If you're tired of spray-and-pray email blasts that land in spam or get ignored, this guide is for you. I'll walk you through setting up real, personalized email campaigns in Funnelflare—without getting lost in marketing buzzwords or wasting hours on pointless features. Whether you're a sales rep, a founder, or just someone who does their own outreach, you'll get practical steps (plus honest advice on what actually works).
1. Get Your Funnelflare Account Ready
Before you can send anything, you've got to get the basics sorted.
- Sign up and verify your account. Obvious, but don't skip email verification. Funnelflare will block you later if you do.
- Connect your email. Go to Settings > Email Integration and hook up your work email. Use your real domain, not a throwaway Gmail. This impacts deliverability—a lot.
- Set your sending limits. Funnelflare lets you throttle sends per hour/day. Start conservatively (think 50-100/day) and ramp up slowly. Overeager sending will get you blacklisted fast.
Pro tip: If you’re new to cold outreach, warm up your domain first. There are tools for this, but honestly, just start slow and send some real, personal emails before you go automated.
2. Build (or Import) a Solid Contact List
The best automation in the world won’t save you if your contacts are junk.
- Upload a CSV or connect your CRM. Funnelflare supports both. Make sure your columns are clean—no weird characters, consistent formatting.
- Include first names, company names, and any other personalization fields you’ll want. The more relevant data, the more “personalized” your emails can be.
- Don’t buy lists. Seriously, don’t. You’ll kill your sender reputation and annoy people. Build your own, or at least be sure you have opt-in or legitimate interest.
What to skip: Don’t obsess over cramming in every data point imaginable. If you’re not going to use it in an email, leave it out. More fields = more room for errors.
3. Map Out Your Email Sequence
Automating a campaign isn’t just about sending one email—it’s a series. Plan this before you touch the software.
- Sketch out your steps:
- Initial email
- Follow-up #1 (maybe a reply to the original)
- Follow-up #2
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Breakup/last-ditch message
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Decide on timing:
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Wait 2-3 days between touches. Don’t smother people.
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Write your emails. Keep it short—nobody reads five paragraphs from a stranger. Personalize with merge fields (more on that soon).
Pro tip: Write your emails outside Funnelflare first. Google Docs works fine. It’s easier to spot typos, and you can get feedback from a real person.
4. Set Up Merge Fields for Personalization
This is the not-so-secret sauce. Funnelflare calls these “merge fields”—they pull in data from your contact list to personalize each message.
- Find out what fields you have: First name, company, job title, etc.
- Use Funnelflare’s merge tags: In the email editor, type
{{FirstName}}or whatever your field is called. Double-check the naming (case-sensitive). - Add fallback text: If a field is missing, you don’t want to send “Hi ,”. Use Funnelflare’s syntax:
{{FirstName|there}}means if First Name is blank, it says “there”.
What works: Simple personalization (“Hi {{FirstName}}”, referencing their company) is usually enough. Don’t force it—if you don’t have good data, keep it generic.
5. Create Your Email Sequence in Funnelflare
Now you’re ready to build the actual sequence.
- Go to Campaigns > New Campaign.
- Choose “Outbound Email Sequence.”
- Name your campaign something obvious. (“Q2 Lead Outreach” beats “Test123”)
- Add your steps:
- For each step, paste in your email, set the send delay, and add any follow-up actions (like if someone clicks a link).
- Drag and drop steps to reorder.
Key Settings to Watch:
- Reply handling: Do you want to stop the sequence if someone replies? Check this box. (You probably do.)
- Manual tasks: You can add tasks like “connect on LinkedIn” between emails. Don’t go overboard unless you’ll actually do them.
- A/B testing: Funnelflare lets you test different email versions. Useful, but only if you have a decent volume—don’t bother if you’re emailing 20 people.
Pro tip: Preview your sequence using Funnelflare’s test/send-to-self feature. You’ll catch embarrassing mistakes before they go out to real humans.
6. Add Contacts to Your Campaign
Time to actually assign people to your shiny new sequence.
- Go to your contact list.
- Select the people you want to enroll.
- Add to campaign. You can bulk-add, but double-check you’re not dumping the wrong people in.
Watch out for: - Duplicates. Funnelflare tries to prevent this, but sometimes you’ll accidentally enroll someone twice. - Wrong segments. If you have different sequences for different audiences, make sure you’re matching the right contacts to the right campaign.
7. Set Up Tracking and Notifications
You want to know who’s opening, clicking, or (best of all) replying.
- Open tracking: On by default. Works most of the time, but some email clients block images (that’s how tracking works).
- Click tracking: Flip it on if you have links. But don’t overdo links—too many, and you’ll look spammy.
- Reply detection: This is where the magic happens. Funnelflare can auto-detect replies and stop sequences. Test it—sometimes filters can miss weirdly formatted replies.
- Notifications: Set up alerts for key actions. Don’t ping yourself for every open, but do get notified for replies or key clicks.
What doesn’t work: Tracking “opens” as a sign of real engagement. Plenty of people open but never respond. Don’t chase ghosts.
8. Test Everything (Seriously)
This is where most people get lazy and pay for it later.
- Send every email to yourself first. Check formatting, merge fields, and links.
- Check mobile view. Half your audience reads email on their phone.
- Review your sequence timing. Are you about to send five emails in a day? Fix it now.
- Test reply detection. Reply to your own test email from another account and see if Funnelflare stops the sequence as expected.
Pro tip: If you have a teammate, get them to review. Fresh eyes always catch something.
9. Launch—and Monitor Closely
Hit “go,” but don’t disappear. The first few sends are where you spot any big problems.
- Monitor bounce and complaint rates. If you see more than 5% bounces or any spam complaints, stop and investigate. Could mean bad data or a technical issue.
- Watch for weird replies. If people say “Who are you?” or “Remove me,” your targeting or messaging needs work.
- Iterate as you go. Don’t wait until the end of a 5-step sequence to tweak things. Adapt in real time.
What to ignore: Vanity metrics like how many times someone opened an email. Focus on replies and actual conversations.
10. Review Results and Iterate
Once the dust settles, look at what worked and what fell flat.
- Did you get replies? That’s the metric that matters.
- Which emails performed best? If one subject line gets all the opens or replies, use it more.
- Who converted or booked meetings? Look for patterns in company size, job title, or list source.
Don’t: Overthink it. If you’re getting conversations started, you’re winning. Don’t chase perfection or get caught in endless tweaks.
Wrap-up: Keep It Simple, Adjust as You Go
Automating personalized email in Funnelflare isn’t magic, and it’s not “set and forget.” The best campaigns are the ones you keep simple, test often, and improve over time. Start small, watch what happens, and make changes based on actual replies—not wishful thinking or dashboard numbers.
Remember: The real “automation” is freeing you up to have more real conversations, not just sending more emails. Good luck—and don’t be afraid to experiment.