If you’re running B2B sales, you know getting leads into your outreach tool is only half the battle. The real challenge is keeping your list clean, organized, and actually useful—without spending your whole week on admin. This guide is for sales teams who want to make Supersend work for them, not the other way around. No fluffy theory—just practical steps and a few hard-won lessons.
1. Prep Your Lead Data Before Importing
You’ll save a ton of headaches if you spend 10 minutes cleaning your spreadsheet before uploading anything. Supersend is flexible, but garbage in still means garbage out.
What actually matters:
- Required columns: At minimum, you need email addresses. Name, company, and other fields help, but blank emails are dead weight.
- Consistent headers: Use plain headers (like email, first_name, company). Avoid weird capitalization or typos—Supersend maps columns by name.
- No duplicates: Remove obvious dupes before import. Supersend will try to help with this, but don’t rely on it to catch everything.
- UTF-8 encoding: If you’re importing from a weird system or Excel, export as CSV UTF-8. Saves you from weird character issues.
Pro tip:
Don’t overthink your fields. You can always add more later, but a clean basic import beats a “perfect” but broken one.
2. Map Fields Carefully During Import
Supersend’s import wizard lets you match spreadsheet columns to lead fields. It’s not rocket science, but a lazy click-through can mess up your data for months.
What to focus on:
- Double-check that email maps to Supersend’s email field. If you screw this up, automation won’t work.
- Map names and company fields if you want to use them in personalization tokens later.
- Ignore “extra” columns unless you have a plan for them. More fields = more clutter.
What to ignore: - Don’t waste time mapping stuff you never use (like fax numbers or “favorite color”). Less is more.
Watch out for:
If you import a big list with custom fields, make sure everyone on your team understands what those fields mean. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a mess no one wants to untangle.
3. Use Tags and Segmentation From Day One
You’ll thank yourself later if you set up basic segmentation as you import. Supersend’s tag system is simple but powerful.
How to do it:
- Tag by source (e.g., event2024, linkedin, webinar), so you know where leads came from.
- Tag by persona or industry if you’re running targeted campaigns.
- Don’t go nuts making dozens of tags. Start broad and get more specific only when you actually need it.
Why bother? - It makes filtering for campaigns dead simple. - You avoid blasting the wrong message to the wrong people. - You can track which sources or segments actually convert.
Skip this:
Don’t try to build a CRM inside Supersend. Use tags for basic segmentation—not to track every possible data point.
4. Keep Your Lead Lists Clean and Up to Date
The fastest way to kill your sender reputation (and your morale) is to blast old, stale, or bounced emails. Supersend helps, but you’ve got to stay on top of it.
Best practices: - Regular deduping: Supersend flags duplicates, but run a manual check every month or so. - Remove bounces: After each campaign, filter for hard bounces and clear them out. - Unsubscribe handling: Respect opt-outs immediately—Supersend automates this, but don’t override it. - Export backups: Download your list every so often. Mistakes happen, and you don’t want to lose your data.
What doesn’t matter: - Don’t obsess over every possible soft bounce. Focus on hard bounces and obvious disengagement.
5. Use Custom Fields Sparingly
Custom fields can be handy for personalization, but they’re easy to overdo.
When to use them: - If you need to reference a specific detail in your outreach (e.g., “last product purchased” or “event attended”), custom fields are great. - If you’re A/B testing messaging based on a variable, add a custom field for that attribute.
When to skip: - If you’re not actively using a field in campaigns, don’t bother importing or maintaining it. - Don’t use custom fields for notes or freeform comments—Supersend isn’t a full CRM.
Honest take:
Most teams start with 10+ custom fields and end up using two. Keep it simple.
6. Automate What Makes Sense—And Ignore the Rest
Supersend offers automation for follow-ups, lead status changes, and more. Use these features, but don’t get lost in the weeds.
Automate: - Basic lead stages: Move leads to “Contacted,” “Replied,” or “Unresponsive” automatically. - Follow-up sequences: Let Supersend handle scheduled nudges so you don’t forget. - Notifications: Set up alerts for hot leads or replies.
Skip: - Don’t spend hours building complex automations for edge cases. If you need a full sales workflow, use a dedicated CRM alongside Supersend.
Warning:
Over-automation can backfire. If you set it and forget it, you’ll miss context and nuance—especially for high-value prospects.
7. Sync With Your Other Tools—But Don’t Chase “Perfect” Integration
Supersend plays decently with other tools (like CRMs and Google Sheets), but don’t get stuck trying to automate every little thing.
Do: - Use CSV exports/imports for bulk updates. - Set up basic Zapier or native integrations for things like “new lead → Supersend” or “reply → Slack notification.”
Don’t: - Don’t try to force Supersend to be your only source of truth. Keep your CRM as the master record for deals and deeper notes.
Pro tip:
If you find yourself debugging integration flows more than sending emails, you’ve gone too far.
8. Track Results and Prune Ruthlessly
Lead management isn’t a “set it and forget it” deal. Make time to check what’s actually working.
How to stay on track: - Review campaign metrics monthly—opens, replies, conversions. - Tag or remove leads who never engage. It’s pointless to keep emailing ghosts. - Archive old campaigns and lists you’re not using. Less clutter = easier to manage.
What to skip: - Don’t dwell on vanity metrics (like total leads imported). Focus on meaningful outcomes—meetings booked, deals closed.
Keep It Simple, Review Often
Supersend is a great tool for getting outreach done—if you keep your process simple and your data clean. Don’t waste time chasing the “perfect” setup. Import what matters, tag leads sensibly, and keep your lists tidy. Review your system every month or so, tweak what’s not working, and move on. The best teams iterate, not over-engineer.
Got a new tip or a horror story from a messy import? Write it down for your team. The best process is the one you actually use.