If you’re tired of hearing “outbound emails are dead” and just want to get more replies from the right people, this guide’s for you. We’ll walk step-by-step through building and managing outbound email sequences inside Revenue—without the fluff, wishful thinking, or recycled best practices that never seem to work in real life.
Whether you’re a founder doing your own outreach, a sales leader trying to scale, or just someone who wants to stop guessing, you’ll find practical advice here. Let’s get into it.
Step 1: Get Your Foundations Right
Don’t skip this. If you think outbound means blasting a list and praying, you’ll burn your sender reputation and waste everyone’s time. Here’s what to do first:
- Define your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): Get specific. “Small businesses” is not enough. Who actually buys? What problems do they talk about? If you don’t know, ask your last three customers why they signed up.
- Clean your list: No, really. Verify every email before uploading. Tools like NeverBounce or ZeroBounce are cheap compared to the pain of landing in spam.
- Set up your sending domain: Use a dedicated subdomain for outbound (like sales.yourcompany.com). Warm it up. Don’t send from your main domain unless you like deliverability nightmares.
- Get your basics covered: DKIM, SPF, and DMARC records. If you don’t know what these mean, Google them now or get your IT person to help.
Pro Tip
If you’re thinking “I’ll just use my personal Gmail,” please don’t. You’ll hit sending limits fast, and it looks amateur.
Step 2: Build Your Sequence in Revenue
Once you’ve got your list and your sender setup, it’s time to get hands-on in Revenue. Revenue isn’t magic, but it’s got the tools you need if you use them right.
2.1 Create a New Sequence
- Log in and head to the “Sequences” section.
- Click “New Sequence.”
- Name it something you’ll recognize in two months (not “test sequence 7”).
2.2 Set Up Your Steps
A good outbound sequence is short, simple, and respectful. Here’s a basic structure:
- Email 1: Your opener—short, specific, no fake personalization. Explain why you’re reaching out.
- Email 2 (2-3 days later): Follow-up—reference the first email, keep it brief.
- Email 3 (4-5 days after that): Last nudge—shortest yet, maybe a breakup line.
You can add calls or LinkedIn steps, but don’t overcomplicate unless you have the bandwidth.
- In Revenue, add each step. Choose delays (in days) between steps.
- Use the preview feature to check your emails don’t look broken.
- Set time windows for sending (e.g., 9am–4pm in the recipient’s timezone).
2.3 Personalization Without the Pain
Personalization is great—until you spend an hour per lead and get ghosted anyway. Revenue lets you use merge fields (like {{first_name}} or {{company}}), but here’s what actually matters:
- Reference something real: Industry, recent news, or a pain point. Skip the “saw you went to Stanford” nonsense; it rarely lands.
- Keep templates simple: Overly clever sequences get ignored. Sound like a human.
What to ignore: Don’t try to automate hyper-custom messages for everyone. It’s not scalable. Better to segment your list and tailor by segment.
Step 3: Upload and Enroll Contacts
- Clean CSV only. No duplicates, no half-completed fields.
- Map fields correctly: first name, last name, email, company, etc.
- In Revenue, use smart lists or tags if you want to enroll people in batches.
Pro Tip
Don’t enroll your whole list on day one. Start small (25-50 contacts), see what bounces, and check if you get any angry replies or deliverability warnings.
Step 4: Schedule and Launch
- Double-check sending limits. Revenue will help throttle sends, but set conservative limits at first (50-100 emails per day per sender).
- Stagger sending times to avoid looking like a robot. Randomize within working hours.
- Hit “Start Sequence.” Then, go about your day.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over the perfect send time. The difference between 9:06am and 10:23am is negligible. Focus on your message.
Step 5: Monitor Performance—But Don’t Chase Vanity Metrics
Revenue gives you open rates, reply rates, bounce rates, and more. Here’s how to use them:
- Open rates: Low open rates (<30%) mean deliverability issues, not subject line problems.
- Reply rates: This is your real metric. If you’re getting 5%+ replies, you’re on the right track.
- Positive vs. negative replies: Track this manually if you have to. Not all replies are created equal.
If Things Go Sideways
- High bounce rates? Stop everything. Clean your list again.
- Lots of unsubscribes or spam complaints? Rethink your targeting or messaging.
- Zero replies? Your message probably isn’t clear or relevant. Rewrite, don’t just resend.
Step 6: Iterate and Improve
The truth: even the best guides can’t tell you exactly what will work for your audience. You’ll need to tweak as you go.
- A/B test subject lines and email bodies: But only change one thing at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know what moved the needle.
- Shorten your sequence if people stop replying after step 2.
- Try different segments: Maybe founders reply more than VPs. Find out for yourself.
- Don’t be afraid to kill a sequence: If it’s dead, it’s dead. Move on and try something new.
Pro Tip
Keep a “swipe file” of replies—good and bad. You’ll spot patterns over time.
Honest Takes: What Works, What Doesn’t
- Works: Plain text emails, clear value, targeting the right people.
- Doesn’t: Over-personalization, long-winded intros, or pretending to be someone’s friend.
- Ignore: Most “best time to send” studies, generic templates, and anyone who says outbound is easy.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Outbound email isn’t rocket science, but it isn’t magic, either. Start simple inside Revenue, keep your list clean, pay attention to what people actually say back, and tweak as you go. Don’t fall for shortcuts or hype. The best sequences are the ones you actually keep running and improving, not the ones that sound good on paper.
Now, go build your first sequence—and remember: less is more.