Cold email shouldn’t be complicated. But most people waste hours (or weeks!) trying to set up tools, verify emails, and figure out why their messages land in spam.
With Prospi, you get an all-in-one system that replaces SDRs, agencies, and multiple software tools. This guide will walk you through everything—from setting up your inboxes to launching your first cold email campaign.
By the end, you’ll have:
✅ A fully configured Prospi account
✅ Email inboxes, ready for sending
✅ A high-quality lead list with verified emails
✅ A cold email sequence written & scheduled
✅ Inbox management set up for auto-replies
Let’s get started! 🚀
Step 1: Choose Your Plan & Sign Up
Before accessing Prospi, you’ll need to select a plan and complete your subscription.
Choosing Your Plan
Go to Prospi’s Pricing Page.
Select a plan based on your lead volume (2000, or 5000 leads).
Complete your payment.
Creating Your Account
After subscribing, you’ll be redirected to the Prospi sign-up page.
Enter your name, email and create a password.
Click Sign Up.
Verify your email and log into your dashboard.
Step 2: Set Up Your Email Accounts
Before you can start sending cold emails, you need to connect or purchase email inboxes. This ensures that your emails are sent from a trusted domain and that they don’t land in spam.
Why This Step Matters
Prospi automatically warms up your inboxes to maximize deliverability. Most cold email failures happen because emails are sent too soon, without warming up inboxes or ensuring proper configuration.
By setting up your inboxes correctly, you’ll:
Improve email deliverability and avoid spam filters.
Ensure a high sender reputation before launching campaigns.
Automate warmup so your emails gradually scale without issues.
Option 1: Connect Existing Email Accounts (Slower)
If you already have email accounts (Google Workspace, Outlook, or custom domains), you can connect them directly in Prospi.
Go to Inbox Setup in your dashboard.
Click "Connect Existing Account".
Select your email provider (Google or Outlook).
Follow the on-screen instructions to verify your email.
Once connected, Prospi will automatically start warming up your inbox to build sending reputation.
Option 2: Buy Email Accounts Inside Prospi (Faster, cheaper)
If you don’t have dedicated inboxes for cold email, you can purchase them directly in Prospi. This ensures they are configured for cold outreach and warmed up properly.
Go to Inbox Setup and click "Purchase Inboxes".
Choose how many inboxes you need based on your plan.
Prospi will automatically configure and warm up the inboxes for you.
What Happens After You Connect Inboxes?
Your inboxes will be automatically added to Prospi’s warmup network.
The warmup process takes around two weeks before you can send full-scale campaigns.
You’ll see warmup progress in your dashboard, ensuring your emails are ready for outreach.
Step 3: Find and Save Your First Lead List
Now that your inboxes are ready, it's time to find high-quality leads and build your first prospect list.
Prospi gives you access to two massive lead databases—one for general businesses and one specifically for eCommerce.
Understanding Prospi’s Lead Databases
When searching for leads, you can choose from two databases:
General Database – Standard B2B data including:
Name
Job Title
Company
Industry
Location
Ecommerce Database – Includes everything in the general database plus:
Estimated Revenue
Shopify / WooCommerce detection
Additional eCommerce-specific filters
This allows you to target leads with precision and build highly relevant lists for outreach.
How to Find Leads in Prospi
Go to "Lead Finder" in your dashboard.
Choose your lead database: General or Ecommerce.
Apply filters to refine your audience, such as:
Industry (SaaS, Finance, E-commerce, etc.)
Job Title (CEO, VP of Marketing, Sales Director)
Company Size (Small Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise)
Location (Country, Region, or Worldwide)
For eCommerce: Filter by platform (Shopify, WooCommerce) and estimated revenue.
Click Search to generate a list of matching leads.
Saving Leads to a List
Once you've refined your search and found the right leads, you can save them to a list for free.
Click "Save Leads" and choose how many leads to save.
This does not use any credits.
Select whether to include only leads with websites.
A website is used for AI enrichment & personalization, but it's optional.
Name your list (e.g., "Ecommerce Brands - Shopify - US").
Click "Save", and you'll be redirected to the List Page.
Step 4: Enrich Leads with AI and Verify Emails
Now that you've saved your leads, the next step is AI enrichment, which adds valuable details to each contact before finding their email. This ensures that your emails feel highly personalized and that you only spend credits on leads that are actually usable.
Why This Step Matters
AI enrichment enhances your leads – Adds key details like target audience, company service, and mission to improve personalization.
Filters out low-quality leads – Any lead without usable data is removed before email enrichment, saving you credits.
Only pay for verified emails – 1 credit = 1 valid email, and you don’t waste credits on leads that can’t be enriched.
Step 1: Enrich Leads with AI
AI Enrichment fills in missing data and cleans up your lead list before moving to email enrichment.
Go to your saved list (you are automatically redirected here after saving leads).
