Clay handles prospecting and enrichment. Instantly handles cold email sending and deliverability. Together, they form the most common outbound stack in B2B today — and for good reason. Each tool does one thing well, and they connect natively without middleware. This guide walks through building the full stack from scratch: domain infrastructure, Clay workflow, Instantly campaign setup, and the handoff between both tools.
Why Clay + Instantly Is the Default Outbound Stack
The Clay + Instantly pairing works because the two tools are architecturally complementary. Clay is a data layer — it sources, enriches, and personalises prospect records. Instantly is a sending layer — it manages domain rotation, warmup, deliverability, and campaign sequences. Neither tool tries to do what the other does, which means you get best-in-class capability at each stage rather than a mediocre all-in-one solution.
For B2B outbound teams sending between 200 and 5,000 emails per day, this stack is harder to beat on price-performance. The only meaningful alternative at the same tier is Clay + Smartlead, which we cover in a separate comparison.
Step 1: Set Up Your Sending Domain Infrastructure
Before touching either tool, your domain infrastructure needs to be correct. Sending on your primary domain risks your main brand reputation. The standard setup for cold email outbound is:
- 3–5 secondary domains per sending campaign (e.g., getcoldicp.com, trycoldicp.com, coldicp.io)
- SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records configured on every domain
- 2 mailboxes per domain — keeps daily send volume per mailbox under 30–50 during warmup
- 4–6 weeks of warmup before live campaign sends
In Instantly, navigate to Email Accounts → Add Account and connect your mailboxes via IMAP/SMTP or Google Workspace / Microsoft 365 OAuth. Instantly’s built-in warmup network (4.2M+ real mailboxes) starts automatically once accounts are connected — one of the largest warmup pools available. For full domain setup instructions, see our guide on setting up sending domains for cold email.
Step 2: Build Your Clay Enrichment Table
With domains warming, move into Clay and build your prospecting table. The standard Clay → Instantly workflow processes company-level targeting first, then finds contacts.
- Import source list: Apollo export, Sales Navigator CSV, or Clay’s native LinkedIn search
- Enrich company data: Clearbit for firmographics, BuiltWith for tech stack
- Find contacts: Clay’s People Search with title and seniority filters matching your ICP
- Waterfall email finding: Hunter → Apollo → Icypeas in sequence for maximum coverage
- Verify emails: ZeroBounce or NeverBounce column — filter out anything that is not “valid”
- Generate personalisation: Claygent one-liners based on company news or LinkedIn activity
The output is a clean, enriched table with verified emails and personalisation variables ready for push to Instantly. For a detailed walkthrough of the Clay side of this workflow, see our full guide on how to use Clay for B2B prospecting.
Step 3: Configure the Clay → Instantly Integration
Clay has a native Instantly integration that pushes contacts directly into campaigns without CSV export. To set it up:
- In Clay, open your table and click Integrations → Instantly
- Authenticate with your Instantly API key (found in Instantly under Settings → API)
- Map your Clay column headers to Instantly contact fields (First Name, Last Name, Email, Company, and any custom variables for personalisation)
- Select the target campaign in Instantly or create a new one
- Enable Sync on new rows if you want contacts pushed automatically as Clay enriches them
Custom variables in Clay become Instantly merge tags automatically. A Clay column called {{opening_line}} maps directly to {{opening_line}} in your Instantly email template — no manual re-mapping needed.
Step 4: Build Your Instantly Campaign
In Instantly, create your campaign and configure the core settings before contacts arrive from Clay:
Sending Accounts
Assign 3–5 warmed sending accounts to the campaign. Instantly rotates sends across all assigned accounts automatically, distributing volume to protect each domain’s reputation.
Campaign Schedule
Set sending windows to business hours in your target audience’s time zone. A standard configuration: Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM local time. Avoid weekends and holidays.
