How to Use Smartlead: From First Mailbox to Client Workspaces

To use Smartlead, you connect your mailboxes, turn on warmup and give it at least two weeks, then create a campaign, import and verify leads, build a sequence, assign mailboxes, set the schedule and launch. Replies land in the Master Inbox, and agencies can give each client a separate login through Client Access. This guide follows Smartlead's current help center step by step, as of October 2026.

Some tool links here are affiliate links (disclosure). Nerdy Joe is not a Smartlead partner; we use an affiliate link only. Koldify, the done-for-you agency behind this site, does send campaigns on Smartlead, along with PlusVibe and Email Bison.

If you have not picked a tool yet, start with our Smartlead review. If you are ready, open Smartlead in another tab and follow along.

Before you start

Smartlead is a sending platform. It does best when the basics around it are already in place:

• Sending domains separate from your main domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC set. Our cold email infrastructure guide covers how to plan domains and inboxes.
• Mailboxes on those domains (Google, Microsoft or any SMTP provider). You can also buy them inside Smartlead through SmartSenders.
• A clean lead list in CSV, or a CRM list, or leads from Smartlead's own SmartProspect database.
• A sequence draft of three or four short emails.

Smartlead pricing at a glance (as of October 2026)

From Smartlead's pricing page and pricing.md. Every plan includes unlimited email accounts at no extra cost.

The contact limit on Base and Pro is total storage, not a monthly allowance. Add-ons such as SmartSenders mailboxes, SmartDelivery placement tests and verification credits are billed separately, so budget for them.

Step 1: Create your account

Sign up at Smartlead for the 14-day trial, which needs no credit card. Per Smartlead's trial article, it allows 2,500 email sends (warmup emails do not count), 1,250 contacts and unlimited mailbox connections. White labeling is the only feature switched off.

When the trial ends, the Smartlead pricing page shows current plans.

Because warmup takes at least two weeks, connect mailboxes on day one of the trial. That way you see real campaign behavior before the trial ends.

Step 2: Connect your mailboxes

Smartlead's mailbox article describes this flow:

1. Click Email Accounts in the left sidebar.
2. Click + Connect Mailbox in the top right.
3. Choose an infrastructure type: - Your Email Network uses your own private OAuth app. It is only available on Unlimited Smart and Prime. - Smartlead's Infrastructure uses Smartlead's managed setup and works on every plan.
4. Pick the provider: - Google: connect through Google OAuth and click Allow on every permission screen. - Microsoft: choose Outlook and follow the OAuth prompts. - SMTP: enter the host, port, username and password from your provider. If one port fails, Smartlead suggests trying 587 (TLS) or 465 (SSL).
5. When verification passes, the mailbox shows a green Connected status.

If Google has two-factor authentication on, you may need an app-specific password. Providers that are not listed connect through SMTP.

Step 3: Add a custom tracking domain

If you will track opens or clicks, give each mailbox a custom tracking domain. Smartlead's help article lists these steps:

1. Open the mailbox in Smartlead and scroll to Custom tracking domain.
2. At your DNS host, add a CNAME record with host emailtracking and value open.sleadtrack.com.
3. Wait 30 minutes to 24 hours for it to propagate.
4. Back in Smartlead, enter the full address, for example http://emailtracking.yourdomain.com.
5. Click Verify CNAME and confirm the canonical name shows open.sleadtrack.com.

You can use one tracking domain for the whole account or one per sending domain.

Step 4: Turn on warmup

Per Smartlead's warmup article:

1. Open Email Accounts and click the mailbox.
2. Scroll to the warmup configuration.
3. Turn on Enable Warmup and click Save.
4. Give it a couple of minutes, then check the daily warmup stats.

Settings Smartlead's help center recommends:

To change many mailboxes at once, Smartlead has a bulk update for warmup.

How long to wait: Smartlead's warmup page suggests 2 or more weeks for existing accounts and 1 to 2 months for new domains. The help article itself does not set a minimum, so treat two weeks as the floor.

Step 5: Create a campaign

In the current interface, per Smartlead's campaign guide:

1. Under Engage in the left menu, click Campaigns.
2. Click + Create Campaign.
3. Enter a Campaign Name and click Continue. It saves as a Draft.

