Cold Email Outreach — Automated Prospecting & Drip Pipeline

Build lists, enrich contacts, send personalized cold emails, follow up automatically.

Pipeline Overview

1. Source — Pull leads from government databases, web scraping, or CSV import
2. Enrich — Find emails via website scraping, Google search, or enrichment APIs
3. Personalize — Generate custom email copy per lead using templates + variables
4. Send — Deliver via Resend API with rate limiting and domain rotation
5. Follow Up — Automated drip sequences (Day 3, Day 7)
6. Track — Log opens, replies, bounces to Google Sheets or CSV

Requirements

• Resend API key — RESEND_API_KEY (free tier: 100 emails/day)
• Verified sending domain — SPF + DKIM + DMARC configured
• Google Sheets OAuth (optional) — for lead tracking

Quick Start

export RESEND_API_KEY=your_key

# Send from CSV list
node scripts/send-campaign.js --list leads.csv --template templates/intro.txt --from "hello@yourdomain.com"

# Dry run (no emails sent)
node scripts/send-campaign.js --list leads.csv --template templates/intro.txt --dry-run

# Send follow-ups
node scripts/send-followups.js --campaign campaign-2026-03-12

Email Templates

Templates use {variable} placeholders:

Subject: {subject}

Hi {first_name},

{body}

Best,
{sender_name}

Available variables: {first_name}, {business_name}, {city}, {industry}, {specific_issue}, {sender_name}, {subject}

Deliverability Rules

• Max 25 emails per domain per day (cold outreach)
• Warm up new domains: start at 5/day, increase by 5 every 3 days
• Always include physical address (CAN-SPAM)
• Include unsubscribe mechanism
• Rotate sending domains if scaling past 50/day
• Remove bounced emails immediately
• Honor unsubscribes within 24 hours

Scripts

• scripts/send-campaign.js — Main campaign sender with rate limiting
• scripts/send-followups.js — Drip follow-up sender
• scripts/enrich-list.js — Email enrichment from websites

References

• references/templates.md — Proven email templates with open rates
• references/deliverability.md — Domain setup and spam prevention guide