Sometimes the setup of the account can be challenging, that's why we prepared a step-by-step guide to make it easier for our users. Watch the video guide here.
How to connect your accounts
Here are the steps to connect your existing email accounts to Instantly:
Click Email Accounts in the left sidebar
Click Add or Buy Accounts
Select Connect Existing and choose your email provider:
Google
Microsoft
Other provider (IMAP/SMTP)
Connect Your Google Account with oAuth Method
Connecting Google Accounts
For Google Workspace Accounts
Go to Email Accounts → Add or Buy Accounts
Select Connect Existing → Google
Select Option 1: oAuth method
Follow the prompts to complete the connection (detailed instructions here)
For Personal Gmail Accounts
Go to Email Accounts → Add or Buy Accounts
Select Connect Existing → Google
Select Option 2: App password method
Follow the prompts to complete the connection (detailed instructions here)
When it comes to free Gmail accounts, Google is very strict with respect to limits and rules. Their algorithm is very smart in detecting how accounts are being used. Rules and limitations are more relaxed towards Gsuite accounts, so we suggest using Gsuite or Microsoft accounts.
Connect your Microsoft/O365 accounts
Go to Email Accounts → Add or Buy Accounts
Select Connect Existing → Microsoft
Enable SMTP access in your Microsoft account settings
Follow the prompts to complete the connection (detailed instructions here)
Important: Outlook accounts must be connected individually using the Microsoft connector with oAuth. Bulk connection is not available for Microsoft accounts.
Other Email Providers (IMAP/SMTP)
For email accounts from providers other than Google or Microsoft:
Go to Email Accounts → Add or Buy Accounts
Select Connect Existing → IMAP/SMTP
Select your connection method:
Single account - Connect one email account at a time
Bulk Import from CSV - Connect multiple email accounts at once
Note: Both IMAP and SMTP must be configured correctly to connect your email account to Instantly. It's not permitted to connect email accounts with only SMTP, as IMAP is also essential for receiving emails and is required for our reply detection and warmup processes
How to add Custom Tracking Domain
A Custom Tracking Domain (CTD) is your own dedicated domain used to track email opens and link clicks. It acts as a proxy, isolating your sender reputation from others.
When you enable open or link tracking, Instantly inserts special tracking code into your emails, typically a URL like xyz.inreg1.com/[code]. This URL is shared among Instantly customers unless you set up a custom tracking domain.
With a custom domain, the inserted code uses your domain, ensuring unique tracking and protecting your sender reputation.
Note: For Done-For-You or Pre-warmed domains/accounts, we automatically set up the CNAME record and enable the custom tracking domain - No action needed from you.
How to Set Up Custom Tracking Domain
Step 1: Access Your Domain's DNS Panel
Go to your domain's DNS panel
Find the domain to create a custom tracking domain for.
Go to Manage/ Edit DNS records.
Step 2: Add New CNAME Record
Field | Value |
Record Type | CNAME |
Host/Name |
|
Value/Target |
|
TTL | Automatic or 3600 (default) |
Step 3: Save the CNAME Record
Click "Save" to save your changes
Wait 24-72 hours for DNS propagation (often faster)
Step 4: Enable Custom Tracking Domain in Instantly
Go to Email Accounts Dashboard
Click on the email account you want to configure
A pop-up window will appear
Navigate to the Settings section
Scroll down to find "Custom tracking domain" setting
Check the box to enable it
Enter your custom tracking domain:
inst.yourdomain.comReplace
yourdomain.comwith your actual domainSave the changes
Step 5: Verify Setup
Click "Check Status"
Instantly will verify your CNAME record
If everything is set up correctly, you will receive the following notification below the Check Status: CNAME Verified
If the CNAME record hasn't propagated or hasn't been added correctly, you'll see the 'Retrying' status at the bottom of the page.
How to Organize Custom Tracking Domains
There are two ways to organize your custom tracking domains:
Single CTD for All Domains
Use a single custom tracking domain for multiple domains. This would make sense if your primary domain is old/warmed up. If you're running a lead agency, this is what we would recommend.
Separate CTD Per Domain
Different custom tracking domain for each sending domain. If you have two domains [email protected] and [email protected], you may use:
inst.first.com for all email addresses associated with first.com
inst.second.com for all email addresses associated with second.com.
This approach would make sense when all of your domains are new, or if you're experimenting with a new campaign that could potentially have a negative impact on your reputation. By creating separate groups, you can minimize the damage from a bad campaign.
How to Enable Warm-Up and Why it's Important
The warmup functionality mimics human conversations between email accounts.
Think of it as you emailing back and forth with your friends - on autopilot.
But in this case, your 'friends' are other Instantly.ai users who have also enabled the warmup feature. You can be sure that all of them will open your email, and a high percentage will write you back with a ‘thoughtful’ and positive sentiment.
The emails written by the Instantly AI algorithm signal to Google, Outlook, and other ESPs that your email account and sending domain are relevant and legitimate.
This increases the likelihood that the messages that are sent to the cold leads in your outreach campaigns will also actually land in their inbox and subsequently be opened and replied to.
The bottom line is that the warmup will improve the deliverability of your cold email accounts by mimicking human conversations in the Instantly.ai user pool.
