Create a Campaign in Instantly

Prerequisites

Instantly account with connected, warmed sending accounts (see instantly-account-setup)
Verified prospect list (see clay-email-verification)

Steps

Create a new campaign via API. Use the Instantly REST API:

POST /api/v1/campaign/create
{
  "name": "Mar24 Series-A CTOs Pain-Point",
  "sending_accounts": ["dan@acmehq.com", "daniel@getacme.com"]
}

Name with context: "[Date] [Audience] [Angle]" for easy comparison across campaigns.

Upload your lead list via API. Import your verified contacts:

POST /api/v1/lead/add
{
  "campaign_id": "<campaign-id>",
  "leads": [
    {"email": "jane@co.com", "first_name": "Jane", "last_name": "Doe", "company_name": "Acme", "custom_vars": {"pain_point": "slow pipeline"}}
  ]
}

Required fields: email, first_name, last_name, company_name. Add custom fields for personalization.

Write your email sequence. Add 3-4 steps via the API. Step 1 (day 0): Short, personalized opener referencing something specific. Step 2 (day 3): Different angle, lead with value. Step 3 (day 7): Social proof or case study. Step 4 (day 14): Soft breakup. Keep each under 100 words. Use {{firstName}} and custom variables for personalization.
Assign sending accounts. Select 2-3 warmed sending accounts for the campaign in the campaign creation payload. Instantly rotates between them automatically, distributing volume evenly.

Configure schedule via API. Set sending window:

PATCH /api/v1/campaign/<id>/schedule
{ "days": ["mon","tue","wed","thu","fri"], "start_hour": 8, "end_hour": 11, "timezone": "recipient", "daily_limit": 20 }

Start with 20 sends/day total and ramp up after 3 days.

Launch and monitor. Activate the campaign via POST /api/v1/campaign/<id>/activate. Check deliverability stats after the first 50 sends via GET /api/v1/campaign/<id>/analytics. Open rate below 40% suggests deliverability issues. Reply rate below 2% suggests messaging issues.

Create a Campaign in Instantly

Instructions

Create a Campaign in Instantly

Prerequisites

Steps