Step by step guide to setting up automated email sequences in Piperai for B2B sales teams

Want to stop chasing prospects and have your outreach run itself? You’re in the right place. This guide walks B2B sales teams through setting up automated email sequences with Piperai—not just the “here’s where you click” stuff, but what works, what doesn’t, and what you can safely ignore. If you want to get up and running fast, avoid rookie mistakes, and actually close more deals, keep reading.

Step 1: Get Your House in Order

Before you even sign into Piperai, make sure you have:

  • A clean, verified prospect list: Dirty data = wasted time. Scrub your list for typos, dead domains, and spam traps.
  • Sales messaging ready: Have a few draft emails written. You’ll tweak them, but don’t wing it.
  • A sending email account that isn’t your main inbox: Use a real domain, but not your CEO’s email. You want deliverability, not blacklisting.

Pro tip: If you’re still buying leads from random lists, stop. It’ll tank your deliverability and credibility.

Step 2: Set Up Your Piperai Account

Assuming you’ve already picked a plan and signed up:

  1. Log in and go to the dashboard.
  2. Head to the “Integrations” section. Piperai connects to Gmail, Outlook, and most SMTP providers.
  3. Follow the prompts to connect the email account you’ll use for sending sequences.
  4. If your IT team is strict on permissions, rope them in now—it’ll save headaches.
  5. Set your sending limits. Most platforms, including Piperai, let you throttle how many emails go out per day/hour.
  6. Start slow: 30-50 emails/day is safe for new domains.
  7. Warm up new domains for a couple weeks before ramping up.

What to ignore: Skip “AI optimization” settings for now. They rarely work out of the box and can make your emails sound robotic.

Step 3: Import Your Contacts

  1. Go to the Contacts or Prospects tab.
  2. Upload your CSV file. Map the columns to Piperai’s fields (first name, last name, email, company, etc).
  3. Double-check the mapping. If you mix up “first name” and “company,” your emails will look like spam.

Pitfall to avoid: Don’t import everyone you’ve ever met. Segment your list. Start with one niche or persona—easier to test and iterate.

Step 4: Build Your Email Sequence

This is where most people overthink things. Keep it simple:

  1. Create a new Sequence.
  2. Add your first email (“Step 1”).
  3. Make it short, clear, and personal—skip the “Dear Sir or Madam” nonsense.
  4. Use merge tags (like {first_name}) to personalize, but test them first.
  5. Add follow-up steps.
  6. Typical B2B cadence: 3-5 emails over 2-3 weeks.
  7. Vary the content: value, case study, quick check-in, breakup note.
  8. Set delays between steps. Usually 2-4 days apart works best.

Pro tip: Don’t cram your company pitch into every email. Focus on one ask per step.

What works

  • Plain text emails: They look real. Fancy HTML = promotions tab.
  • Clear call to action: “Are you free for a quick call next week?” beats “Let’s connect.”
  • Short paragraphs: No one reads a wall of text.

What doesn’t

  • Over-automation: If every message feels templated, you’ll get ignored fast.
  • Excessive personalization: Don’t fake familiarity (“Saw you posted about your cat, Muffin!”) unless it’s real.

Step 5: Set Up Triggers and Conditions

Piperai lets you build logic into your sequences—this is handy, but don’t go wild.

  1. Basic triggers:
  2. Stop sequence if prospect replies.
  3. Move to a new sequence if they click a link.
  4. Advanced triggers:
  5. Tag prospects who open 3+ emails.
  6. Pause if they bounce.

Keep it simple: Just use the reply and bounce triggers to start. You can get fancier later.

Step 6: Test Everything (Seriously)

Don’t trust the preview. Send test emails to yourself and to a colleague. Look for:

  • Awkward personalization (“Hi ,”)
  • Typos, broken links, images that don’t load
  • Spammy subject lines (use free tools like mail-tester.com)

Pro tip: Check your emails on both desktop and mobile. Most B2B folks read on their phone at some point.

Step 7: Launch Your Sequence

Ready? Time to go live:

  1. Select your contact segment.
  2. Assign them to the sequence.
  3. Set sending schedule:
  4. Weekdays, business hours only.
  5. Skip holidays—no one wants sales emails on Christmas.
  6. Hit start.
  7. Watch the first few sends closely. Pause if you spot weird replies or delivery issues.

Don’t blast your entire list at once. Start with a small batch (20-50). Tweak and scale up if all looks good.

Step 8: Monitor, Tweak, and (Gently) Optimize

No sequence is perfect out of the gate. Check your Piperai analytics after the first week:

  • Open rates: 30%+ is decent. If you’re below 20%, your subject lines probably suck.
  • Reply rates: 5-10% is normal for cold B2B. If it’s lower, your message isn’t landing.
  • Bounce rates: Over 3%? Your list needs work.

What to tweak

  • Subject lines that sound like spam.
  • Emails that are too long or too generic.
  • Follow-up timing—sometimes longer gaps work better.

Ignore: Vanity metrics like “link clicks” unless your CTA is to click.

Step 9: Handle Replies Like a Human

Automation gets you in the door, but deals close when you actually talk to people.

  • Reply quickly (within a few hours if you can).
  • Don’t copy-paste canned responses.
  • If someone asks to unsubscribe, take them off your list—don’t argue.

Step 10: Stay Out of Trouble

A few non-negotiables:

  • Always include an unsubscribe link.
  • Don’t buy sketchy lists. You’ll get flagged as spam and ruin your sender reputation.
  • Comply with laws (CAN-SPAM, GDPR, etc.)—Piperai helps, but it’s still your responsibility.

Wrapping Up

Automated email sequences can win you meetings and deals—if you keep things simple. Start small, test with real prospects, and don’t get distracted by every new “AI-powered” feature Piperai rolls out. Focus on sending useful, relevant emails to the right people. Iterate over time, and you’ll see results. If you get stuck, ask for help—nobody nails it on the first try.