How to Enable Warmup
For Individual Accounts:
Go to your Email Account tab.
Click the flame icon on the right side of the email account you want to warm up
Warmup will be enabled (customize warmup settings if needed)
Warmup emails are scheduled at 12:00 AM UTC each day. If you recently enabled warmup, warmup emails will begin sending after the next 12:00 AM UTC.
For Multiple Accounts (Bulk Enable):
You can also enable or pause warmup for multiple accounts in bulk.
Go to the Email Accounts dashboard
Select the accounts you want to enable warmup for (tick the checkbox next to each account)
Click the three dots (...) in the top right corner
Select "Bulk enable warmup" or "Bulk pause warmup"
To filter accounts by warmup statuses, please follow the steps below:
Go to the Email Account dashboard
Click 'Status' to select warmup statuses. Learn more details here.
Creating Your Campaign
Step 1: Start a New Campaign
Go to the Engage dashboard
Click "+ Create New" (top right corner)
Select Cold Outreach Campaign
Name your campaign. We suggest adding target audience parameters such as title, industry/niche, and geo in the campaign name (e.g. Marketing Director_Advertising Agency_US) so you can more efficiently find and optimize your campaigns down the line.
Step 2: Add Leads
You can add leads to your campaign by following the steps below:
Go to the Leads section of the campaign
Choose your preferred upload method:
CSV: Import leads from CSV files
SuperSearch: Find and add leads using Instantly's lead database
Enter emails manually: Type or paste email addresses directly
Google Sheet: Import leads from Google Sheets
HubSpot: Sync leads from HubSpot
Pipedrive: Sync leads from Pipedrive
Step 3: Create Your Email Sequence
Compose your subject line and email copy:
Add variant (+ button on the right side): Test different subject lines and email copies to find the best performers. Learn more details here.
Wait X days/hours/minutes: Define how many days to wait before sending the next step. Learn more details here.
Add step (+ button at the bottom): Add a follow-up step. You can add as many follow-up steps as you’d like, although we recommend a maximum of 3-4 steps for most cold outreach campaigns.
Follow-ups: Leave the subject line empty to use the same subject line as the previous step
Step 4: Add Variables for Personalization
You can use the drop-down menu to attribute the right variable to each column in the file.
Predefined Variables: The predefined variables include Email(required), First name, Last name, Job title, Company name, Personalization, Phone, Website, Location, and LinkedIn.
Custom Variables: For personalized columns or any additional data not in the predefined list, map them as 'Personalization' or 'Custom variable'. You can then use {{columnName}} variable in the campaign. Custom variables should not be named similarly to the predefined variables.
Do Not Import: For columns that you don't need to import to the campaign, map them as 'Do Not Import'.
After upload, click the variable option in the bottom editor toolbar:
Dropdown shows all available variables
Click the variable you want to insert
Variable appears:
Shows as {{variableName}} in subject line
Will be replaced with actual lead data when sent
Example: If you have a column named Country in the file, map it to a Custom Variable. You can later use it in the copy as {{Country}} to dynamically insert the country of each contact.
To insert a variable into the subject line, click on the bolt icon next to the top-right Preview button.
Advanced Email Body
Placeholder Values: When a mail merge variable isn’t available for a lead, we replace it with an empty string. You can set a default value for such cases.
Spintax: Creating variations of sentences or words to generate more diverse email bodies for your leads.
Liquid Syntax: Use conditional logic with your email body.
Step 5: Add Links
To insert a link into the email, highlight the text that you want to hyperlink or select the link icon in the bottom editor bar:
Step 6: Insert Unsubscribe Link
To provide leads an easy way to opt out:
Click the "+" button in the editing section
Select "Insert Unsubscribe Link"
Step 7: Preview and Test
Before launching the campaign, always preview and test your emails.
Click the "Preview" Button. A pop-up will appear where you can preview the email, send test emails, or check deliverability score.
Preview email: Select a lead in the 'Load data for lead' option. You can search for leads by email or name(same as in the campaign).
Send test emails: In the top left, you can enter recipient email addresses
Use commas to separate the email addresses, and the test email will be sent to all the recipients listed.
Choose sending accounts in the Send from section in the left panel.
Check Deliverability Score: You can check the deliverability score for the sequence
Step 8: Set Accounts to Use
Go to "Settings" to select which inboxes will send messages for this campaign. Once you select all the accounts you want to use for the campaign, the system will start sending emails from all of these accounts automatically.
You can assign an unlimited number of email accounts to the campaign.
If you are using tags to assign accounts to the campaign, make sure there are sending accounts associated with the tag.
Step 9: Set Your Schedule & Limits
Set the date, timing, timezone, and daily sending limit for your campaign.
Example:
During office hours in the lead's timezone
Start sending: June 24th, 2026
Stop sending: Never
Daily limit: 30
Step 10: Configure Campaign Options
In the Settings tab of the Campaign, you can configure how each campaign behaves, from email sending rules to optimization, CRM ownership, and more.
Do a final check of your campaign setup and then hit the “Launch” button.
Leads uploaded and variables mapped
Email sequence written and saved
Variables populate correctly
Preview and test emails
Sending accounts assigned
Schedule & limit configured
