If you’re reading this, you’re probably tired of manually sending cold emails, cutting and pasting follow-ups, or babysitting spreadsheets that make your eyes bleed. You want to get your outbound email campaigns running on autopilot, but you don’t want a five-day project or another platform that overpromises and underdelivers. This guide is for sales pros, marketers, founders, or anyone who just wants outbound email to work without becoming their second job.
There are a ton of tools out there, but we’re talking about Pitchmonster here because it’s built for automating outbound email with workflows that don’t require a PhD, but still let you get specific about who gets what, when, and how.
Let’s get you set up—minus the fluff.
1. Get Your Data Ready (Don’t Skip This Step)
Before you even look at a workflow, you need a clean list. Garbage in, garbage out—no tool can fix a bad list.
What you need: - A CSV or spreadsheet with columns for first name, last name, email, company, and any other personalization you might want (like industry or role). - Valid, verified emails. Use a verifier before uploading—bounces kill your sender reputation. - No duplicates. Don’t trust your memory; let the software check for you.
Pro tip:
If you’re scraping lists, take a breath. Double-check the sources. You want folks who might actually reply, not just any address you can find.
2. Connect Your Email Account Safely
Pitchmonster lets you send from your Gmail, Outlook, or custom SMTP. Don’t rush this—sending too fast or from a "burner" domain is the fastest way to land in spam.
How to connect: - Go to Settings → Email Accounts. - Use OAuth if possible (for Gmail/Outlook), or plug in your SMTP details. - Set your daily sending limits lower than you think. If you’re new, start with 30–50 emails/day to warm up. You can always ramp up later.
What to skip:
Don’t try to send 500 emails on day one. “Spray and pray” gets you blacklisted, not booked meetings.
3. Set Up Your First Workflow
Here’s where Pitchmonster’s workflows come in. Think of a workflow as your campaign’s autopilot—it handles steps, timing, and logic.
3.1. Create a New Workflow
- Click on “Workflows” → “New Workflow.”
- Name it something obvious (e.g., “April Finance Pros Outreach”).
- Choose your goal: Is this for cold outreach, follow-ups, or re-engagement? Keep it focused.
3.2. Build Your Sequence
A good sequence isn’t rocket science. Here’s a simple structure: 1. Initial Email: Short, relevant, and no buzzwords. 2. First Follow-up (3–5 days later): Quick nudge, reply to the same thread. 3. Second Follow-up (7 days later): Another angle or value prop. 4. Final Check-In (optional): Polite sign-off if no response.
Add steps in Pitchmonster’s drag-and-drop workflow builder. You can customize timing and content per step.
What works: - Personalize at least the first line. Use merge tags like {{first_name}}. - Keep emails under 100 words. Nobody reads walls of text.
What to ignore: - Gimmicky subject lines (“Quick question…” is played out). - Overcomplicated branching (just get the basics working first).
4. Import Your Contacts and Map Your Fields
Upload your CSV, and Pitchmonster will ask you to map columns to fields (like matching “First Name” to {{first_name}}).
Watch out for: - Typos in your headers (e.g., "Emaiil" won’t map). - Missing data. Use fallback values (“there” instead of a missing name).
Pro tip:
If you want to segment (e.g., by industry), use tags or custom fields when uploading. Makes filtering later dead simple.
5. Personalize Without Losing Your Mind
Personalization moves the needle, but you don’t need to write 500 custom emails.
How to do it smart: - Use merge tags for the basics. - Add a “personalization” column to your CSV for a one-liner about each prospect (can be as simple as “Saw you spoke at X event”). - Reference this via {{personalization}} in your template.
What doesn’t work: - Fake personalization (don’t just slap the company name into a generic email). - Overly familiar intros (“Hope you’re crushing it!”—cringe).
6. Set Up Sending Windows and Throttling
You want your emails to look human, not like a robot sent them at 2 a.m.
In Pitchmonster: - Set sending windows (e.g., 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. local time). - Add random delays between emails (30 seconds to 2 minutes is plenty). - Limit daily sends per account. Again, slow and steady wins the inbox.
Pro tip:
Rotate sending accounts if you’re going big, but keep each one “warm” with real replies if you can.
7. Activate, Monitor, and Adjust
Hit “Start” on your workflow. Congrats, you’re live. But don’t walk away forever.
What to watch: - Open rates: Low? Could be subject line or spam filters. - Replies: Are you getting real responses or just out-of-office? - Bounces: More than 2–3% = bad list or sending too fast. - Unsubscribes/Spam complaints: Keep this under 0.2%, or you’ll burn your domain.
Check daily at first. Fix issues as they pop up—don’t ignore warning signs.
What to skip:
Don’t obsess over “perfect” metrics. If you’re getting real replies and meetings, you’re winning.
8. Automate Follow-Ups—But Know When to Stop
Pitchmonster will automatically send follow-ups based on your workflow. But nobody likes a pest.
Best practices: - 2–3 follow-ups is plenty. More, and you’re just annoying people. - Automatically stop the sequence when someone replies. - Set a delay between steps, not just “next day.” People skim emails on Mondays—give them a chance to breathe.
Ignore:
Auto-replying to every inbound “no thanks.” Sometimes silence is the answer.
9. Track, Learn, and Iterate
Automation is great, but you still need to keep an eye on what’s actually working.
- Export reports from Pitchmonster to see open/reply rates per sequence.
- Tweak subject lines or templates every couple of weeks (not every day).
- Don’t chase every shiny new AI feature—most are just lipstick on a pig.
Pro tip:
If you get a great reply, save that email and reverse-engineer what worked. Steal from yourself.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Overthink It
The magic isn’t in the tool or fancy workflow—it's in clear messaging, a good list, and consistent follow-up. Pitchmonster makes the mechanics easy, but it can’t fix a bad pitch or a list of random emails. Start simple, keep things human, and tweak as you go. No need to automate yourself into a corner.
Now, get out there and send something worth replying to.