Name campaigns by audience and offer so they stay readable in reports and in the inbox filters later.

Step 6: Import leads

On the Leads tab, click + Add Leads and choose a source: Upload CSV File, Import from a CRM, Import from Saved Lists or Add from SmartProspect.

Before importing, check the upload settings:

• Global Block List: skips contacts you have blocked.
• Unsubscribe List: keeps unsubscribed leads from being re-added.
• Community Bounce List: skips addresses known to bounce across Smartlead. Smartlead recommends leaving this on.
• Existing Campaign Leads: decides whether leads already in the campaign are skipped or re-added.
• Create Leads in HubSpot: appears only if HubSpot is connected.

Review the field mapping (name, email, company, website and so on), optionally assign a Client ID, and click Import Leads.

Verify the list before you launch

Smartlead sells email verification credits (from $15 for 6,000, per its help center). Its verification article describes clicking Launch Verification & Proceed after mapping a CSV, then reviewing the report. Leads marked valid or catch-all receive emails; invalid and unknown addresses are flagged.

You cannot verify after a campaign goes live, so do it during setup.

If you build lists in Apollo, export verified emails only and you will need far less cleanup. Our Apollo to Smartlead workflow covers that handoff step by step.

Step 7: Build your sequence

On the Sequence tab, click + Create First Step and choose a step type:

• Email: subject line plus body, with variables for personalization. Smartlead offers Write with AI, AI Spintax and Email Templates in the editor.
• Manual Task: a task title and description. The sequence waits until the task is marked complete.
• Call: for SmartDialer users, with a wait time, optional calling script and SDR assignment.

Add more email steps with wait times between them, and add A/B variants for subject lines or copy. Smartlead's A/B testing article describes three ways to split traffic: an equal manual split, a manual percentage split (up to 10 variants), or AI distribution that picks a winner by reply rate, positive reply rate, click rate or open rate.

Spintax works in subject lines and bodies, and the preview cycles through versions. Check every variable in preview, because blank fields go out blank. Our guide to cold email sequences covers step structure, and the spam word checker is a quick final pass on wording.

Subsequences

Subsequences send a different follow-up path based on what a lead did. Per Smartlead's subsequence guide, triggers include lead categories (such as Interested or Out of Office), "text contains" keyword matching, re-engaging leads who did not respond, and bounced leads, each with its own delay.

When you finish the sequence, click Next: Email Accounts.

Step 8: Assign mailboxes

On the Email Accounts tab, select warmed, active mailboxes. The tab shows each mailbox's daily limit, warmup status and other campaigns it is in, with filters such as Pre-warmed, Disconnected and Nearing limit. Only eligible, active accounts send.

Smartlead rotates sending across the mailboxes you add. It also matches providers automatically at send time, so Gmail mailboxes go to Gmail leads and Outlook to Outlook where possible.

Step 9: Set the schedule and campaign settings

The Settings tab holds everything that decides when and how the campaign sends:

High bounce rate auto-protection pauses the campaign when bounces cross a threshold you choose. It is one of the cheapest ways to protect your domains.

Step 10: Launch

Confirm that leads are imported, at least one sequence step exists and mailboxes are assigned, then click Launch Campaign. Campaigns move through four statuses: Draft, Active, Paused and Stopped.

Step 11: Work replies in the Master Inbox

Open Master Inbox from the main menu. Every reply from every mailbox and campaign lands here.

• Categorize replies. Use the dropdown at the top right of a conversation to set a lead category, such as Requested info or Out of Office. You can add categories in Settings, and categories can trigger subsequences.
• Save views. Click the + next to VIEW, pick filters (Lead Category, Email Campaign, Email Status, Sender Email Account, Campaign Tag Name, Select Client, Team Member, Reply Date Range), name it and click create view. Tick Make View as Public to share it with your team.
• Let AI sort. With SmartLead AI categorization on, Smartlead tags replies automatically. Its help article says this is not available on the entry plan.

Smartlead's product page also lists assigning replies to teammates, internal comments, Slack alerts and mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Step 12: Read your analytics

The campaign dashboard can show Leads, Email Sent, Opened, Clicked, Replied, Positive Reply, Bounced and Sender Bounced. Smartlead's analytics article defines the rates, and two are worth knowing:

• Reply Rate is total replies divided by unique opens, not by emails sent.
• Click Rate is unique clicks divided by unique opens.

So if open tracking is off, those rates will not mean much. Many teams track replies and positive replies against leads contacted instead. Watch Sender Bounced too: it points at your own setup (sending limits or DNS), not the list.

Step 13 (agencies): Set up client workspaces

This is where Smartlead stands out for agencies. Client workspaces cost $29 per client per month from the Pro plan, and Unlimited Prime includes 3, as of October 2026.

Add a client

Per Smartlead's Client Access articles:

1. Go to Client Access in the left menu and click Add Client.
2. Enter the client's name, company, email and password, plus your company name (it shows in the client's interface).
3. Choose permissions: full access, or limited access if you keep clients' campaigns isolated.
4. Use Remove Categories to hide reply categories you do not want the client to see.
5. Tick Enable Email & Lead Credits and set amounts if the client will manage campaigns.
6. Click Create Client. Smartlead emails the client their login details.

Assign campaigns and mailboxes

• New campaign: select the client in the campaign's general settings, or set a Client ID when importing leads.
• Existing campaign: click the three dots next to it on the main dashboard and choose the client.
• One mailbox: open it in Email Accounts, go to Management, click Add Client, choose the client and save.
• Many mailboxes: tick them, click Bulk Update, open Management, add the client and save.

Once assigned, the client sees only their own campaigns and mailboxes. With white label, they log in on your own domain with your logo, per Smartlead's white-label page. In the Master Inbox, the Select Client filter lets your team work one client at a time.

Smartlead vs Instantly for this workflow

The steps are close to identical in Instantly, which reviewers often call easier to learn. Smartlead's edge is agency structure: many client workspaces under one account at a set price each.

See our full Smartlead vs Instantly comparison, or the Instantly version of this guide, how to use Instantly.

Rather not run it yourself?

Running Smartlead well means managing domains, warmup, lists and replies every week. If you would rather have a team do it, book a 30-minute call with David at Koldify, the done-for-you cold email agency where David Tile is a partner.

Sources

• Smartlead pricing: https://www.smartlead.ai/pricing
• Smartlead pricing.md: https://www.smartlead.ai/pricing.md
• Smartlead Pricing Plans (help center): https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/439-smartlead-pricing-plans
• Free trial limitations: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/151-what-are-the-limitations-in-the-free-trial
• How to Connect Your Mailbox to Smartlead: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/446-how-to-connect-your-mailbox-to-smartlead
• Custom tracking domain: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/50-setting-up-smartlead-custom-tracking-domain-for-better-email-engagement
• How to enable AI email account warm-ups: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/52-how-to-enable-ai-email-account-warm-ups
• Bulk update warmup: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/269-how-to-bulk-update-warmup-for-mailboxes
• Smartlead email warmup page: https://www.smartlead.ai/email-warmup
• 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
• Community Bounce: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/270-what-is-smartlead-s-community-bounce-feature
• How to verify your lead list: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/196-how-to-verify-your-lead-list-using-smartlead
• A/B testing: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/146-how-to-do-ab-testing-with-smartlead
• AI auto-adjust A/B testing: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/135-ai-auto-adjust-ab-testing
• Subsequences: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/215-how-to-create-subsequence-s-a-guide-with-tips-and-tricks
• ESP matching: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/72-understanding-esp-matching-in-smartlead
• High bounce rate auto protection: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/274-what-is-high-bounce-rate-auto-protection-in-smartlead
• Lead Categories: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/51-lead-categories
• Master Inbox views: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/167-mastering-your-master-inbox-with-views
• AI categorization: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/150-what-is-ai-categorization-and-how-does-it-work-with-smartlead
• Unified inbox product page: https://www.smartlead.ai/unified-inbox
• Main dashboard analytics: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/100-main-dashboard-analytics-explanation
• Agency View and Client Access: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/92-agency-view-and-client-access
• How to add a new client: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/25-how-to-add-a-new-client-in-smartlead
• Assign email accounts to a client: https://helpcenter.smartlead.ai/en/articles/223-how-to-assignbulk-assign-email-accounts-to-a-client
• White labeling: https://smartlead.ai/customized-white-labelling