Setting up Instantly correctly from the start is essential for cold email success. A proper setup covers your email account connections, your warming configuration, your sending limits, and your campaign structure. Skipping or rushing any of these steps leads to deliverability problems that can be difficult to recover from.
Step 1: Connect Your Email Accounts
Start by connecting your sending email accounts to Instantly. For best results use dedicated sending domains that are separate from your primary business domain. This protects your main domain’s reputation in case your cold email campaigns trigger spam filters. Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records on every sending domain before connecting them to Instantly.
Step 2: Configure Inbox Warming
Once your email accounts are connected, enable Instantly’s inbox warming for every account. Warming should run for a minimum of two to four weeks before you send any cold outreach from a new account. During warming, keep your daily sending limits low and let the warming system build your sender reputation gradually. Do not rush this step.
Step 3: Set Your Sending Limits
Configure your daily sending limits conservatively at first. For newly warmed accounts, start with 20 to 30 emails per day per account and increase gradually over several weeks. Sending too many emails too quickly from a new account is one of the most common causes of deliverability problems in cold email.
Step 4: Build Your Campaign Structure
Create your campaigns in Instantly with clear naming conventions that make it easy to track performance across multiple campaigns. Connect each campaign to the right prospect list sourced from Apollo and configure your sending schedule to match your target audience’s most active hours. Connect Instantly to your CRM like HubSpot so every campaign response is automatically logged.
