“We use AI” is not a wedge any more.
The category is loud, the prospects are exhausted, and the buyer in front of you has heard the deck three times this month. Here's what still works.
What's specific about data and AI buyers.
The decision-maker is rarely the user. Data and AI work usually lands on a CTO, head of data, or head of analytics, but the mandate is set by a CFO or commercial leader who wants a number to move. So the messaging has to clear two bars at once: technical credibility for the gatekeeper, commercial outcome for the sponsor.
The category is also the most pattern-saturated we work in. Every prospect has been pitched LLM-this and machine-learning-that for two years. The subject lines that worked in 2023 stopped working in late 2024. The variance week to week is real.
What works.
Specificity, beyond what feels comfortable. Not “we help with data” but “we've worked with three logistics businesses your size and the unlock was always the same: their forecasting model didn't account for late-onboarded carriers.” The named pattern earns the conversation.
Outcome-anchored openers. Lead with the metric that moved, not the method. “Cut model retraining cost by 60%” reads better than “built a continuous evaluation pipeline.” The first sentence is for the CFO, the second is for the call.
Restraint on the volume. The biggest temptation in data and AI is to push the same campaign across every vertical (because the technique generalises). It generalises in the work; it doesn't generalise in the inbox. Two campaigns at most, separately positioned, separately written.
What doesn't.
Anything with the word “leverage” or “unlock”. Anything that sounds like the headline of a McKinsey AI report. Long lists of capabilities. The promise that you can “turn data into insight” (every prospect has heard this one a hundred times and they will mute the sender on sight).
Generic ICP. Data and AI is the vertical where ICP discipline matters most: a campaign written for “mid-market UK” is functionally a campaign written for nobody. The campaigns that work for our data clients always have a sub-vertical wedge: insurtech, transport and logistics, public-sector procurement, mid-market e-commerce. One sub-vertical at a time.
If you run a UK data or AI consultancy, the brief tells you which sub-vertical to lead with.
30 minutes on a call. A campaign brief written for your firm in your inbox within five working days. Yours regardless of what happens next.