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Manually launch leads

A step-by-step guide to manually launching your leads!

Updated over 2 weeks ago

TL;DR

Review and launch leads before they enter your sequence. Check email deliverability, verify personalization variables are populated, and select which leads to send. Prevents bounces and ensures quality. Takes 5-10 minutes.

Who Should Use This

  • Anyone with leads imported and ready to start their campaign

  • Teams wanting to verify data quality before sending

  • Users who need to enrich missing data before launching

Why This Matters

The review stage is your final quality check before leads enter your campaign. Launching leads with invalid emails hurts your sender reputation, and missing personalization variables make your outreach look automated. Reviewing prevents these issues and gives you control over exactly when your campaign starts.

Before You Start

Understand the review stage: Leads don't automatically enter your sequence when imported. They wait in the Launch section until you manually review and launch them. This prevents accidental sends and lets you verify data quality first.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Review leads in the Launch section

Open your campaign and go to the Launch area to see leads waiting to enter your sequence. In the lead list, review the email deliverability status (for example, Deliverable) before sending.

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Step 2: Filter your leads (optional)

To focus on a specific group of leads, click the filter icon, then select Add a filter.

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From the filter list, choose what you want to filter by (for example Email status, Lead variables, Personalized, or Missing variable).

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Step 3: Handle a specific lead from the lead menu

To take action on a single lead, select the lead using the checkbox, then click the three-dot menu on that lead.

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From the menu, choose what you want to do:

  • Launch: send the lead into your sequence now

  • Schedule launch: launch later

  • Skip: keep the lead in the campaign, but don’t launch them

  • Delete this lead: remove the lead from the campaign

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Step 4: Select leads to launch and launch them

Select the leads you want to send (using the checkboxes), then click Launch for X leads at the bottom of the Launch panel.

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Understanding Lead Status After Launch

Once launched, check the campaign’s active leads view to monitor progress. Common statuses include:

  • Ready to send: reviewed and waiting for the next sending window

  • In progress: received at least one step, actively moving through the sequence

  • Completed: finished all steps in the campaign

  • Paused: manually paused, can be resumed

  • Stopped: hit a stop condition (replied, clicked, unsubscribed)

How You'll Know It Worked

✅ Leads have been launched from the Launch section

✅ Personalization variables display correctly in sent emails

✅ Campaign starts sending during your configured schedule

Troubleshooting

Issue: Many leads show deliverability problems

Fix: Double-check your import and make sure the email field was mapped correctly. If needed, correct the data and re-import.

Issue: Personalization variables are blank

Fix: CSV columns must match your variable names exactly (case-sensitive). Verify a firstName column exists for #{{firstName}}. Re-import with correct column names or manually edit leads.

Issue: The launch button isn’t available

Fix:

  • Verify at least one lead is selected (checkbox checked)

  • Check that the campaign isn’t paused

  • Ensure a sender is connected and the sequence has at least one step

Issue: Leads launched but are not sending

Fix: Check campaign SettingsSchedule to verify sending windows. If outside sending hours, emails queue until the next window opens. Also, check that daily sending limits haven’t been reached.

Launch Strategies

Test first (recommended for first campaigns):

  • Launch 10-20 leads as a test

  • Monitor for 24 hours

  • Check opens, bounces, and personalization

  • Launch remaining leads if all looks good

Quality first (for sender reputation):

  • Filter for safe-to-send/deliverable leads first, then launch

  • Review and fix leads with missing variables before launching

  • Skip or delete invalid leads permanently

Tips for Optimization

  • Prioritize deliverable emails - They’re the safest to launch first

  • Test with a small batch first - Catch issues before they affect your entire list

  • Skip, don’t delete - Keep leads with incomplete data to enrich later

  • Monitor early sends closely - Check for formatting, missing variables, or deliverability issues

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