Click "AI Enrichment" to process your leads.
Prospi will enrich each lead by:
Identifying the company’s target audience
Extracting the company’s core service offering
Finding the company’s mission for personalization
Normalizing job titles and company names for consistency
Once AI enrichment is complete, review the data.
Step 2: Filter & Remove Unusable Leads
Before moving to email enrichment, it's important to clean up the list so you only process high-quality leads.
Filter out empty results – If AI couldn’t find relevant data, these leads should be removed.
Remove “NOT FOUND” entries – Any leads marked as “NOT FOUND” in key fields should be deleted.
Manually review the list and delete any low-quality contacts.
Step 3: Find & Verify Emails
Now that only high-quality leads remain, it's time to find verified email addresses.
Click "Email Enrichment" on the list page.
Prospi searches 10+ email providers to locate the best email match.
The system runs 3 layers of verification:
Syntax & format check – Ensures the email follows standard rules.
Server verification – Pings the email provider to confirm deliverability.
Catch-all detection – Identifies risky catch-all emails to prevent bounces.
Only double-verified emails are displayed and saved.
Step 4: Understanding Prospi’s Pay-Per-Lead Model
1 credit = 1 valid email.
If an email cannot be verified, you are not charged.
Everything else—AI enrichment, lead lists, and searching—is completely free.
Step 5: Write and Automate Your Cold Email Sequence
Now that you’ve imported AI-enriched, verified leads, it’s time to set up your campaign, configure sending options, and automate follow-ups to turn cold contacts into booked meetings.
Why This Step Matters
Campaigns keep everything organized – Each campaign is tied to a specific audience and messaging strategy.
Follow-ups increase replies – Most cold email responses come after the second or third email, not the first.
Sending settings prevent deliverability issues – Prospi helps you scale safely to keep emails out of spam.
A/B testing helps optimize results – Find the best subject lines and messaging for higher conversions.
Step 1: Create a Campaign
Before sending emails, you need to create a dedicated campaign for your outreach.
Go to "Campaigns" in Prospi.
Click "Create New Campaign".
Name your campaign (e.g., "Ecommerce CEOs - Shopify - US").
Click "Create", and you’ll be redirected to the campaign dashboard.
Step 2: Import Leads from Your List
Once your campaign is set up, import the leads you want to contact.
Click "Import Leads" inside your campaign.
Select the lead list you want to use.
Choose the number of leads to import (you can start small and add more later).
Click "Confirm Import"—your leads will now appear inside the campaign.
Step 3: Write Your Cold Email & Follow-Ups
Once your leads are imported, it’s time to write your email sequence.
A great cold email is:
✅ Short and clear (3-5 sentences)
✅ Personalized using AI-enriched data
✅ Focused on value for the recipient
✅ Ends with a simple CTA (Call to Action)
Example Template Using AI Variables
Subject: Quick question, {{FirstName}}
Hey {{FirstName}}, I saw you work at {{CompanyName}}. Congrats on {{CompanyMission}}!
I love how you help {{TargetAudience}}, especially {{CaseStudy}}. We help similar brands {{PainPointSolution}}.
Would love to chat for 5 minutes—worth exploring?
{{Signature}}
Using Variables for Personalization
Prospi makes it easy to insert AI-enriched variables directly into your email:
Click "Variables" below the editor to insert dynamic fields.
Or type
{{to bring up a list of available variables.
This ensures every email feels unique without manual work.
Previewing Your Email
Want to see how your email looks for a real lead? Click the "Preview" button to view the email as it will appear for the first lead on your list.
This helps ensure that your personalization flows naturally and looks correct before launching.
Setting Up Follow-Ups
Follow-ups double or triple your reply rate. Prospi allows you to set up multiple automated follow-ups.
Click "Add Follow-Up" and select how many days after the last email it should be sent.
Write a short, engaging follow-up that:
Reminds them of your first email
Adds social proof (a case study, result, or testimonial)
Has a clear call to action
Repeat this process for 1-2 follow-ups spaced over a few days.
Example follow-up schedule:
Day 3: Reminder with additional context.
Day 6: Social proof (case study, success story).
Step 4: Configure Campaign Options
Before launching, go to the "Options" tab inside the campaign to fine-tune your sending settings.
Choosing Sending Accounts
Select the email accounts that will send this campaign.
Setting Daily Sending Limits
To avoid deliverability issues, Prospi recommends:
10 emails per inbox per day for the first 2 weeks.
20 emails per inbox per day after that.
Max 60 emails per domain per day to protect reputation.
Enabling “Prioritize New Leads”
If enabled, Prospi sends emails to fresh leads first before re-engaging older ones with follow-ups.
Step 5: A/B Test Subject Lines & Email Copy
Want to see which subject line or email version works best? Use A/B testing.
Click "Enable A/B Test" inside the campaign.
