How to create and automate personalized cold email sequences in Snov

If you’re trying to get real replies from cold outreach—whether you’re in sales, recruiting, or just hustling for partnerships—sending boring, generic emails is a quick way to get ignored or marked as spam. You need a system that lets you send smart, personalized messages to lots of people, without spending hours copying and pasting. That’s where Snov comes in.

This guide cuts through the noise and walks you through setting up and automating personalized cold email sequences in Snov, with a focus on what actually works (and what to skip). Let’s get into it.

1. Get Your Account and Basics in Place

Before you start, let’s make sure you’re set up for success:

  • Sign up for a Snov account. Pick a plan that fits your volume—don’t overbuy.
  • Warm up your email domain. If your domain is new, use Snov’s (or any) warm-up tool for a few weeks. Cold email from a cold domain is a rookie mistake.
  • Connect your email account. Snov supports Gmail, Outlook, and most custom SMTPs. Follow their setup guide and send a real test email to yourself.

Pro tip: Use a separate inbox for cold outreach to protect your main domain’s reputation. It’s cheap insurance.

2. Build or Import a Quality Prospect List

This is where most people get lazy and pay for it later. Garbage in, garbage out. Here’s how to do it right:

a. Find prospects

  • Use Snov’s built-in tools to find leads by domain, job title, or LinkedIn scraping.
  • If you’ve already got a list, import it as a CSV. Clean up the data first—no duplicates, correct columns, valid emails.

b. Enrich and verify

  • Don’t skip email verification. Snov lets you bulk-verify addresses; use it to avoid high bounce rates (which kill deliverability).
  • Add fields you’ll want for personalization: first name, company, maybe something custom like “last blog post title.”

c. Segment your list

  • Break big lists into smaller, targeted buckets (e.g., by industry, company size, or role). You can’t personalize well at scale if you’re blasting everyone with the same message.

What to ignore: Don’t waste time collecting every scrap of data “just in case.” Focus on what you’ll actually use in your email copy.

3. Write Your Email Sequence (Don’t Sound Like a Robot)

Here’s where 90% of cold emails fail: they all read the same. Snov lets you build sequences—multiple emails sent over days or weeks, triggered by opens, replies, or no response.

a. Map out your sequence

  • Start with 2-4 steps: an initial email and a couple of short, friendly follow-ups.
  • Don’t go overboard. A simple sequence is easier to tweak and won’t annoy people as much.

b. Craft your messages

  • Personalize, but don’t be creepy. Use custom fields (like {{first_name}}, {{company}}) for basics. Add a sentence or two that shows you did some homework.
  • Keep it short. Under 100 words is great. No one wants an essay.
  • Clear call to action. What do you want them to do? Make it obvious.
  • Skip the pitch-slapping. Don’t launch into a full sales pitch on the first email. Start a conversation.

Example first email:

Subject: Quick question about {{company}}

Hi {{first_name}},

Saw you’re working on {{something_relevant}} at {{company}}. Curious—are you handling {{problem_you_solve}} in-house, or is that on your radar for later this year?

Happy to keep it brief if now’s not the right time.

Thanks, Your Name

c. Use conditional logic (optional)

Snov lets you branch sequences based on opens, clicks, or replies. This is handy, but don’t overcomplicate things unless you have a lot of volume.

4. Set Up Your Sequence in Snov

Now you’ve got your list and your email copy. Time to bring it all together:

a. Create a new campaign

  • Go to Snov’s “Email Drip Campaigns” and start a new one.
  • Give it a name you’ll remember (not “Campaign 7”).

b. Add your recipients

  • Upload your contact list, or select an existing one.
  • Double-check that the right custom fields are mapped.

c. Build your sequence

  • Drag and drop email steps onto the timeline.
  • Set delays between steps (e.g., 2-3 days after no reply).
  • Add branching if you want to get fancy (opened vs. didn’t open, etc.).

d. Insert custom variables

  • Use Snov’s merge tags (like {{first_name}}) in your subject line and body.
  • Always preview your sequence with test data before launching.

e. Set sending limits

  • Don’t blast hundreds at once. Snov lets you set daily sending limits—50-100/day is safe for most new inboxes.
  • Randomize sending times within work hours to look more human.

What to ignore: Don’t waste time on spammy tricks like weird fonts, “RE:” in the subject, or fake thread replies. That stuff is played out and burns trust.

5. Test It—Seriously

You don’t want to find out about a merge field error or broken link after you’ve already sent 200 emails.

  • Send a full test sequence to your own email(s).
  • Check for formatting issues, broken links, and that all personalization fields pull through.
  • If you’re using Gmail, check how it looks on mobile.

Pro tip: Use Snov’s built-in spam checker. If your test lands in spam, fix the issues before launching for real.

6. Launch, Monitor, and Tweak

Once you’re confident everything works:

  • Hit launch. Snov will drip out your emails automatically according to your settings.
  • Watch your open, reply, and bounce rates in Snov’s analytics dashboard.
  • Pause the campaign if you see weird errors or lots of bounces.

What to measure

  • Open rates: If these are low, your subject line or deliverability needs work.
  • Reply rates: If these suck, your message isn’t resonating (or you’re targeting the wrong people).
  • Bounce rates: Over 5% is a red flag. Clean your list or check your domain setup.

When to tweak

  • Make one change at a time—subject line, body copy, or timing—not everything at once.
  • If you get a bunch of “unsubscribe” or angry replies, tone it down or revisit your audience.

7. Keep It Legal and Respectful

Cold email isn’t spam if you do it right, but you can’t ignore privacy laws:

  • Always include a real, working unsubscribe link (Snov can add this automatically).
  • Don’t scrape or email people in countries where it’s illegal to cold email (GDPR countries are strict).
  • Never use deceptive subject lines or fake senders.

Snov has compliance tools, but you’re still responsible for not being shady.

TL;DR: Start Simple, Iterate, Don’t Burn Bridges

Personalized, automated cold outreach isn’t magic, but it works when you keep it relevant and treat people like humans. With Snov, you can build smart sequences without turning into a spammer or spending your life copy-pasting. Start with a small, focused list and a short sequence. Launch, see what happens, and tweak as you go. If you keep things simple and honest, you’ll get real replies—and avoid the spam folder.