If your campaign shows an error status, start by clicking the Diagnose button in your campaign's Analytics section for automatic diagnostics.
This guide covers the most common campaign errors and how to resolve them.
No Sending Accounts Assigned
To assign sending accounts to the campaign:
Navigate to the Options section of the campaign
Go to the 'Accounts to use' section
Select at least one active sending account
Scroll down to locate the Save button
If you're using tags to assign accounts:
Verify that the correct tag is assigned to the campaign.
Go to the Email Accounts dashboard to ensure there are accounts under that tag
Confirm those accounts are active (not paused or in error)
After making changes, save and resume the campaign. It may take 10–15 minutes for updates to take effect.
No Sending Accounts Available
The campaign has sending accounts assigned, but they are not available to send emails. This can happen if accounts are disconnected, paused, reached their daily limit, or restricted by the campaign's slow ramp setting.
Check account daily limit:
Go to the Email Accounts dashboard
Review the Emails Sent column (Campaign emails sent today vs Daily campaign limit)
Click on an email account → go to Settings
Make sure the Daily campaign limit is not set to 0
Check campaign slow ramp:
When the campaign slow ramp is enabled for your email account, the sending starts low (2 campaign emails on day 1) and gradually increases by 2 per day until it reaches your daily campaign limit.
Go to the Email Accounts dashboard
Click on an email account → Open the Settings section
Scroll to locate Campaign slow ramp
Blue toggle = enabled
Grey toggle = disabled
Sending Accounts Disconnected or Paused
Sending accounts assigned to the campaign are either disconnected or paused, resulting in no active accounts available to send emails.
Go to the Email Accounts dashboard
Filter by "All statuses → Has Errors or Paused"
For accounts with errors: Follow the troubleshooting steps here
For accounts paused due to plan expiration: Accounts are automatically paused after the 14-day free trial or when your Email Outreach plan expires. To unpause accounts:
Subscribe to the Email Outreach plan on the billing page
Select the paused accounts in the Email Accounts dashboard (tick the checkbox next to each account)
Click the three dots (...) in the top right corner
Select "Unpause selected accounts"
Resume your campaign
High Bounce Rate
Instantly has automatically paused your campaign because recent emails have a high bounce rate (typically above 5%). This safeguard protects your email accounts and maintains deliverability.
Join our Cold Email Deliverability Masterclass webinar to learn how to reduce the bounce rate and improve deliverability.
Step 1: Verify Your Lead List
Run email verification on all leads before resuming the campaign. You can use Instantly's built-in verification or external verification tool.
Step 2: Review Your Email Copy
Test your copy with spam checkers
Remove any spam words
Send first email in plain text
Step 3: Investigate Bounce Reasons
Open the target Campaign
Navigate to the Analytics section of the campaign
Scroll down to locate the Bounces tab
Review bounce types (Hard, Soft, Unknown) and reasons
Review details for bounced leads
Click “View” to check the bounce reason
Step 4: Resume Your Campaign
After cleaning your list and addressing the issues, resume the campaign. It won't be automatically paused again in the next 7 days, even if the bounce rate remains high.
If you'd like to turn off this protection entirely:
Go to Preferences
Find the Outreach Preferences section
Toggle off the 'Automatically pause campaigns with high bounce rates' option
Save changes
