Two email senders stack

Instantly + Smartlead: two senders, one set of numbers

Moving between Instantly and Smartlead, or running both? Keep one campaign table, one reply queue and one history per rep, with reply rates counted the same way for both.

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The question this page answers

We are moving from one sender to the other, or running both. How do I keep one reply rate, one campaign table and one history per rep?

Why Instantly and Smartlead do not line up on their own

Instantly knows the email address of every lead, the campaign they are in, which mailbox sent each step and whether a reply or a bounce came back.

Smartlead knows the lead's email address, the campaign, the email accounts attached to that campaign and each lead's message history.

Both tools do the same job, so each has a complete picture of its own sends and none of the other's. During a migration the old tool holds the history and the new one holds this week.

Reply rates are also worked out inside each tool. Comparing an Instantly campaign with a Smartlead campaign on their own dashboards means comparing two calculations. Here both are counted the same way: real replies per send, with auto-replies classified separately and opens left out.

How OutboundManager joins Instantly and Smartlead

Both connections sync on the same schedule (automatically every day, plus Sync now): mailboxes and campaigns, every send, every reply and every bounce.
A lead that exists in both tools becomes one contact, matched on the lower-cased email address.
Every Instantly send carries the mailbox that sent it, and each mailbox is mapped to a rep.
Smartlead only identifies the sending mailbox when a campaign uses exactly one email account. For every other campaign the send is credited to the campaign owner.
Replies from both tools are classified from their text with the same rules: interested, not now, not interested, wrong person, opt-out or auto-reply.
Every human reply lands in one queue. An answer written there goes out through the tool and mailbox that received the reply.
With HubSpot connected, each deal is credited to the most recent email sent, LinkedIn invite, LinkedIn message or call to any of the deal's contacts, before the deal was created and no more than 120 days before it, regardless of which sender made it.

A worked example

A team moves from Instantly to Smartlead over a month. In week two, half the reps still send from Instantly and half from Smartlead, and each rep's row shows their sends and replies whichever tool they came from. A lead who got an Instantly email in week one and a Smartlead email in week three is one contact with two sends. When a deal for them is created in week four, the Smartlead campaign takes the credit because its email was the later one.

What you can see once both are connected

Instantly and Smartlead campaigns in one table, with reply rate and positive reply rate worked out the same way for both
Each rep's sends and replies from both tools on one row, so a rep who is half migrated does not look half as busy
Replies from both tools in one queue, each answered through the tool and mailbox that received it
With HubSpot connected: meetings, deals, pipeline and won revenue per campaign, whichever sender it ran in

Campaigns table listing email and LinkedIn campaigns with sends, reply rates, meetings, deals, pipeline and won revenue

Campaign to pipeline: every campaign across tools with meetings, deals, pipeline and won revenue. Demo data.

Set it up

Connect Instantly

In Instantly, go to Settings → Integrations → API Keys and create an API key (API v2).
Give the key read access: the all:read scope, or read scopes for workspaces, campaigns, accounts, leads and emails. To answer replies from OutboundManager, also add emails:create (or all:create).
In OutboundManager, an admin opens Settings → Connections and clicks Add connection.
Pick Instantly. Paste the API key. It is checked against the tool automatically; click Save once it shows Key works. The key is stored encrypted.
Open Settings → Reps & senders and give each sender a rep. Suggested matches by email are offered; re-mapping later moves the history with the sender.

Instantly integration: what syncs and its limits Instantly documentation (opens in a new tab)

Connect Smartlead

In Smartlead, open Settings and copy your API key.
In OutboundManager, an admin opens Settings → Connections and clicks Add connection.
Pick Smartlead. Paste the API key. It is checked against the tool automatically; click Save once it shows Key works. The key is stored encrypted.
Open Settings → Reps & senders and give each sender a rep. Suggested matches by email are offered; re-mapping later moves the history with the sender.

Smartlead integration: what syncs and its limits Smartlead documentation (opens in a new tab)

After both are connected

Map senders to reps. In Settings → Reps & senders, give every mailbox, LinkedIn account, dialer seat and HubSpot owner a rep. Re-mapping later moves the history with the sender.
Set weekly targets per rep on the same page, so the scorecard shows each number against a target and the overview flags reps under 60% of it.
Add recipients or a Slack webhook for the weekly report in Settings → Report, so the combined numbers arrive every Monday. Connect HubSpot whenever you want meetings, pipeline and won revenue next to them.

Good to know

Instantly + SmartleadA mailbox connected in both tools appears as two senders, one per connection. Map both to the same rep.
Instantly + SmartleadA lead mailed from both tools is one contact, but each email is a real send and is counted once per send.
InstantlyAPI keys are an Instantly plan feature. If you cannot create one, check your Instantly plan.
InstantlyInstantly limits its email endpoint to 20 requests a minute, so a large first backfill is spread over several sync runs.
InstantlyOpens and clicks are not imported. Reply rates are per send, counted from real replies.
InstantlyReplies sent from OutboundManager are stored as replies, never counted as outreach.
SmartleadSmartlead allows 60 API requests a minute per plan, so OutboundManager paces itself and a large account can take a few sync runs to backfill.
SmartleadThe sending mailbox of a send is only known when the campaign uses exactly one mailbox; otherwise the campaign owner gets the credit.
SmartleadOpens and clicks are not imported.

Instantly + Smartlead questions

We are moving mailboxes from Instantly to Smartlead. Does a rep's history break?

No. Activity already synced from Instantly stays where it is. Map the new Smartlead email account to the same rep (or set the rep as the campaign owner) and old and new sends sit on one row.

Is a lead that exists in both tools counted twice?

As a person, no: contacts are de-duplicated on email address, so it is one contact with activity from both tools. As sends, each email is counted, because each one was sent.

Are reply rates comparable between the two?

Yes. Both are replies per send, counted from real replies and classified by the same rules. Opens and clicks are not imported from either tool.

If a deal follows emails from both tools, which campaign gets it?

The one that made the last touch before the deal was created, within 120 days. The tool does not matter, only the date of the touch.

The two tools on this page

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See Instantly and Smartlead in one set of numbers.