In a recent LinkedIn post, Yonathan Cohen shares a strategic approach to leveraging artificial intelligence for cold email outreach, differentiating the capabilities of Claude and ChatGPT to achieve more effective communication. Cohen argues that many professionals mistakenly use a single AI tool for all aspects of their outreach, leading to either overly robotic yet intelligent messages or human-sounding but shallow ones.
Divergent Strengths of AI Tools
Cohen highlights that Claude and ChatGPT excel in distinct areas crucial for crafting compelling cold emails. He suggests that Claude is best suited for identifying the core message and strategic angle, while ChatGPT is more adept at refining the tone and humanizing the language.
According to Yonathan Cohen, Claude’s strength lies in its ability to deeply analyze a prospect and uncover genuine reasons for outreach, moving beyond generic talking points. He states:
“Give it a prospect and it digs. It finds a real reason to reach out, not a recycled line from your last chat.”
Furthermore, Cohen points out Claude’s consistency and ability to maintain focus when given broader instructions, such as a brief for multiple prospects. As Yonathan Cohen notes, Claude is capable of:
“Hand it a brief for 50 people and it holds the rules without drifting.”
This suggests Claude’s utility in maintaining account-level strategy rather than getting lost in individual email specifics.
ChatGPT for Tone and Variation
In contrast, Yonathan Cohen positions ChatGPT as the tool for refining the delivery and sound of the message. He emphasizes its proficiency in making the text feel more natural and human.
Crafting a Human Voice
Cohen argues that ChatGPT excels at generating a warmer, more relatable opening line. He explains:
“Warmer, more human first line. It writes like a person, not a template.”
Additionally, ChatGPT is presented as a rapid tool for generating variations, which is invaluable for A/B testing different subject lines or opening hooks to see what resonates best with recipients. Cohen also identifies ChatGPT as being particularly effective when the goal is to reduce any perceived ‘AI-ness’ from the text.
The Synergistic Workflow
The core of Yonathan Cohen’s strategy involves a sequential use of these AI tools. He proposes a workflow where Claude first identifies the strategic ‘what to say’—the compelling reason to connect—and then ChatGPT refines the ‘how it sounds,’ ensuring the message is delivered with warmth and personality.
“So I run them in order: Claude finds the angle. ChatGPT gives it a voice,” Cohen explains in his post.
He warns against the common pitfall of using only one tool for both functions, stating that this approach inevitably leads to a compromise, resulting in messages that are either intelligent but lack warmth or warm but lack substance. The proposed method, however, aims to combine the analytical depth of Claude with the nuanced linguistic capabilities of ChatGPT, creating a more potent and personalized cold outreach strategy.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Yonathan Cohen on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on July 13, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →