/cold-email-starter-kit

name: cold-email-starter-kit
description: Complete beginner-friendly cold email toolkit. Walks from zero to launched campaign — domain purchase, inbox setup, list building, copywriting, enrichment, and sending via Smartlead or Instantly. Use when setting up cold email for the first time, launching a new campaign, teaching someone cold email, or when you need an end-to-end guide that bundles strategy, copy, infrastructure, and API references in one place.

Cold Email Starter Kit

A complete system for running cold email. Follow it top-to-bottom and you will have purchased domains, created warmed inboxes, built a lead list, written a campaign, and sent your first emails. Designed for beginners — no prior cold email experience required.

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What you'll build

By the end of the flow you'll have:

• 10-20 throwaway sending domains purchased on Dynadot
• 20-40 warmed sending inboxes on Zapmail
• A 2,000-person lead list from Prospeo
• A 4-step email sequence with variants and personalization
• A live campaign in Smartlead or Instantly sending daily
• Analytics and reply handling set up

Total cost month 1: ~$186. Recurring: ~$126/mo. See `references/00-getting-started.md` for breakdown.

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The end-to-end flow

1. **Deliverability basics** → understand why we buy domains + inboxes (read once) 2. **Strategy** → pick your offer and ICP 3. **Copywriting** → write the sequence 4. **Infrastructure** → buy domains, create inboxes 5. **List building** → pull prospects from Prospeo 6. **Enrichment (optional)** → add personalization data 7. **Launch** → upload to Smartlead or Instantly 8. **Analyze + iterate** → pull metrics back, tweak

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Before you start: prerequisites

**Technical:**

• Node.js 20+ (`node --version` should print v20 or higher) → install from nodejs.org
• `tsx` (`npm install -g tsx`)
• Terminal comfort (you know what `cd` and `cp` do)
• A text editor (VS Code recommended)

**Accounts (sign up before continuing):**

• Dynadot (domain registrar)
• Zapmail (inbox provider)
• Prospeo (lead source)
• Smartlead OR Instantly (sending platform — pick one)

**Budget:** ~$200 for your first campaign.

If any of the above is missing, start at `references/00-getting-started.md`. It has exact signup links and API-key retrieval instructions.

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Recommended entry point: /cold-email-kickoff

Before reading this tutorial, invoke `/cold-email-kickoff` from Claude Code. It's a shorter, guided flow that orchestrates ICP onboarding + lead magnet + campaign strategy + a consolidated campaign plan — and hands you to the right next skill based on whether you have infrastructure already. Most users should start there.

This starter kit is the deeper manual tutorial for learning each step in detail. Use it if you want to understand what's happening under the hood, or if you want to wire up a specific step manually.

One-hour quick start

If you just want to launch your first campaign in a single session, stop reading this file and open `references/14-60-minute-tutorial.md`. It's a step-by-step walkthrough that assumes zero context and gives you exact commands to run.

Fast path — skip manual juggling once you've done it once

If you already have inboxes set up and just want a campaign to run automatically, invoke `/auto-research-public`. It does all of this in one flow: scrapes the target company → Claude generates an ICP → Prospeo pulls leads → emails are verified → Claude personalizes each lead via parallel Task sub-agents → Smartlead campaign launches. ~20 minutes end-to-end, no skill-juggling.

Prerequisites for the fast path:

• Ran `/icp-onboarding` once (produces `client-profile.yaml`)
• Ran `/zapmail-domain-setup-public` + `/smartlead-inbox-manager` to have active inboxes
• Have `SMARTLEAD_API_KEY`, `PROSPEO_API_KEY`, `MILLIONVERIFIER_API_KEY` in `.env`

The walkthrough below is for **manual** first-timer learning. If you've done a campaign once before, jump straight to `/auto-research-public`.

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Reading order (for understanding)

The references/ folder is numbered in the order to read them the first time:

| # | File | What it covers | |---|---|---| | 00 | `00-getting-started.md` | Accounts, API keys, `.env`, verify, cost breakdown | | 01 | `01-deliverability-fundamentals.md` | SPF/DKIM/DMARC, warmup, domain strategy, volume math | | 02 | `02-campaign-strategy.md` | Generate 15-20 campaign ideas from your website | | 03 | `03-campaign-copywriting.md` | Stepwise copywriting: direction → subject → body → final | | 04 | `04-sequence-structure.md` | Timing, follow-ups, threading, A/B testing, spintax | | 05 | `05-domain-and-inbox-setup.md` | Dynadot purchase, Zapmail inboxes, export | | 06 | `06-list-building-prospeo.md` | Prospeo filters, state-by-state crawling, full-export | | 07 | `07-enrichment-library.md` | Optional enrichments + pricing | | 08 | `08-smartlead-api.md` | Smartlead API reference | | 09 | `09-instantly-api.md` | Instantly API reference | | 10 | `10-reply-handling.md` | Positive/negative/OOO/bounce playbook | | 11 | `11-legal-compliance.md` | CAN-SPAM, GDPR, unsubscribe requirements | | 12 | `12-launch-checklist.md` | Pre-flight QA | | 13 | `13-troubleshooting.md` | Error matrix | | 14 | `14-60-minute-tutorial.md` | Literal step-by-step first campaign |

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Decision tree — where am I and what do I read?

| If you're at this point... | Read this | |---|---| | "I don't know what cold email even is" | `01-deliverability-fundamentals.md`, then `02-campaign-strategy.md` | | "I have a product, need campaign ideas" | `02-campaign-strategy.md` | | "I have a campaign, need to write emails" | `03-campaign-copywriting.md` + `04-sequence-structure.md` | | "I need inboxes but don't have them" | `05-domain-and-inbox-setup.md` | | "I need a lead list" | `06-list-building-prospeo.md` | | "My emails need personalization" | `07-enrichment-library.md` | | "Ready to upload to Smartlead" | `08-smartlead-api.md` | | "Ready to upload to Instantly" | `09-instantly