This is the kit from our Smartlead webinar, "Outbound A to Z, run from Claude" (29 October 2026). On stage, Matteo ran all seven steps in one Claude chat on a Smartlead demo account: the inboxes, the company brief, the play, the list, the copy, the launch and the daily loop. Here is the same system as skill files, so you can run it on your own company.
Claude drafts. You decide.
Nothing in this pack spends money, sends an email or starts a campaign without a yes from you.
01What you get
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start here | Reads where you are and runs the right step next |
| 1 · Set up the inboxes | Plans mailboxes and domains, checks your DNS and gets a SmartSenders quote |
| 2 · Know the company | Writes one sourced brief: who you sell to, why they buy, what you can prove |
| 3 · Pick the play | Turns the brief into ranked campaign ideas, sized with SmartProspect |
| 4 · Build the list | Scores accounts, finds the right people and verifies every email |
| 5 · Write the copy | Writes the sequence and a personal line for every lead, then checks each email |
| 6 · Launch | Runs the pre-flight checklist and builds the campaign in Smartlead as a draft |
| 7 · Run and improve | Reads results every morning, drafts reply answers and runs your next test |
| Copy checklist | The checks we run by hand before any email goes out |
02Why one system, not more prompts
Most AI outbound is a pile of prompts. A prompt for the copy that was never told which emails got replies. A sheet for the list that was never told which leads bounced. A tab for the results, read by hand and never fed into the next campaign. Nothing connects, so every step starts from zero.
In this pack, every step writes a file the next step reads. They all live in one folder in your project, outbound/:
| Step | Writes | Read by |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Inboxes | infra.md | Launch, Run and improve |
| 2 · Company | company/brief.md | Play, List, Copy |
| 3 · Play | plays/ideas.md, play.md | List, Copy |
| 4 · List | scoring.md, leads.csv | Copy, Launch |
| 5 · Copy | sequence.md, personalization.md | Launch |
| 6 · Launch | launch.md | Run and improve |
| 7 · Run | runs/[date].md, tests.md | Play and Copy, next round |
The brief feeds the ideas, the ideas feed the list, the list feeds the copy, and the results feed the next test.
03Who does what
| Who | Their job |
|---|---|
| Claude | Researches, plans, builds the list, writes the copy and reads the results. Every step is saved, so it remembers. |
| Smartlead | Runs the inboxes, warm-up, sequences, sending and replies. Always on. |
| You | Approve the money, the message and the launch. Nothing goes out without you. |
Claude and Smartlead are wired together through the Smartlead MCP server or the Smartlead API, so nothing is copied and pasted between tabs.
04The 15-minute setup
- Get Claude ready. Claude Code is the best fit: it can make the Smartlead calls and keep the
outbound/folder for you. Claude Desktop and claude.ai also work, with the skills uploaded and the files saved as documents. - Install the skills. In Claude Code, install the pack as a plugin, or copy the
skills/folder into your project's.claude/skills/. In Claude Desktop or claude.ai, upload each skill folder as a Skill. SETUP.md has the exact steps. - Connect Smartlead. Use the Smartlead MCP server, or put your Smartlead API key in an environment variable called
SMARTLEAD_API_KEY. Never paste the key into the chat: the skills never ask for it, print it or write it to a file. - Say "Start outbound A to Z". The start-here skill looks at your
outbound/folder, tells you where you are and offers the next step.
05The seven steps
Each step shows what Claude does, what happens in Smartlead, and the moment you approve. Times are Claude's working time from our real run; your review time is extra.
Step 1 · Set up the inboxes
About 5 minutes. In our run, 1 domain and 3 Google mailboxes came to $26.50.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Works out how many mailboxes and domains your volume needs, with the sending limit and warm-up time behind every number. Suggests lookalike sending domains, checks each one is free, and flags taken ones that already have mail set up (often your own). Checks SPF, DKIM and DMARC on your main domain and explains what to fix. |
| Smartlead | SmartSenders buys the domains and mailboxes, warm-up is switched on, and the mailboxes are tagged for the campaign. |
| You approve | Every purchase, before you are charged. Claude shows the exact order and total, then stops. By default you place the order yourself. |
Say: Step 1: plan inboxes for 400 new prospects a month.
Step 2 · Know the company
About 2 minutes. In our run, Claude found three places where our old files and the live site disagreed, and three words settled them: "follow the website".
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Reads your website and anything else you have: decks, call notes, past results, won customers. Writes one brief with up to three ICPs, their pains and triggers, your offer, your proof and your voice. Every line names its source, every proof item is marked "can we name it: yes, no or ask", and every conflict between sources is listed for you to settle. |
| Smartlead | Nothing yet. This step is pure research. |
| You approve | The brief. Does it really sound like the company? |
Say: Step 2: write our company brief from our website and these files.
