Spot AI Slop in Your Inbox, and Avoid Sending It

Five tells that give away lazy AI outreach, and a one-question test to keep your own emails out of the bin

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You can spot AI slop in an outreach email in about five seconds. It flatters you with a line lifted from your own website, describes a problem you don’t have, and asks for your time without giving you a reason. Someone has automated the sending and skipped the persuading.

“Hey Ian, I noticed on your website that you specialise in…” followed by a sentence that could describe any business in the country. Below are the five tells I look for, and one question to ask before you send your own.

Why does so much outreach read the same?

Because the tools make sending cheap and thinking optional. Scrape a homepage, drop a phrase into a template, fire it at thousands of inboxes before lunch. The person behind it usually knows the software well and knows little about why anyone says yes.

Persuasion has never been about volume.

It’s about showing one person you understand their situation better than the last ten people who emailed them. Slop does the opposite, at scale.

What are the tells?

Here’s my checklist:

  • The website echo. “I noticed you specialise in…” repeats your own homepage back to you. It proves a bot visited, not that a person cared.
  • Flattery with no follow-through. “Love what you’re doing with…” and then nothing specific. Real interest names a detail: a post, a product, a decision you made.
  • The generic problem. “Many businesses like yours struggle with…” If it could go to a dentist and a law firm unchanged, it probably did.
  • The too-smooth tone. Every sentence the same length, every paragraph tidy, “I hope this email finds you well” up top. Polish with no personality.
  • The lazy ask. “Do you have 15 minutes this week?” for a call about nothing in particular. They want your time before they’ve earned it.

One tell is forgivable.

Two is a warning.

Three and I’d bet the sender never read it themselves.

Does that mean AI has no place in outreach?

Yes, for the grunt work. Not for first contact. HubSpot tested six AI cold email generators and came to the same view.

Its verdict (opens in a new tab) on first contact was blunt:

“I also wouldn’t recommend using AI to generate cold emails if you’re contacting a specific person for the first time.”

My view: let AI do the grunt work. Summarising research, sorting which prospects are worth a message, tidying a draft you’ve already written. Keep the opening line, the reason for writing and the ask in human hands.

Why should you care if you’re the one sending?

Because your prospect runs the same checklist. Slop doesn’t just get ignored. It tells the reader you’ll treat them as a row in a spreadsheet once they’re a customer too.

Ten emails that show you read the person’s own work will usually beat a thousand templates. They also won’t train your best prospects to delete your name on sight.

The test I’d use before sending is one question.

Would this email only make sense to this one person?

If not, rewrite it or don’t send it.

Prove a person cared, not just that a bot visited.

Ian

Wondering whether your outreach reads like slop? Get in touch and I’ll take a look.

FAQ

What is AI slop in outreach emails?

It’s cold outreach generated in bulk by AI tools with little or no human thought behind it. The giveaways are a line echoed from your own website, vague flattery, a generic problem and a lazy request for a call. It reads smoothly but says nothing specific to you.

Should I use AI to write cold emails?

Be cautious, especially for first contact. HubSpot, after testing six AI cold email generators, said it wouldn’t recommend using AI to write a first cold email to a specific person, and particularly not to a high-value prospect. AI is more useful for research and tidying drafts than for writing the message itself.

How do I make my own outreach not look like AI slop?

Mention something specific that only applies to the person you’re writing to, give a clear reason for getting in touch, and make the ask match the value you’re offering. Before sending, check whether the email would make sense to anyone else. If it would, rewrite it.

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