Create multiple different subject lines to test open rates.
Create multiple variations of the email copy to test response rates.
Prospi will automatically split test and track results.
Step 6: Schedule & Automate Sending
Choose sending days (best: Tuesday–Thursday).
Prospi will now automate sending, follow-ups, and engagement tracking.
Step 7: Launch Your Campaign
Now that your email sequence is set up and all sending settings are configured, it’s time to launch your campaign and start reaching out to leads.
How to Launch Your Campaign
Review all campaign settings – Ensure that:
The correct sending accounts are selected.
Daily sending limits are properly set.
Follow-ups and A/B tests (if enabled) are configured.
Click "Start Campaign" at the bottom left of the campaign page.
Prospi will start sending emails automatically, following your defined schedule and limits.
Step 8: Track Performance with Campaign Analytics
Once your campaign is live, you can monitor its performance in real-time.
Go to "Campaigns" in your Prospi dashboard.
Find your active campaign in the list.
Track key metrics:
Emails Sent – Total number of emails delivered.
Leads Contacted – Unique leads that received at least one email.
Replies Received – Total number of responses.
Positive Replies – Number of replies that indicate interest.
Prospi also tracks every step of the campaign:
Reply rates, and conversions for each email.
Performance of A/B tests (subject lines, email content, etc.).
Engagement trends over time to help optimize future campaigns.
Step 7: AI Inbox Manager & Slack Notifications
Now that your campaign is live, you need a system to track replies, manage conversations, and respond quickly to high-quality leads.
Instead of checking your inbox manually, Prospi’s AI Inbox Manager automatically categorizes replies, suggests responses, and sends instant notifications via Slack and email—so you never miss an opportunity.
Prospi Real-Time Inbox: Manage Replies in One Place
All responses from your cold email campaigns appear inside the Prospi Inbox, where you can:
✅ View all incoming replies in real-time.
✅ Use AI to categorize and suggest responses.
✅ Respond directly inside Prospi or through Slack/email notifications.
While you don’t need to stay logged in 24/7, the Prospi Inbox is always available if you want to track replies, review past conversations, or adjust messaging.
Enable Email Notifications
Go to Settings → Integrations in Prospi.
Find Email Notifications and toggle it ON.
Enter the email where you want to receive notifications.
Now, every time an interested lead replies, you’ll get an email notification with lead details, company insights, and the option to approve or edit AI replies.
Connect Slack Integration
Go to Settings → Integrations → Slack.
Click "Connect Slack" and authorize the Prospi app.
Add the Prospi app to your Slack workspace.
Add the Prospi app to a specific Slack channel where notifications will be sent.
In Prospi, select the Slack channel where you want to receive lead replies.
Now, every time a high-quality reply comes in, you’ll receive a Slack message with lead details, company info, and an AI-suggested response.
Set Up AI Agent for Reply Suggestions
To get the most relevant AI-suggested responses, you need to provide context about your business and offer.
Go to Campaigns → AI Assistant.
Fill in the following details:
Your company’s services
The pain points your product solves
Your ideal customer profile
The type of replies you expect to handle
Click Save – this allows AI to generate better reply suggestions based on real conversations.
How AI Categorizes Replies
Once AI is set up, it will automatically categorize every response into one of the following:
Interested – The lead is open to learning more.
Meeting Ready – The lead wants to book a call.
Referral – The lead isn’t the right person but refers you to someone else.
Not Interested – The lead doesn’t want to continue the conversation.
Out of Office – The contact is unavailable but might be reachable later.
Only "Interested," "Meeting Ready," and "Referral" replies trigger notifications via Slack and email.
Handling Replies from Slack & Email
Instead of logging into Prospi every time, you can respond directly from Slack or your email notifications.
Approving Replies in Slack
Whenever a high-quality lead replies, Prospi sends a Slack message containing:
✅ Lead details (name, company, title)
✅ Company insights (AI-enriched data)
✅ The full email thread
✅ AI-suggested response
Inside Slack, you can:
Click "Approve" to send the AI-generated response immediately.
Handling Replies from Email Notifications
Open the email notification from Prospi.
Review the lead’s info and suggested reply.
Click "Click to Reply"
This means you never have to log in just to send a quick response—you can manage everything from Slack or your inbox.
Onboarding Conclusion: You’re Ready to Scale with Prospi
Congratulations! 🎉
You’ve successfully set up Prospi and launched your first cold email campaign. By now, you should have:
✅ Connected & warmed up your email inboxes to maximize deliverability.
✅ Built a targeted lead list using Prospi’s Lead Finder.
✅ Enriched leads with AI to add personalization and verified email addresses.
✅ Created & launched your first campaign with follow-ups and A/B testing.
✅ Set up AI Inbox Manager & Slack Notifications to manage replies efficiently.
With everything now automated, you can focus on what truly matters—booking more meetings and closing deals.