Pre-warmed Google Workspace inboxes for Smartlead

The short version

1. Pick domains from the live inventory and read each one's warm-up record.
2. Buy, then release a domain when you are ready to connect it.
3. Take each inbox's address and password, or the CSV of them all.
4. In Smartlead, add each inbox as a Google account and sign in with Google.
5. If you want warm-up to continue, turn it on in Smartlead, because ours stops at release.

Which delivery path Smartlead uses

InboxesNow hands over inboxes in two ways. The direct path, with an API key and a live delivery board, exists for Instantly only. Smartlead uses the other one, the release path: you receive the credentials and connect the inboxes yourself. The Instantly delivery board plays no part, and you do not need an Instantly account.

The upside is control. Nothing lands in your Smartlead account until you add it, so you decide which inboxes go in and when.

What releasing a domain gives you

A domain holds 3 inboxes, so each release gives you 3 sets of credentials. The CSV holds passwords: keep it somewhere access is controlled, not in a shared folder.

What stops the moment you release

Releasing a domain stops InboxesNow's warm-up of its inboxes at once. Until then, the warm-up runs on our side. After release, the inboxes are yours to run. Two things follow from that:

• Release a domain when you are ready to connect its inboxes, not days ahead.
• Smartlead has its own warm-up. If you want warm-up to carry on, switch it on for each inbox as soon as you have connected it, so there is no long gap between our warm-up ending and yours starting.

Connecting the inboxes in Smartlead

Smartlead connects Google Workspace accounts, and an InboxesNow inbox is a real Google Workspace (Gmail) mailbox, so it goes in like any other Google inbox. Add it as a Google account, then sign in with Google using the address and password from the release. Repeat for each inbox on the domain.

Sequencer menus change, so this page does not map Smartlead's screens click by click. For the general flow, see the guide to connecting Google Workspace inboxes to your sequencer.

Habits that save a second pass

• Connect one domain at a time and tick off each address in the CSV as it goes in.
• Before adding a new inbox to a campaign, send a short test from it to an address you control and reply to it, so you know mail flows both ways.
• Give the inboxes on one domain the same sending settings, so you can compare them like for like when you review results.

What is already set up on every domain

Before a domain goes on sale it gets MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records. Every inbox on it is a Google Workspace mailbox named with a realistic US first and last name, and every inbox has warmed for at least 21 days. For what each record does, see the guide to SPF, DKIM and DMARC for cold email.

Each domain also carries a custom tracking domain for Instantly, as a CNAME record. It is part of the Instantly setup, so you can ignore it when you send from Smartlead.

Read the record before you choose

Every domain shows its warm-up record before you buy: days warmed, a daily chart of warm-up emails sent against those that reached the inbox, the 7-day warm-up inbox rate and a single warm-up health score. Choose exact domains from the live inventory yourself, or let Auto-pick best choose by 7-day warm-up inbox rate.

Before you buy, you can read each domain's inbox placement record alongside its warm-up record. Every inbox in stock is tested daily against seed inboxes at Google Workspace (business accounts), Outlook (Microsoft 365, business accounts) and Gmail (personal accounts) in the US. The record shows each provider's inbox rate over the last 7 days as a daily strip, per domain and per inbox. It shows what those tests found, which is not the same as a promise about your own campaigns.

Sizing and price

By default an inbox sends 30 campaign emails a day alongside the warm-up, which makes 90 a day per domain. Divide your daily volume by 90 and round up to a whole domain.

A worked example, where the answer is not a round number:

Each domain is $15 a month ($5 per inbox), with the domain included and no setup fee. Billing is a monthly subscription through Stripe that you can cancel any time. See pricing for the details, or the guide on how many inboxes and domains you need for other volumes.

Your first weeks sending from Smartlead

These are general practices, not settings InboxesNow applies for you:

• Start below the limit. Set each inbox's daily limit at or under the 30 a day the sizing assumes. Begin campaigns below that and raise volume over the first days only if bounces and replies look healthy.
• Verify the list first. A hard bounce usually means the address does not exist, which is a list problem, not an inbox problem. Keep the bounce rate low by checking addresses before they enter a campaign.
• Watch complaints. Google asks senders to keep the spam rate shown in Postmaster Tools below 0.3%, and ideally below 0.1% (Google's email sender guidelines). Short, relevant emails to well-chosen people keep complaints down.

If part of your team sends from another tool, the same release path works there too: see pre-warmed inboxes for any sequencer.