Daily Sending Limits
Start conservative: 20–30 emails per mailbox per day for the first 2 weeks of a new campaign. Increase by 10–15/day each week if open rates stay above 40% and you are not seeing spam complaints.
Email Sequence
A standard 4-step sequence:
| Step | Timing | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Email 1 | Day 1 | Cold intro — problem + hook + soft CTA |
| Email 2 | Day 3 | Follow-up — different angle, shorter |
| Email 3 | Day 7 | Social proof or case study reference |
| Email 4 | Day 14 | Breakup email — closes the loop |
Step 5: Connect Reply Handling
Instantly’s inbox manager consolidates all replies across your sending accounts in one view. Configure:
- Auto-unsubscribe: Enable to stop sequences automatically when a contact replies or unsubscribes
- Bounce handling: Instantly auto-removes hard bounces — verify this is active
- Labels: Tag replies as Interested / Not Now / Not a Fit / Out of Office for pipeline tracking
- CRM sync: Connect HubSpot or Salesforce to push Interested replies as leads automatically
Step 6: Monitor, Optimise, and Scale
Once the campaign is live, track these metrics weekly:
- Open rate: Target 40%+. Below 35% suggests subject line or deliverability issues
- Reply rate: Target 3–8%. Below 2% means the copy or targeting needs rework
- Positive reply rate: Target 1–3% of total sends
- Bounce rate: Keep below 3%. Above 5% flags a list quality problem
- Spam complaint rate: Keep below 0.1%. Above 0.3% damages domain reputation quickly
Run A/B tests on subject lines and email body variants using Instantly’s built-in testing. Do not change more than one variable at a time — test subject lines independently of body copy. For testing methodology, see our guide on cold email A/B testing.
Cost Breakdown for the Clay + Instantly Stack
| Tool | Plan | Approx. Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Clay | Launch (2,500 data credits) | $185 |
| Instantly | Growth (1,000 contacts / 5K emails/mo) | $37 |
| Domain registration (5 domains) | GoDaddy / Namecheap | $50–$80/year |
| Google Workspace (10 mailboxes) | Business Starter | $60 |
| Email verification (ZeroBounce) | Pay-per-use | $20–$50 |
Total stack cost: approximately $350–$400/month to run 3,000–5,000 email sends per week with proper infrastructure. That covers the tooling cost — list building credit consumption varies by campaign volume.
Conclusion
The Clay + Instantly stack is the most common outbound configuration for B2B teams today because it works at every scale from solo operators to 20-person sales teams. Clay handles the intelligence layer — sourcing, enriching, personalising. Instantly handles the execution layer — warming, sending, deliverability. Build each piece correctly, connect them via the native integration, and you have a repeatable outbound engine that runs with minimal manual intervention. The setup investment is roughly 8–10 hours the first time. After that, each new campaign takes 2–3 hours to configure and launch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to export a CSV from Clay to use Instantly?
No. Clay has a native Instantly integration that pushes contacts directly into your campaigns, including custom personalisation variables. No CSV export required.
How many sending accounts do I need in Instantly?
A minimum of 3 warmed accounts per campaign. For campaigns targeting 500+ sends per day, 6–10 accounts is the standard configuration to stay within safe per-mailbox daily limits.
How long does it take to set up the full Clay + Instantly stack?
Domain purchase and DNS setup: 1–2 hours. Clay workflow build: 3–5 hours. Instantly campaign configuration: 1–2 hours. Warmup period: 4–6 weeks before high-volume sends.
Can I use Smartlead instead of Instantly with Clay?
Yes. Clay’s Smartlead integration works the same way as the Instantly integration. The choice depends on your preference for campaign management UI and pricing at your send volume.
What should my first campaign target?
Start with your tightest, most clearly defined ICP segment — your Tier 1 accounts. A focused 200-contact campaign will teach you more about messaging fit than a broad 2,000-contact blast.
Instantly.ai official site | Instantly reviews on G2 | Email benchmarks reference — Mailchimp
