. Simply sending connection requests, writing dull AI-enabled posts and waiting for magic to happen won’t cut it anymore. You need to build relationships and engage meaningfully.
Don’t forget the phone, too. I know it’s the “old-school” option, but cold calling can work. It’s hard, it’s tedious and it’s not glamorous – but the right Sales Development Representative (SDR) can book 8-12 meetings a month through phone outreach alone. No AI tool can replace the power of a direct, human-to-human conversation.
And while AI has undoubtedly disrupted cold outreach, it doesn’t have to mean the end of outbound sales. Businesses that embrace AI’s strengths – such as personalisation, data-driven insights and automation – while continuing to prioritise human interaction and relationship-building will be the ones that thrive in the future.
The challenge now is to make the technology work for you, not against you – and to ensure that no matter how automated your outreach may be, it still feels like a real conversation.
Adam Graham is CEO of JustFix and author of The Growth Mindset Newsletter