Your current outreach probably looks like this: scrape a list in one app, download a CSV, upload it to a verifier, download again, fix the columns, upload to a sending tool, then discover half the merge fields are blank. Every handoff costs time and breaks something.
This guide walks through doing the whole job in one place, from search to sent follow-up. The steps use GetClient as the example because the list and the campaign live together there, but the thinking applies to any setup.
Step 1: Decide who you are emailing and why
Before you search for anything, write one sentence: "I help [type of business] in [area] with [specific result]." For example, "I help restaurants in Leeds get more bookings from Google."
This sentence drives everything else:
- Keywords come from the business type ("restaurant", "bistro", "pizzeria").
- Locations come from the area.
- Your email comes from the result.
If you can't fill it in, a bigger list won't help. Narrow down first. If you need ideas, see how this looks for restaurants or coaches.
Step 2: Pull leads from Google Maps
Google Maps is a good starting source for local businesses because almost every one of them is listed, with a website and phone number attached.
In GetClient's Google Maps scraper:
- Enter several related keywords at once ("dentist", "dental clinic", "orthodontist").
- Add the cities you want to cover. You can run several in one search.
- Start the search. Results come back live.
Each lead can include the business name, category, address, phone, website, any emails found, the owner's name and title with a confidence score, and social profiles, where these are public.
A few practical filters before you save:
- Skip leads with no website if your offer involves their site. You'll have nothing to reference.
- Check the owner confidence score. A low score means use a neutral greeting instead of a first name.
- Remove chains and franchises if a local owner can't make the buying decision.
Save the keepers into a folder in My Leads named by niche and city, like "Dentists - Bristol - May". Clear names save you later.
Already have leads from a past event or another tool? Import them by CSV into My Leads and map any extra columns as custom fields.
Step 3: Verify emails before you send
Sending to addresses that bounce hurts your sender reputation, which affects whether your future emails reach anyone's inbox. Run email verification on the folder before it goes near a campaign.
You'll usually see three kinds of result: valid, invalid and uncertain. Drop the invalid ones. Be careful with uncertain addresses, especially catch-all domains, which accept any address so you can't confirm a real inbox. A sensible rule of thumb is to send to those in a smaller, separate batch so a bad result doesn't drag down the rest.
Step 4: Connect a sending account and set limits
Connect your own Gmail accounts or any SMTP account. If you're unsure which to use, our guide on sending cold email with SMTP covers the trade-offs.
Then set send-day limits by weekday. Start low on a new account and raise volume gradually. Also read the Gmail and Yahoo bulk sender rules so your domain authentication is in place before you send anything.
Step 5: Write the email with merge tags that actually fill in
Keep the first email short: who you are, one specific observation about their business, one clear question.
Use merge tags exactly in this form, or they won't be filled when sending:
{{params.name}}for the business name{{params.firstname}}for the owner's first name{{params.website}}{{params.city}}{{params.category}}
An example:
Subject: Quick question about {{params.name}}
Hi {{params.firstname}},
I was looking at {{params.website}} and noticed you don't show opening hours on mobile. For a {{params.category}} in {{params.city}}, that's often the first thing people check.
Want me to send over a two-minute fix?
Use the per-step preview to check a few real leads. If a first name is missing for some, write a version of the greeting that still reads naturally, or keep those leads in a separate folder with a neutral opener.
Choose the plain layout for cold outreach. It reads like a person wrote it. The boxed layout suits newsletters-style messages better.
Step 6: Build follow-ups that react to behaviour
In the visual flow builder, chain your steps with delays in days, hours or minutes. Then add branches:
| Branch | What to send |
|---|---|
| If NOT Opened | Same offer, new subject line, shorter body |
| If Opened (no reply) | A different angle or a small proof point |
| If Clicked | A direct offer to talk or a specific next step |
Branches are yes or no only. They can tell whether someone opened, not how many times. For more detail, read our not opened follow-up strategy.
Two or three follow-ups spaced a few days apart is a reasonable starting point. Stop after that and move on.
Every email includes a one-click unsubscribe link, and anyone who unsubscribes is skipped automatically. If you email people in the UK or EU, read GDPR for cold email in B2B and check the rules that apply to you. This isn't legal advice.
Step 7: Schedule, launch and handle replies
Schedule the campaign for the recipients' working hours. Once it's running:
- Watch campaign analytics for bounces in the first day. A spike means pause and recheck your list.
- Answer replies from the Inbox, where messages from all connected accounts land together. Fast, personal replies matter more than anything else in the sequence.
- Move interested leads into their own folder, or export them to GoHighLevel or CSV if you track deals elsewhere.
A routine you can repeat every week
- Monday: one niche, one or two cities, scrape and save.
- Verify and clean.
- Duplicate last week's campaign, tweak the observation line.
- Launch, then check the Inbox daily.
New accounts get 100 free credits with no card needed, enough to try this workflow on a small list. See plans and credits when you want more.