By the end of this guide, you'll know how to create AI Variables from your lead list, configure AI settings for different use cases, generate personalized content at scale, and troubleshoot common issues. You'll be able to clean messy data, write tailored messages, and segment thousands of leads in seconds using AI-powered prompts.

Raw lead data rarely arrives campaign-ready. Job titles have emojis, company names are inconsistent, and personalization fields need context-aware content. AI Variables automate this cleanup and personalization work that would otherwise take hours.

With AI Variables, you can:

AI Variables turn messy, generic data into clean, personalized content that drives authentic conversations and higher engagement.

Before you start, make sure you have:

Step 1: Open your campaign's Lead list and create an AI column

In your campaign, open the Lead list tab, then click + Add and select Create AI column. This opens the AI Variable setup flow from your leads table.

Step 2: Choose your starting point

In AI Column Templates, browse the template categories in the left panel to find a single AI column template for cleaning, copywriting, extraction, research, or segmentation.

If you want a multi-step setup that creates several AI columns together, switch to the AI Columns Workflow tab and choose a workflow from the list.

You can also skip templates and click Create from scratch to write your own prompt from the ground up. When using a workflow or template, review any required input columns before proceeding.

Step 3: Name or select your AI variable

In the Create AI variable panel, use Select AI variable to choose the variable you're configuring, or enter a new name if you're creating one from scratch.

Naming examples:

Step 4: Configure AI settings

Set your AI preferences based on your use case:

AI Provider: Choose the model provider you want to use for generation. Available options include lemlist, OpenAI (GPT), Perplexity, Claude, and Google.

Temperature setting: Adjust the slider to control how consistent or creative the output should be.

Optional tools: Enable extra tools if your use case needs them.

Credit source: In Advanced settings, review the Consumption mode and per-request cost before generating.

Step 5: Write your AI prompt

If you selected a template, review and customize the prompt to fit your needs. If you're creating from scratch, write clear, specific instructions for what the AI should generate in the Prompt field.

Good prompt structure:

Example prompts:

Data cleaning:

Remove all emojis, special characters, and abbreviations from {{jobTitle}}. Return only the standardized job title. Example: "VP of Mktg 🚀" becomes "Vice President of Marketing"

Personalized opener:

Write a one-sentence personalized opener for an outreach email based on this information: {{companyName}} in {{industry}}. Keep it under 20 words, conversational tone, and mention their industry or company focus.

Categorization:

Based on {{companyName}}, determine the industry category. Choose from: SaaS, E-commerce, Finance, Healthcare, Marketing Agency, Other. Return only the category name.

You can optionally click the + button to add extra knowledge and capabilities, enable AI company context, or allow web search if your prompt needs more context.

Step 6: Test your prompt

Before generating for the whole list, click Test prompt to preview the output on a sample lead.

Step 7: Enable auto-generation for new leads if needed

If you want future imports to be processed automatically, turn on Auto run on new leads.

Step 8: Generate AI variables

Once your prompt is ready, click Generate AI column, then choose:

💡 When to use each:

The AI processes your leads based on your prompt. Depending on lead count and provider, this typically takes a few seconds to a minute.

Step 9: Check the generated output

Once generation completes, review the AI Variable column in your Lead list. A successful output appears directly in the row, while rows with issues may show Empty output warnings.

Check for:

Step 10: Regenerate if needed

If the output isn't quite right:

You can iterate as many times as needed to get the right output.

Step 11: Insert the variable into your email

Open the Sequence tab in your campaign.

Then open the email step where you want to use your AI Variable, click Add personalization, and select the AI Variable you want to insert from the personalization picker.

The AI-generated content will automatically populate for each lead when the email is sent.

SaaS Company Scenario: Cleaning and Personalizing at Scale

A B2B SaaS company targeting sales leaders had thousands of leads with messy job title data:

Their workflow:

Step 1: Created an AI Variable cleanedJobTitle with this prompt:

Remove emojis, special characters, abbreviations, and parenthetical text from {{jobTitle}}. Expand abbreviations to full titles. Return only the clean title. Examples: "VP of Sales 🚀" → "Vice President of Sales", "Sales Dir." → "Sales Director"

Step 2: Set the temperature to 0.2 and chose a structured model for consistent output

Step 3: Generated for all leads

Step 4: Created a second AI Variable personalizedOpener with this prompt:

Write a one-sentence opener for a cold email to a {{cleanedJobTitle}} at {{companyName}}. Refer to their role's main challenge. Keep it under 15 words and conversational.

Step 5: Increased the temperature for more creative output

Step 6: Generated personalized openers for all leads

Results:

If you choose a template that requires a variable that doesn't exist in your lead data, a yellow banner appears in the AI Variable panel.

The banner shows which variable is missing, so you can update your lead data or adjust the prompt.

Fix:

The AI cannot generate output until all required input variables exist.

Issue: The AI variable column is empty after generation

Root cause: The prompt may be unclear, the required input data is missing, or the AI couldn't interpret the instructions

Fix:

Issue: The AI output doesn't match what I expected

Root cause: Prompt lacks specificity, temperature is too high or too low, or examples are missing

Fix:

Issue: Yellow banner says a variable is missing

Root cause: The template requires a variable that isn't in your lead data

Fix:

Issue: AI generation is taking too long or timing out

Root cause: Large lead list, complex prompt, or provider-side delays

Fix:

To maximize AI Variables' effectiveness:

Start with templates, then customize: Templates give you proven prompt structures. Once you understand how they work, adapt them to your needs or create from scratch.

Use temperature strategically:

Test small before scaling: Review the output, refine your prompt, then generate for all leads once you're satisfied.

Include examples in your prompts: AI performs significantly better when you show input → output examples.

Chain AI Variables: Create one AI Variable to clean data, then create a second AI Variable that uses the first one as input.

Monitor credit usage: Check the Consumption mode and cost in Advanced settings before running large generations.

Regenerate after data updates: If you enrich leads with new information, regenerate AI Variables to incorporate the fresh data.

Enable auto-generation: For campaigns where you continuously add leads, enable Auto run on new leads.

Use specific providers for specific tasks:

AI Variables work only on variables you create or populate in your lead list. They cannot directly overwrite system-managed default fields such as:

These default fields are system-managed. AI Variables are best used to create new clean, enriched, or personalized values that you can then insert into your sequence.