If you’re in sales or marketing, you know how much of your day gets eaten up sending emails that feel like Groundhog Day. You want to reach more people, but you don’t want your emails to sound like they were written by a bot (even if they kind of are). This guide is for anyone who’s heard about Sailes but wants a clear, honest walk-through on getting outbound email campaigns actually working—without making a mess or burning your leads.
Let’s get you set up so you can spend less time clicking “send” and more time doing, well, literally anything else.
Step 1: Understand What Sailes Can (and Can’t) Do
First, let’s get clear on what Sailes actually is. Sailes claims to automate outbound email outreach, personalize at scale, and help you book more meetings. In reality, it’s a tool that lets you:
- Build sequences of emails to send automatically to your prospects
- Personalize some bits with variables (like name, company, etc.)
- Track opens, clicks, and replies
- Handle basic scheduling (but don’t expect full-on CRM features)
What Sailes isn’t: - It’s not a magic bullet—if your message or list is lousy, Sailes won’t fix it. - It’s not a full CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution. - It’s not going to write all your emails for you (unless you want them to sound generic).
Pro tip: If you’re hoping Sailes will make up for poor targeting or boring copy, you’ll end up with a bunch of emails in spam folders.
Step 2: Prep Your Email List (Don’t Skip This)
Automation can make a mess faster than you can clean it up. Before you touch Sailes, clean and segment your list. Here’s how:
- Remove duplicates and obvious junk (info@, support@, etc.).
- Check for valid emails. Use a tool like Hunter, NeverBounce, or ZeroBounce if you’ve got a big list.
- Segment by relevance—industry, job title, whatever matters for your campaign. You don’t have to go overboard, but some segmentation helps.
Ignore: Buying random lists off the internet. You’ll nuke your sender reputation and annoy a lot of people.
Step 3: Set Up Your Sailes Account and Integrations
If you haven’t already, sign up for Sailes. You’ll need to:
- Connect your email account. Usually, this means Gmail, Outlook, or a custom SMTP. Use a real account, not a throwaway.
- Verify your domain. This step is a pain but helps keep your emails out of spam.
- Integrate your CRM (optional). Most folks start with a CSV upload, but you can connect Salesforce, HubSpot, etc., if you want your data synced.
Honest take: Most issues with deliverability come from skipping domain verification or using sketchy sender addresses. Take the extra 10 minutes now.
Step 4: Create Your Email Sequence
This is the backbone of your campaign. In Sailes, you’ll set up a sequence—a series of emails that go out over days or weeks.
How to approach it:
- Map out your sequence. Start with 3–5 emails max. More than that and you risk annoying your prospects.
- Write your emails. Keep them short, specific, and as human as possible. Use merge fields (like {{FirstName}}) for basic personalization, but don’t overdo it.
- Space them out. Give at least 2–3 days between touches. No one wants a new message every morning.
- Include a clear call to action. Don’t make people guess why you’re emailing.
What doesn’t work: - Templates lifted off the internet. Everyone’s seen them. - Over-personalizing (“I saw you went to Michigan in 2004!”) if it’s not relevant.
Pro tip: Write your first email like you’re writing to one person, not a list. The rest can be lighter touch follow-ups.
Step 5: Import Your Contacts
Sailes lets you upload a CSV or sync from your CRM. Double-check:
- Column headers match the fields you want to use (First Name, Company, etc.).
- You aren’t importing unsubscribed or bounced emails—keep your list clean.
- You’re putting each segment into its own campaign, if possible.
Honest take: A bad import (like mismatched fields) will make your emails look like, “Hi ,” — not a great first impression.
Step 6: Personalize Your Variables (But Don’t Go Wild)
Sailes will let you drop in variables for things like first name, company, or even custom fields.
- Stick to the basics. First Name and Company are usually enough.
- Preview before sending. Always use Sailes’ preview feature to check how your emails look for real contacts.
- Set fallbacks. If your data is incomplete, use a generic fallback (“there” instead of a blank).
What to ignore: Trying to insert dozens of variables. That’s how you end up with weird, robotic emails.
Step 7: Configure Sending Settings
This is the unglamorous but important part:
- Set your sending window. Send during business hours in your prospects’ time zones, not 2am.
- Throttle your sends. Start slow—maybe 30–50 emails per day. Ramp up once you’re sure you’re not getting flagged as spam.
- Warm up your domain. If your domain is brand new, use a warming service or send manual emails for a bit first.
Pro tip: Don’t try to blast 1,000 emails on day one. You’ll tank your deliverability and maybe get your account suspended.
Step 8: Test, Test, Test
Before you hit “go” on a big campaign:
- Send test emails to yourself and a few colleagues. Check for formatting, broken links, and how it looks on mobile.
- Check spam folders. If your test emails go to spam, fix that first. Sometimes it’s wording, sometimes it’s your sender setup.
- Review personalization. Make sure variables work as intended.
Honest take: Most embarrassing mistakes come from skipping this step.
Step 9: Launch Your Campaign (and Don’t Disappear)
Once you’re happy, hit launch. But don’t walk away:
- Monitor replies. Respond promptly—automation is only as good as the human behind it.
- Track open and click rates. If your numbers are low, your subject lines or targeting probably need work.
- Pause if things go weird. If you’re getting lots of bounces or angry replies, stop and adjust.
What to ignore: Vanity metrics. Open rates are nice, but real replies and booked meetings are what matter.
Step 10: Iterate and Improve
Even the best campaigns flop sometimes. Use the data in Sailes to:
- See which emails get replies (not just opens).
- Test different subject lines or follow-up timings.
- Remove or tweak emails that get ignored or negative responses.
Pro tip: Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Change one thing, see what happens, and repeat.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple and Keep Moving
Automating outbound emails in Sailes isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of setup and a lot of common sense. Don’t overthink it—start with a small, targeted list and a simple sequence. Get the basics right, then improve as you go.
Most “growth hacks” are just distractions. What works: a clean list, a message that doesn’t sound like spam, and a process you can tweak over time. Start small, stay human, and let Sailes do the grunt work, not the thinking.
Now, go make your inbox a little less crowded.