Step 3 · Pick the play
About 2 minutes for 21 ideas.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Turns the brief into 15 to 25 ranked campaign ideas. Warm pools come first when you have them: closed-lost deals, past customers, champions who moved companies. Each idea is a card with who is on the list, what Claude does for each lead, what the email says, the free offer, and a score out of 15. Each one is sized with SmartProspect search, which is free. |
| Smartlead | Nothing yet. No list, no copy, no sends until the play is picked. |
| You approve | Which idea runs first. |
Say: Step 3: give me campaign ideas for our first ICP.
Step 4 · Build the list
About 30 minutes in our run.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Drafts a scoring model and checks it against your best customers: if they don't land in the top tiers, the model is wrong and Claude fixes it. Scores a sample with a reason for each account. Finds the right people, finds and verifies their emails, and removes customers, open deals and anyone already contacted. For trigger plays it reads public news, because databases lag behind. |
| Smartlead | SmartProspect search (free) and the SmartProspect email finder, which uses credits only when it finds an email. |
| You approve | The scoring model and the sample before the full build, and the credit spend before any email is found. |
Say: Step 4: build the list for the play we picked.
Step 5 · Write the copy
About 50 minutes in our run, most of it batches and reviews.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Shows you three subject lines and two voices on one real lead first. Then writes the sequence and a personal line for every lead from that company's own website, calibrating on 5 leads, then 10, before you say "lock it". Every email is checked: each claim traced to the prospect's site, each proof point one you allowed, and a spam scan on every line. |
| Smartlead | Sequence steps and delays, A/B variants and spintax. |
| You approve | The shape, then "lock it", then the copy before a single lead sees it. |
Say: Step 5: write the copy for this play.
Step 6 · Launch
About 2 minutes.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Runs the pre-flight checklist: brief approved, copy locked, mailboxes warm, every variable filled for every lead. Builds the campaign as a draft with the sequence, schedule, sending limits, mailboxes and leads. Reads it all back from Smartlead to check it saved, and sends you a test email. |
| Smartlead | A Smart Delivery spam test, and the campaign saved as a draft. |
| You approve | You press start. Always a person. |
Say: Step 6: build the campaign as a draft.
Step 7 · Run and improve
Every weekday, a few minutes.
| Who | What happens |
|---|---|
| Claude | Reads each campaign's numbers every morning and gives a verdict: scale, stay or kill, with the reasons. Tags every reply and drafts the answer in your voice. Judges A/B tests on positive replies, not opens, and writes a weekly report with the next test to run. |
| Smartlead | Stops the sequence when a lead replies, tags the reply with AI, pauses out-of-office leads and restarts them when they are back, and holds every thread in the Master Inbox. SmartAgents run the always-on alerts. |
| You approve | Kills, scales and every reply before it goes. |
Say: Run the morning check.
06The four moments you always decide
| Moment | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Spending money | Domains, mailboxes and data credits |
| What we say | The brief and every email |
| Pressing start | Every campaign starts by hand |
| Killing or scaling | Claude recommends. You make the call |
This is what makes it safe to hand Claude the keys to a real sending account. Everything else, Claude can do on its own.
07Lessons from the real run
- Start the inboxes first. The order took days to arrive, and warm-up only starts after that. Everything else can run in the meantime.
- Look before you buy. Several taken lookalike domains already had mail set up. They were most likely our own older sending domains.
- Follow the website. When our own files and the live site disagreed, the site won. It is what a prospect checks after reading your email.
- The database lags real job changes. SmartProspect listed only 1 of 25 new sales leaders at their new company. Claude found the other appointments in public news, and SmartProspect's email finder found their emails.
- No fact, no line. If the prospect's website gives Claude nothing real to say, it writes no personal line. In our run, 9 leads were skipped for that reason.
- Never turn "can do" into "has done". A capability is not a result. This rule came out of the copy review and now runs through every step.
- Judge tests on positive replies. Opens are noise. Wait for a fair sample before calling a winner.
08Go deeper
- The cold email deliverability checklist for 2026: domains, authentication, warm-up and monitoring in full.
- The ultimate cold email playbook for 2026: our whole cold email system, from suppression to monitoring.
- The cold email audit skill: scores any cold email out of 10 and shows the exact lines to fix.
09The files in full
Lawyer by training, then operations at Amazon. Runs delivery: process, documentation and the detail corporates expect.
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