Is AI solving the wrong problems in Cold Outbound?
I’ve been running a bunch of outbound experiments lately and noticed something strange.
Everyone’s using AI to write better emails, but hardly anyone’s using it to research better leads.
Turns out the message was never the real bottleneck.
We improved reply rates just by fixing data quality, and lead relevance didn’t even change the copy.
It made me rethink what parts of outreach actually deserve automation.
Instead of “how can AI write better emails,” maybe the question is:
“How can AI find the right people faster?”
Is AI helping you reach better leads, or just helping you send more messages?
Trending on Indie Hackers
AI for copy is the wrong focus. The real leverage is automating the research*to find the right people. For one web design agency, just fixing the data got them a 78% open rate, the copy was dead simple. Happy to go for a partnership here :)