If you’re sick of sending cold emails one by one (or paying for bloated software that promises too much and delivers too little), this guide is for you. We’ll walk through exactly how to automate outbound email campaigns using Getweflow—from getting set up to actually hitting send. No fluff, no fake “growth hacks,” just real steps and a few honest warnings.
Let’s keep it simple and get your first campaign out the door.
Step 1: Get Clear on Your Goals (Don’t Skip This)
Before you open any tool, pin down what you actually want. Is it to book calls? Gather replies? Drive clicks? If you don’t know, your campaign will just be noise.
- Define your goal in one sentence. (“Book 10 intro calls with SaaS founders this month.”)
- Know your audience. Who are you emailing? What do they care about? (If your answer is “everyone,” you’re setting yourself up for a mess.)
- Decide on your offer. What’s the actual value you’re promising? Outbound fails when it’s all about you.
Pro Tip: Write out your ideal reply. If you can’t imagine what someone would write back, your campaign needs work before you even think about automation.
Step 2: Organize (and Clean) Your Contact List
Bad data kills campaigns—fast. Getweflow is only as good as what you put into it.
- Source your leads. This could be a LinkedIn scrape, a purchased list (not my favorite), or your own CRM export.
- Clean your data. Kill duplicates, fix weird formatting, and check for missing emails or names.
- Segment logically. Group people by relevant criteria (like industry or job title). Don’t overthink it, but don’t blast everyone the same thing.
- Export as CSV. Getweflow likes simple CSVs—first name, last name, email, company, and any other bits you plan to personalize.
What to ignore: Don’t waste hours “enriching” your list with endless data points unless it’ll actually change your approach. Focus on the basics.
Step 3: Sign Up and Get Set Up in Getweflow
Time to open Getweflow. The signup is pretty standard—email, password, maybe a few onboarding questions.
- Connect your email account. You’ll need to hook up Gmail, Outlook, or another provider. Be ready for OAuth permissions—this isn’t optional.
- Warm up your inbox (if new). If you’re using a fresh email domain, start slow. Send a few manual emails, reply to friends, and avoid blasting 200 cold emails from day one. (If you ignore this, you’ll end up in spam. Every tool has this risk.)
- Set up your sender profile. Fill in your name, signature, and any fallback info for personalization.
Heads up: Fancy features like “AI copy suggestions” are rarely as magical as they sound. Don’t let the tool write your outreach for you.
Step 4: Build Your Campaign
This is where most people get stuck. Resist the urge to overcomplicate.
- Create a new campaign. Name it something you’ll recognize later (e.g., “SaaS Founders June 2024”).
- Upload your CSV. Map the columns to Getweflow’s variables (like {{first_name}}). Double-check this—mis-mapping here leads to embarrassing emails.
- Write your email sequence.
- Keep it short. Most cold emails are too long. Aim for 3–5 sentences.
- Personalize a bit. Use the variables, but don’t get cute (“I see you went to {{university}}!” is just lazy if you have no real context).
- Plan follow-ups. 2–3 touchpoints total is enough for most. More than that and you risk being annoying.
- Preview everything. Send test emails to yourself. Check for broken variables, typos, and weird formatting.
What works: Simple, direct copy. No graphics. No fancy HTML. The more it looks like a real person wrote it, the better.
Step 5: Set Sending Rules and Schedules
Getweflow lets you control when and how emails go out. This matters—a lot.
- Set daily send limits. Start low (20–50/day) if you’re new. Ramp up over a week or two.
- Schedule send windows. Weekdays, mid-morning, and early afternoon are safest. Avoid late nights and weekends.
- Randomize send times a bit. Most automation tools do this for you, but double-check. You don’t want 30 emails landing at 9:00am sharp—looks like a robot.
- Throttle follow-ups. Space them out by 2–3 days.
Ignore: Don’t believe anyone who says you can safely send 500+ cold emails a day from a single account. That’s asking for deliverability hell.
Step 6: Hook Up Tracking and Manage Replies
Automation is pointless if you can’t see what’s working.
- Enable open and click tracking. Getweflow has this built in—just toggle it on.
- But: Open rates are increasingly unreliable thanks to privacy tools. Focus more on replies.
- Set up reply detection. The tool can pause a sequence when someone responds. Test this—false positives (like out-of-office replies) happen.
- Forward or label replies. Route replies to your main inbox or label them for quick triage.
Pro Tip: Don’t automate your first reply. If someone bites, handle it yourself. Nothing kills interest like a canned follow-up to a real human.
Step 7: Hit Send—But Monitor Like a Hawk
You’ve set it up. Now, don’t just walk away.
- Send a small batch first. 10–20 emails, just to make sure nothing’s broken.
- Check your inbox and spam folder. If you land in spam, stop and review your copy, sending volume, and domain setup.
- Watch for bounces and complaints. High bounce rates mean your list isn’t clean. Marked as spam? Revisit your targeting and message.
What doesn’t work: “Set and forget” campaigns. Automation can easily go sideways—wrong names, emails to the wrong people, or getting your domain blacklisted.
Step 8: Analyze, Adjust, and Repeat
No campaign is perfect out of the gate. Your real job starts after you send.
- Look at reply rates—not just opens. If you’re not getting responses, tweak your copy or audience.
- Test one thing at a time. Subject line, message, timing—change just one variable between batches so you know what’s working.
- Prune your list. Remove obvious bounces, opt-outs, and non-responders after each send.
Ignore: Don’t obsess over “industry benchmarks.” Most are meaningless unless your audience and offer are identical.
Quick Troubleshooting Cheatsheet
- Emails going to spam? Check your email/domain setup, slow down volume, and simplify your copy.
- Low reply rates? Sharpen your targeting and make your message about the recipient, not you.
- Weird personalization fails? Check your CSV and variable mapping.
- Getting blocked or blacklisted? Stop sending, fix the root cause, and consider switching domains if needed.
Keep It Simple and Iterate
Outbound email automation isn’t rocket science, but it’s easy to mess up if you get lazy or chase shiny features. Start small, keep your copy honest, and treat your recipients like real people. Use Getweflow to handle the grunt work—but don’t trust it to make you interesting or thoughtful. That’s your job.
You’ll get better every campaign. Don’t overthink it. Just ship, learn, and improve.