If you’re tired of chasing leads and manually sending the same sales emails, you’re in the right place. This guide is for business development pros, sales ops folks, and anyone who wants to spend less time on repetitive outreach and more time actually closing deals. We’ll walk through how to use Einstein CoPilot to automate your email outreach, but we’ll also call out the rough edges, what’s worth automating, and what’s still better done by a human.
Why bother automating email outreach?
Let’s be real: most cold outreach fails because it’s generic, too slow, or just gets lost in the muck. Good automation can help you:
- Move faster (no more copy-paste marathons)
- Keep follow-ups from slipping through the cracks
- Actually personalize at scale (when you do it right)
- Track what’s working (and what isn’t)
But automation isn’t a magic fix. Bad outreach, just done faster, just annoys people faster. So, this guide will help you automate the right parts—without losing the personal touch that actually gets replies.
Step 1: Decide what to automate—and what to skip
Before you start poking buttons in Einstein CoPilot, get clear on what parts of your workflow make sense to automate. Here’s where automation shines:
- Initial outreach: Sending your first intro, demo invite, or value prop email.
- Follow-ups: Gentle reminders, “just checking in,” or sharing resources.
- Meeting scheduling: Automating the dance of “are you free Tuesday at 2?”
But don’t automate:
- Highly personalized pitches: If you’re targeting a whale or key account, do it yourself.
- Complex objections or negotiations: Bots will just embarrass you.
Pro tip: Start small. Automate one part of your process, see what works, then add more.
Step 2: Clean up your contact lists
Garbage in, garbage out. Automation is only as good as your data. Before you even open CoPilot:
- Scrub your CRM: Remove duplicates, update emails, and weed out dead leads.
- Segment your lists: Group by industry, persona, or stage in the funnel.
- Add context: The more you know about a contact, the better your emails can be.
Don’t skip this step. Automating outreach to a messy, outdated list is a fast way to get flagged as spam.
Step 3: Set up Einstein CoPilot
Now, let’s get hands-on. Assuming you’ve already got access to Einstein CoPilot (if not, talk to your Salesforce admin—there’s no way around that), here’s how to get started:
3.1 Connect your email and CRM
- Integrate your email: CoPilot works best with Salesforce CRM and major email platforms (like Outlook or Gmail).
- Sync contacts and leads: Make sure your lists from Step 2 show up in CoPilot.
- Check permissions: You might need admin help to connect accounts—security is tight for good reason.
Heads up: The integration process isn’t always plug-and-play. Sometimes you’ll hit weird settings or permission issues. If it takes longer than 30 minutes, rope in IT.
3.2 Map your outreach workflow
- Sketch out your process: Who gets which emails, and when? Map it on paper or a whiteboard first.
- Define triggers: For example, “Send follow-up 3 days after no reply,” or “Send meeting invite after demo request.”
- Align with your sales stages: Don’t send top-of-funnel emails to folks already deep in the pipeline.
What to ignore: Don’t over-engineer with a dozen branches for every possible scenario. Start with your most common workflow and improve from there.
Step 4: Build your email templates (the right way)
This is where most teams either nail it or blow it. Here’s how to make your templates not sound like a robot:
- Use real language: Write how you actually talk. Drop the “Dear Sir or Madam” nonsense.
- Personalize with merge fields: CoPilot can pull in first names, company names, recent activity, etc.
- Keep it short: No one’s reading your 500-word pitch.
- Test before you send: Send test emails to yourself and a coworker. Check for weird formatting or broken links.
What not to do: Don’t overdo the personalization tokens. “Hi {{First Name}}, I see you’re at {{Company Name}} in {{Industry}}” just screams “automated.”
Pro tip: Have a real human review your templates, especially for tone. Or better yet, ask a coworker: “Would you delete this if it landed in your inbox?”
Step 5: Set up and test your workflow in CoPilot
Here’s where you put it all together:
- Create your automation: In CoPilot, set up your outreach sequence—who gets what, and when.
- Add rules and triggers: For example, only send follow-up if there’s no reply, or stop emailing if they book a meeting.
- A/B test subject lines and messaging: CoPilot lets you experiment, so use it.
- Set limits: Don’t blast 1,000 emails at once. Start small (think: 50-100 per day) to avoid spam filters.
Testing checklist
- Send yourself the full sequence
- Check for typos, broken links, awkward merge fields
- Make sure opt-out/unsubscribe links work
- Confirm emails land in the inbox (not spam or promotions)
What doesn’t work: Rushing this step. If you “set it and forget it,” you’ll miss embarrassing mistakes. Always test with a real contact before going live.
Step 6: Launch, monitor, and tweak
You’re live—now what?
- Watch your metrics: Open rates, reply rates, bounce rates, unsubscribes. If something tanks, fix it fast.
- Respond to replies: Don’t leave interested leads hanging. Automation gets you in the door, but humans close the deal.
- Iterate: If a subject line flops, try something else. If a follow-up feels pushy, tone it down.
What to ignore: Vanity metrics. A high open rate is nice, but if no one replies, who cares? Focus on real engagement.
Step 7: Stay human
Automation is a tool, not a replacement for actual sales skill. There’s no shortcut to building trust. Use CoPilot to handle the repetitive stuff, and spend your saved time on the tricky, high-value conversations that really move deals forward.
Quick recap and some honest advice
Automating email outreach with Einstein CoPilot is powerful—if you do the prep work and keep a close eye on what’s actually working. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. Start simple, test everything, and iterate as you go. The best results come from blending smart automation with a human touch, not from chasing every shiny new feature.
Now, get back to selling—but let the robots handle the boring stuff.