Apollo Smartlead Integration: How to Move Leads from Apollo to Smartlead (and Back)

There is no native one-click Apollo Smartlead integration documented by either company as of October 2026, so the standard workflow is simple: build and verify your list in Apollo, export it as a CSV, import it into Smartlead, launch the campaign, then push replies back through HubSpot or a webhook automation. The exact same export works for Instantly and PlusVibe too.

Some tool links here are affiliate links (disclosure). Nerdy Joe is a certified Apollo.io Managed Services Partner and a PlusVibe Certified Silver Partner. We are not a Smartlead or Instantly partner, only an affiliate.

Koldify, the done-for-you agency behind this site, sends campaigns on PlusVibe, Smartlead and Email Bison.

Why pair Apollo with Smartlead

Apollo is a B2B database with search filters, email verification, enrichment and its own sequences. Apollo says it has 240M+ contacts and 30M+ accounts. For many teams, Apollo alone covers both finding and emailing prospects.

Teams add Smartlead when sending becomes the bottleneck. Smartlead includes unlimited email accounts on every plan, rotates sends across all mailboxes in a campaign and sells client workspaces for agencies. Apollo's own sending guidance is conservative: start at 50 emails a day per mailbox, with up to 15 mailboxes per user depending on plan.

For more on each tool, see our Apollo review and Smartlead review.

The three ways to connect Apollo and Smartlead

Most teams should start with CSV. It is the method both help centers document step by step, and it lets you inspect the list before it touches your domains. The rest of this guide uses CSV, then covers syncing replies back.

Step 1: Build your list in Apollo

Per Apollo's search filters article:

1. Open Apollo and click People.
2. Click Show, then Filters, then More Filters.
3. Set your core filters: - Job titles: type a title and select it. Tick Include people with similar titles to widen the match. - Location: choose Contact (where the person is) or Account HQ (where the company is headquartered), then select a region. - # of employees: pick a range or set a custom one. - Industry & keywords: type and select an industry. - Email status: select Verified.
4. Click Apply filters, then Save search so you can rerun it later.

Watch the Total, Net new and Saved counts. Net new people are not yet saved in your Apollo account, and saving them is what uses credits.

Save the people to a list

Per Apollo's list article, tick the people you want, click Add to list, then Create new list, name it and click Update. Adding net new contacts to a list costs one credit per verified email; contacts you already saved cost nothing.

Name lists the same way you will name the Smartlead campaign, for example "VP Ops, 3PL, US, Oct". It keeps the round trip traceable.

For a deeper walkthrough of filters and list strategy, see our guide on how to use Apollo for prospecting.

Step 2: Verify before you export

This is the step that protects your domains. Apollo lists six email statuses: Verified, Unverified, Update required, Unavailable, User managed and Catch-all. Apollo's guidance is direct: "stick with verified emails," and "Only use unverified emails as an infrequent last resort."

What Apollo says about its verification:

• It runs a 7-step process that goes beyond basic SMTP checks.
• It claims its verified emails have a 91% accuracy rate.
• If an Apollo-verified email bounces within 30 days of the request, Apollo refunds the credit.
• It says it can tell valid from invalid addresses on many catch-all domains, and you can include or exclude catch-all with the email status filter.

Our practical rule: filter to Verified in the search, choose verified-only on export, and keep catch-all addresses in a separate, smaller campaign so a bounce spike does not hit your main sends.

If you want a second pass, Smartlead can verify the CSV during campaign setup (covered in Step 4).

Step 3: Export the CSV from Apollo

From a list (per Apollo's list article):

1. Click Lists.
2. Click Export beside your list.
3. Choose to export all emails or verified emails only. Pick verified only.
4. Click Export records.

Or from search results (per Apollo's export article): select contacts, click Export, choose the email option, optionally click Edit export CSV settings to pick fields, then Export records and Download. Larger exports can take several minutes; you can check status under Settings, Import & Exports, CSV Exports.

Fields to include. Apollo notes that email and phone fields are not always included by default, and unselected fields export as blank columns. For a cold email campaign, include at least:

• First name, last name, title
• Email and Email status
• Company name, website, industry, employee count
• LinkedIn URL
• Apollo contact ID (you will want it to sync replies back later)

Apollo also warns that exported rows may not match your list order, so sort after downloading if order matters.

