I put my entire cold email outreach on autopilot. Here’s the n8n + Instantly.ai workflow.
Manually uploading CSVs of new leads to your Instantly.ai campaigns is slow, prone to errors, and a huge bottleneck in any sales process. The goal is to get leads into your outreach sequence the moment you find them.
I’m sharing the simple n8n workflow I use to automatically add any new lead to a specific Instantly.ai campaign in real-time. This is all done using the standard HTTP Request node.
The Workflow Breakdown:
Here are the actionable tips to build this yourself.
Prerequisites:
Your Instantly.ai API Key.
The Campaign ID for the campaign you want to add leads to (you can find this in the URL of your campaign in Instantly).
Step 1: The Trigger (Get New Leads)
Your workflow can start anywhere you get leads. Use a Webhook from your contact form, a Google Sheets trigger that runs on a new row, or a trigger from your CRM when a new lead is created. The trigger just needs to provide the lead’s information (email, name, etc.).
Step 2: The HTTP Request Node
Add an HTTP Request node to your canvas. This is how we’ll talk to the Instantly.ai API. Configure it with these settings:
Method: POST
URL: https://lnkd.in/gFibbJbT
Step 3: Construct the API Request Body
This is the most important part. You need to send all the required information to Instantly in the request body.
Body Content Type: JSON
JSON Body: Use n8n’s expressions to build the JSON payload. It should look like this:
JSON
{
“api_key”: “[YOUR_INSTANTLY_API_KEY]”,
“campaign_id”: “[YOUR_CAMPAIGN_ID]”,
“email”: “{{ $json.email }}”,
“first_name”: “{{ $json.first_name }}”,
“last_name”: “{{ $json.last_name }}”,
“company_name”: “{{ $json.company_name }}”
}
(Remember to replace the bracketed values with your actual key and ID. For security, store your API key in n8n’s credentials.)
Step 4: The Result
That’s it! When you execute this workflow, the new lead will be instantly added to your chosen campaign, and the email sequence will begin. You’ve just created a seamless, automated outreach pipeline.
With this workflow, you can ensure no hot lead ever goes cold sitting in a spreadsheet.
What’s the first lead source you would connect to Instantly with this?