Cold Email Engine

Automated outbound email pipeline: find leads → enrich contacts → send personalized emails → drip follow-ups.

Pipeline

1. Source leads — from CSV, Google Sheets, API scraping, or manual input
2. Enrich — find emails via website scraping, Hunter.io, or Apollo
3. Personalize — variable substitution in templates ({name}, {company}, {pain_point})
4. Send — via Resend, SendGrid, or raw SMTP with rate limiting
5. Drip — automated follow-ups at day 3 and day 7
6. Track — log all sends, bounces, replies to CSV/Sheets

Requirements

• Email provider API key — Resend (RESEND_API_KEY), SendGrid, or SMTP credentials
• Verified sending domain — with SPF, DKIM, DMARC configured
• Lead source — CSV file, Google Sheet ID, or API endpoint

Quick Start

# Set environment
export RESEND_API_KEY=your_key

# Send from CSV
node scripts/cold-email-engine.js --source leads.csv --template templates/default.txt --from "Name <hello@yourdomain.com>"

# Dry run (no emails sent)
node scripts/cold-email-engine.js --source leads.csv --template templates/default.txt --dry-run

# Run drip follow-ups
node scripts/cold-email-engine.js --drip --days 3

Configuration

Edit scripts/config.json:

• maxPerDay: Daily send limit per domain (default: 25)
• delayBetweenMs: Delay between emails in ms (default: 3000)
• dripDays: Follow-up schedule [3, 7] days after initial send
• suppressionFile: Path to suppression/unsubscribe list
• trackingFile: Path to send log

Templates

Templates use {variable} syntax. Available variables:

• {first_name}, {last_name}, {email}
• {company}, {website}, {city}, {state}
• {pain_point} — auto-generated from website analysis
• {sender_name}, {sender_title}

Template Example

Subject: {company} — quick question

Hi {first_name},

I noticed {company} {pain_point}. We help businesses like yours 
fix that in under a week.

Would it make sense to chat for 10 minutes this week?

{sender_name}
{sender_title}

Compliance

• CAN-SPAM: physical address in footer, unsubscribe mechanism
• GDPR: only email businesses (B2B exemption), honor removal requests
• Rate limits: 25/day per domain, 3-second delay between sends
• Suppression list checked before every send

Scripts

• scripts/cold-email-engine.js — Main send engine
• scripts/enrich-leads.js — Email finder from websites/domains
• scripts/config.json — Configuration

References

• See references/deliverability.md for domain warmup and inbox placement
• See references/templates.md for proven email templates by industry