Feature Guide — How to discover buying signals and use them to personalise outreach
How it works in 30 seconds
1
Open any account in the drawer and click Find Signals - the AI searches Reddit and the web for relevant activity
2
Signals are classified into 7 types: Pain, Growth, Trigger, Hiring, News, Reddit, and Social
3
Click Use on any signal to generate a personalised opening line referencing it naturally
4
Signals are automatically injected into LinkedIn sequences and email outreach when you generate copy for that account
Section 1
The 7 Signal Types
Every discovered signal is automatically classified into one of seven types. Each type is colour-coded so you can scan the signal panel quickly and prioritise the most relevant ones for your outreach.
Pain Signal
Complaints, negative reviews, forum posts describing frustration or a broken process. The highest-intent signal - this prospect is actively experiencing a problem you solve.
Growth Signal
Funding announcements, revenue milestones, market expansion, new product launches. Growing companies have budget and appetite for new solutions.
Trigger
Events that typically precede a buying decision: new leadership, acquisition, restructure, office opening. A trigger means the status quo is changing - your window is open.
Hiring
Active job postings for roles related to your solution area. A company hiring five SDRs is likely building outbound infrastructure. A company hiring a CFO is preparing for growth or scrutiny.
News
Press coverage, blog posts, industry mentions. Useful for understanding the company's current narrative and finding an angle that aligns with where they want to go.
Reddit
Posts or comments from the company's community or employees on Reddit. Often the most unfiltered signal - real frustrations and questions that do not appear in official communications.
Social
LinkedIn activity, posts, or announcements from the company or its leadership. Signals what the company is publicly prioritising right now.
Section 2
How Signals Are Discovered
Signals are fetched on demand - they are not pre-loaded. Open the account drawer and click Find Signals to trigger the search. Once found, they are saved to that account and the button changes to Refresh for subsequent runs.
1
Reddit search
The app searches Reddit directly for posts mentioning the company name combined with pain-related keywords. Results are classified by subreddit and post content into signal types. No Reddit account or API key required.
2
AI web search via Claude
Claude searches the web for the company and returns structured results across: news coverage, funding and acquisitions, product launches, leadership changes, complaints and reviews, and LinkedIn activity. Each result is classified and formatted as a signal card.
3
Results are deduplicated and stored
Duplicate signals (same URL or near-identical title) are merged. The final list is saved to the account and persists across sessions. Each signal includes a title, snippet, source, date, and a direct link to the original page.
Section 3
Where Signals Appear
Once signals are fetched for an account they are visible in three places in the app.
1
Signals panel in the account drawer
The main place to work with signals. Each signal shows its type badge, source, date, title, and a two-line snippet. You can expand any signal to read the full text, click View source to open the original page, or click Use to generate a personalised opening line.
2
"Signal" badge in the table view
If any signal was found for an account within the last 7 days, an amber signal badge appears next to the account name in the table. This is called a Hot Signal - it means fresh activity was detected recently and the timing for outreach is good.
3
Orange dot on habit feed cards
In the habit feed, accounts with signals display an orange dot on their card. The feed also surfaces signal-based actions: "New signal found - use this as an opener for outreach" with a direct link to generate copy.
Section 4
Using Signals in Outreach
There are three ways to turn a signal into personalised outreach copy in Dream100AI.
1
The "Use" button - instant opening line
Click Use on any signal in the drawer panel. The AI writes a 2-3 sentence opening line that references the signal naturally without being creepy, bridges from the signal to a relevant pain or opportunity, and ends with a soft question or observation. The result appears in an overlay with a Copy button.
Example output for a Pain signal about SDR ramp time
"Saw some discussion online about the ramp challenges you're working through as the team scales. That first 90-day window tends to make or break the outbound motion - curious whether you're building a playbook or working from scratch?"
2
LinkedIn outreach sequence
When generating a LinkedIn outreach sequence for an account, the app automatically passes the top 3 most recent signals to the AI. The instruction is to open with a natural reference to the most relevant one. You do not need to do anything - if signals exist, they are used automatically.
How signals are passed to the AI
Each signal is formatted as: [TYPE] Title (date): Snippet. The AI selects the most contextually relevant one and works it into the opening message without naming the source platform directly.
3
Email outreach - signal checkbox
In the email generation panel, select the prospect from the dropdown and check "Test against prospect signals". When enabled, the top signal is injected into the Email 1 opener. The AI references the insight naturally without mentioning the source platform by name.
What the AI does with the signal
The signal headline, snippet, type, and date are passed as context. The instruction is to reference the insight in the opening of Email 1 only - subsequent emails in the sequence are not affected.
Section 5
Signals and the Message Tester
The Message Tester has a prospect selector that lets you test a message against a specific account's signals. When a prospect with signals is selected, the AI evaluates whether your message angle is relevant given their current situation - and calls it out if there is a mismatch.
1
What it checks
The AI reads the top 3 signals for the selected prospect and assesses whether your message angle aligns with or misses their current context. If you are leading with growth messaging but the signals show the company is in cost-cutting mode, the tester will flag it.
2
How to use it
Select the prospect in the Message Tester dropdown before running the test. The signal context is injected automatically. Accounts with signals show their signal count in the dropdown so you can see which prospects have fresh context available.
Pro tip
Use the tester to pressure-test your angle before sending
Even a strong message can land badly if the timing is wrong. Run your best message through the tester against an account with fresh signals before you send. A hiring signal for five engineers while you pitch cost-reduction is a mismatch the tester will catch.
Section 6
Important: Two Different "Signals" in the App
Dream100AI uses the word "signals" in two distinct places. They are completely separate features.
1
Prospect Signals (this guide)
Real-time intelligence discovered per account via Reddit and web search. Stored on the account, visible in the drawer. Used to personalise outreach. Found by clicking Find Signals in the account drawer.
2
Warning Signals (ICP setup)
Disqualification criteria you define in the Exclusion section of the ICP. Examples: "Asks only about price", "no budget confirmed", "just exploring options". These are used to filter out accounts during scoring - they are not discovered signals, they are your own rules for walking away.
Rule of thumb: Prospect Signals are things that happen at a company that give you a reason to reach out. Warning Signals are red flags you define that tell the AI to deprioritise or exclude an account.
Section 7
Recommended Workflow
1
Generate or import your account list first
Signals are fetched per account on demand. Build your qualified account list before fetching signals - focus signal discovery on the accounts you are actually going to contact.
2
Open the drawer and click Find Signals for priority accounts
Start with your highest-scored accounts. Open each drawer, click Find Signals, and scan what comes back. Pain signals and Trigger signals are usually the most actionable - prioritise those.
3
Use the "Use" button on the most relevant signal
Pick the signal that is most directly relevant to the problem you solve. Click Use, review the generated opener, and copy it. This becomes the first line of your outreach.
4
Generate the full sequence - signals are injected automatically
When you generate a LinkedIn sequence or email for this account, the top signals are already passed to the AI. You do not need to manually include them - the opener will reference the most relevant signal naturally.
5
Run the Message Tester before sending
Select the account in the Message Tester dropdown and test your final message. If the signals contradict your angle, adjust the message before it goes out.
6
Refresh signals weekly for active prospects
The Hot Signal badge shows accounts with signals from the last 7 days. Use the Refresh button on active prospects weekly to keep context current - a stale signal can lead to an off-angle opener.