Should we use an AI SDR or hire a human SDR?

Use AI for the parts of the job that are research, data entry and first drafts, and keep a person for judgment and conversation. A fully automated SDR raises the number of messages and meetings cheaply, but without good targeting it also raises the number of poor meetings, which cost your closers' time.

AI SDR or Human SDR: Which Should You Use?

What AI does well

Finding accounts that match a profile, gathering what is publicly known about them, noticing a signal such as a new hire or a funding round, keeping records complete, and drafting a first message from real facts. This is the work that eats most of a human SDR's week and that few of them enjoy.

What still needs a person

Deciding that an account is worth pursuing at all. Reading a reply that is neither yes nor no. Handling a call. Knowing when to stop. An agent scored on meetings booked will book meetings, including ones no experienced seller would have set.

The measure that settles it

Cost per meeting is the wrong number, because it ignores what happens next. Measure cost per qualified opportunity, and include the account executive's time in every meeting. On that measure, high volume with weak targeting often looks worse than a smaller, better-aimed effort.

A sensible order

Get targeting and data right first, since automation multiplies whatever it is given. Then automate research and drafting, with a person approving what is sent. Widen the automation only where the results hold up. Most teams that skip the first step spend the following months repairing their sending reputation. The question is less which one to choose than which tasks each should own, and the split shifts as the data improves.

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