Step 4: Import into Smartlead

You need warmed mailboxes before this step. Our how to use Smartlead guide covers connecting and warming mailboxes; plan for at least two weeks of warmup.

Per Smartlead's campaign guide:

1. Under Engage, click Campaigns, then + Create Campaign.
2. Name it to match your Apollo list and click Continue.
3. On the Leads tab, click + Add Leads, then Upload CSV File.
4. Check the upload settings: Global Block List, Unsubscribe List, Community Bounce List (Smartlead recommends keeping it on) and Existing Campaign Leads.
5. Review the field mapping. Smartlead maps standard fields such as name, email and location automatically.
6. Map the extra Apollo columns (title, industry, LinkedIn URL, Apollo contact ID) to custom variables. Smartlead allows up to 40 custom variables per lead. Set columns you do not need to Ignore.
7. Agencies can assign a Client ID here.
8. Click Import Leads.

Optional second verification. Smartlead's verification article describes clicking Launch Verification & Proceed after mapping the CSV, using paid verification credits. Only valid and catch-all leads then receive emails. It must be done before launch, not after.

Watch your variable names. Smartlead's mapping article says the placeholders in your copy, such as {{company}} or {{job_title}}, must match the variable names you mapped. Blank cells leave the variable empty in the sent email, so spot-check a few leads in preview.

Step 5: Launch in Smartlead

Build the sequence on the Sequence tab, assign warmed mailboxes on the Email Accounts tab, and set the schedule on the Settings tab (timezone, active days, sending window, new leads per day). Smartlead recommends stopping a lead's sequence on replies and using pattern-based variant distribution.

Two settings matter more when the data came from a database:

• High bounce rate auto-protection pauses the campaign if bounces cross your threshold. Turn it on.
• New Leads per Day keeps a fresh list from flooding your mailboxes on day one. Start modest.

Then click Launch Campaign.

Step 6: Sync replies back

This is where most "integrations" fall short, so pick the route that fits your stack.

Route A: through HubSpot (no code)

This works if both tools connect to the same HubSpot account.

1. Connect Apollo to HubSpot. In Apollo, go to Integrations and click Connect next to HubSpot CRM. Apollo syncs contacts, accounts and deals both ways and pushes Apollo activities to HubSpot. Apollo allows only one CRM connection at a time.
2. Connect Smartlead to HubSpot. In Smartlead, open the Integrations tab, then Native integrations, and select HubSpot.
3. Configure Smartlead's deal and activity settings. Choose the lead category that creates a deal (for example Interested), turn on activity tracking, and choose the HubSpot deal stage.
4. Push leads to HubSpot on import. Smartlead's HubSpot article says leads should exist in HubSpot for activity to attribute. The Create Leads in HubSpot option appears at import once HubSpot is connected.

What you get: Smartlead logs sent emails and replies as HubSpot email activities, and opens, clicks, unsubscribes and bounces as notes. It creates deals for the categories you chose, though it does not move deal stages afterward. Because Apollo syncs deals both ways with HubSpot, those deals can then appear in Apollo.

One limit to know: Apollo's HubSpot article describes activity sync as pushing from Apollo to HubSpot. It does not describe pulling HubSpot email activity back into Apollo, so Smartlead replies will live in HubSpot rather than in Apollo's activity timeline.

Route B: Smartlead webhook to Apollo's API

This needs Smartlead Pro or higher (API and webhooks start there) and an automation tool.

1. In Smartlead, open Settings, click Webhook, then Add Webhook.
2. Name it, select the campaign, select the events you want (such as replies or category changes) and enter the URL of your Zapier, Make or n8n webhook.
3. In the automation, find the matching Apollo contact. If you mapped the Apollo contact ID as a custom variable, use it; otherwise look the contact up by email with Apollo's Search for Contacts endpoint.
4. Call Apollo's Update Contact Stage for Multiple Contacts endpoint to move the contact to a stage such as "Replied" or "Interested." Apollo's docs list it at 0 credits per call; the stage IDs come from the List Contact Stages endpoint.

