Set Up Instantly for Cold Email

Prerequisites

• Instantly account (Growth plan or higher for API access)
• Secondary domain purchased for cold outreach (never use your primary domain)

Steps

1. Purchase sending domains. Buy 2-3 secondary domains similar to your primary domain. Example: if your company is acme.com, buy acmehq.com, getacme.com, tryacme.com. Use a registrar like Namecheap or Cloudflare. Cost: ~$10-15 per domain per year.

2. Set up DNS records. For each domain, configure via your registrar's API or DNS management:

   • SPF: v=spf1 include:instantly.ai ~all
   • DKIM: Generated by Instantly (retrieve via GET /api/v1/account/dkim)
   • DMARC: v=DMARC1; p=none These records tell email providers your sending is legitimate.

3. Create sending accounts. Set up Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 accounts on each domain. Create 2-3 mailboxes per domain (e.g., dan@acmehq.com, daniel@acmehq.com). This gives you 4-9 sending accounts across your domains.

4. Connect accounts via API. Use the Instantly API to connect each mailbox:

   POST /api/v1/account/add
   { "email": "dan@acmehq.com", "provider": "google", "smtp_host": "smtp.gmail.com", "smtp_port": 587 }
   

   Verify each connection sends and receives successfully by checking the account status endpoint.

5. Set sending limits via API. Configure each account's daily limit:

   PATCH /api/v1/account/<email>/settings
   { "daily_limit": 30 }
   

   Start at 30 emails/day. After 2 weeks of warmup, increase to 50. Never exceed 75 per account per day.

6. Add a professional signature. Set up a simple text-only signature: Name, Title, Company, website link. Avoid images, HTML, or tracking pixels in the signature -- these hurt deliverability. Configure via PATCH /api/v1/account/<email>/signature.