What you get: Apollo shows who replied, so your team does not re-prospect them, and saved searches can exclude contacts in those stages.

Route C: manual export (small volume)

Export positive replies from Smartlead (by lead category) and update them in Apollo in bulk. It is slow, but fine for a few dozen replies a week.

The same flow with Instantly or PlusVibe

The Apollo half of this workflow does not change. Only the import screen does.

Instantly also lets you search its own lead database, and PlusVibe has its own prospect lists. Most teams that already pay for Apollo keep Apollo as the single source of truth and let the sending tool just send. Our how to use Instantly guide and PlusVibe review cover those tools in more depth.

Common mistakes in the Apollo to Smartlead handoff

• Exporting unverified emails to hit a number. Apollo itself warns against it.
• Forgetting the Apollo contact ID. Without it, syncing replies back means matching on email every time.
• Importing into mailboxes that are not warmed. Two weeks minimum before cold sends.
• Duplicating leads across campaigns. Use Smartlead's Existing Campaign Leads setting and keep one campaign per Apollo list.
• Sending catch-all addresses with everything else. Separate them so bounces stay contained.
• No reply sync at all. Your reps end up emailing people who already said no. Pick Route A or B before launch.

Domains and mailbox setup matter as much as the list. Our cold email infrastructure guide covers how many domains and inboxes to plan for.

Rather not run it yourself?

Building lists, verifying, warming mailboxes and wiring up reply sync is real ongoing work. If you would rather hand it off, book a 30-minute call with David at Koldify, the done-for-you cold email agency where David Tile is a partner.

Sources

• Apollo homepage (database size): https://www.apollo.io/
• Apollo pricing: https://www.apollo.io/pricing
• Apollo, Use Search Filters to Find Prospects: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4412665755661-Search-Filters-Overview
• Apollo, Create and Use a List: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4409728608525-Create-and-Use-a-List
• Apollo, Export Contacts to a CSV: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4409237712141-Export-Contacts-to-a-CSV
• Apollo, email statuses: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4423314404621
• Apollo, How Apollo Verifies Emails: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/10826699994381-How-Apollo-Verifies-Emails
• Apollo, Email Sending Limits Overview: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4409233349005-Email-Sending-Limits-Overview
• Apollo, HubSpot integration: https://knowledge.apollo.io/hc/en-us/articles/4416619021837
• Apollo API, Update Contact Stage for Multiple Contacts: https://docs.apollo.io/reference/update-contact-stage
• Apollo API, List Contact Stages: https://docs.apollo.io/reference/list-contact-stages
• Apollo API, Search for Contacts: https://docs.apollo.io/reference/search-for-contacts
• Smartlead pricing: https://www.smartlead.ai/pricing
• Smartlead pricing.md: https://www.smartlead.ai/pricing.md
• Smartlead, How To Create an Email Campaign (new version): https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/442-how-to-create-an-email-campaign-in-smartlead-the-new-version
• Smartlead, How to Map CSV Columns: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/409-how-to-map-csv-columns-in-smartlead-campaigns
• Smartlead, How to verify your lead list: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/196-how-to-verify-your-lead-list-using-smartlead
• Smartlead, HubSpot integration: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/127-how-to-set-up-hubspot-integration-with-smartlead
• Smartlead, Webhooks: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/35-set-up-smartlead-webhooks-for-campaign-automation
• Smartlead, APIs and automation: https://www.smartlead.ai/powerful-apis-and-automation
• Instantly, How to Import Leads via CSV: https://help.instantly.ai/en/articles/6254215-how-to-import-leads-via-csv
• Instantly, HubSpot Integration in Automations: https://help.instantly.ai/en/articles/13342530-hubspot-integration-in-automations
• PlusVibe, Adding leads to a campaign: https://help.plusvibe.ai/en/articles/8624790-adding-leads-to-a-campaign
• PlusVibe, HubSpot Integration Guide: https://help.plusvibe.ai/en/articles/11145573-hubspot-integration-guide
• PlusVibe, How to Validate Emails: https://help.plusvibe.ai/en/articles/11987497-how-to-validate-emails-in-plusvibe