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Instantly's Lead Finder is one of its biggest underrated features — built-in B2B lead sourcing without paying for a separate tool like Apollo or ZoomInfo. This walks the right setup.
Who this is forOperators on Hypergrowth+ plan who want to source cold leads inside Instantly rather than paying for a separate prospecting tool. Best for SMB-focused outbound where targeting is straightforward.
What you'll need
Step 1
Industry, company size, role/seniority, geography, technology used (if available). Save filters for repeat searches.
In Instantly: Leads → Lead Finder.
Filters available:
- Industry: SaaS, eCommerce, Manufacturing, etc.
- Company size: employee count ranges (1-10, 11-50, 51-200, etc.).
- Role/title: keyword match (e.g., "Marketing Manager," "Head of Growth").
- Seniority: Owner, C-level, VP, Director, Manager, IC.
- Geography: country, state/region, city.
- Technologies: companies using specific tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Shopify, etc.).
Be specific. "Marketing Manager at SaaS companies 11-50 in the US using HubSpot" is a better search than "Marketing people."
Step 2
Lead Finder shows estimated count. Sample results before exporting. Adjust filters if quality is low.
Click Search. Results appear with: name, role, company, email, LinkedIn, company size, industry.
Review 20-30 sample results manually before exporting:
- Do they match your ICP?
- Are emails business emails (not personal Gmail)?
- Are the roles correct (not generic "Manager" but actual relevant titles)?
If sample quality is low, tighten filters. If too tight, broaden until result count is meaningful (target: 1,000-10,000 results).
Step 3
Lead Finder shows emails but they are not always verified. Run through Instantly verifier OR third-party tool before campaign upload.
Lead Finder provides best-guess emails based on patterns + database matching.
Accuracy: 60-85% on typical searches. Some emails are wrong or outdated.
BEFORE adding to a campaign: verify the list via Instantly's built-in verifier (uses credits) OR export and verify via NeverBounce/ZeroBounce.
Discard: invalid, risky, catch-all (unless explicitly OK with catch-all), role-based.
Target post-verification: <3% bounce rate when you launch the campaign.
Step 4
For high-touch campaigns, enrich Lead Finder data with additional fields (recent news, hiring activity, podcast appearances) via separate research.
Lead Finder provides standard B2B fields. For higher-touch outreach, enrich with personalization triggers:
- Recent funding (Crunchbase).
- Recent hiring activity (LinkedIn).
- Recent product launches (Product Hunt, company blog).
- Conference speakers, podcast guests (specific niches).
Add these as custom fields in your CSV. Reference in cold email openers.
For volume: this enrichment is manual labor. For high-touch (under 500 leads), it is worth the time. For mass volume, use AI Personalization instead.
Step 5
Lead Finder → select verified leads → "Add to Campaign" → choose campaign or create new. Or export to CSV first.
After verification, select the verified leads in Lead Finder.
Option 1: "Add to Campaign" → choose existing campaign or create new. Direct import.
Option 2: Export to CSV → review one more time → import to campaign manually. More control.
For new campaigns: usually export-then-import gives more flexibility for cleaning and adding custom fields.
Confirm the import shows expected lead count + custom fields mapped correctly.
Step 6
Once a search produces good leads, save the filter config. Re-run quarterly to pull fresh leads (new companies, role changes).
In Lead Finder, after a successful search, click "Save Search."
Name the saved search: e.g., "SMB SaaS Marketing Mgrs US."
Re-run quarterly. Lead Finder data refreshes — new companies, role changes, new hires.
Filter NEW results (Instantly tags by date added) to avoid re-uploading the same leads.
This is how you maintain a continuous lead pipeline without manual prospecting each time.
Step 7
Before launching, suppress leads who are in another active campaign or who have already replied/unsubscribed.
Instantly auto-suppresses unsubscribes and bounces across campaigns at the account level.
For active-campaign overlap: before launching, check if any of the new leads are in another active campaign. Multiple cold emails to the same person in overlapping campaigns = spam complaint risk.
For replied/converted leads: maintain a master list of replied prospects. Cross-reference and suppress.
This discipline keeps your sender reputation clean and your prospect relationships intact.
Common mistakes
Searching too broadly
What goes wrong: Search returns 50K results. Average match quality is poor. Reply rate at 0.5% because targeting is loose.
How to avoid: Tighten filters until result count is 1,000-10,000. Quality > quantity for cold outreach.
Not verifying emails before launch
What goes wrong: Trust Lead Finder emails as-is. 20% are invalid. Bounce rate at 20%. Sending account flagged. Domain reputation damaged.
How to avoid: Always verify before campaigning. Built-in verifier OR NeverBounce/ZeroBounce. Target <3% bounce.
No enrichment for high-touch campaigns
What goes wrong: Cold email uses only first name + company name. Reads as template. Reply rate at 0.5% despite good targeting.
How to avoid: For high-touch outreach (under 500 leads), enrich with custom triggers (recent news, hiring, product launches). Reply rate jumps 3-5x.
Overlap with existing campaigns
What goes wrong: Add 500 new leads to Campaign B. 50 of them are already in active Campaign A. They receive cold emails from BOTH campaigns within days. Spam complaints spike.
How to avoid: Before launch, run a quick check against active-campaign leads. Suppress overlaps.
Not saving searches for reuse
What goes wrong: Run a great search, get good leads, launch a campaign. Three months later, want to source fresh leads — but cannot remember the exact filter config. Rebuild from scratch.
How to avoid: Save every productive search. Re-run quarterly to source fresh leads on the same ICP.
Recap
Done — what's next
How to set up campaigns in Instantly
Read the next tutorial
Hand it off
Lead Finder is good for SMB and standard ICPs. For complex targeting, multi-source enrichment (Apollo + Clay + Instantly), or enterprise prospecting, you need broader expertise. EverestX cold email specialists work across multiple lead sources.
See specialist rates
Email accuracy: 60-85% depending on the search. For SMB targets with standard roles, accuracy is high. For enterprise targets or niche industries, accuracy drops. Always verify before campaigning.
For SMB and straightforward targeting: comparable or better at the price point (included with Hypergrowth+). For enterprise, niche industries, or sophisticated filters (intent data, technographics depth): Apollo and ZoomInfo have stronger data.
Each verified lead uses 1 credit. Hypergrowth plan includes ~5K-10K credits/month. Light Speed is higher. Plan ahead — running out of credits mid-prospecting is annoying.
Yes, via CSV export. The exported leads can be used in any other tool (Apollo, HubSpot, Salesforce). Useful for hybrid workflows where Instantly handles sourcing but campaigns run elsewhere.
Some leads include phone numbers, but coverage is partial (~30-50% of leads). For phone-heavy outreach, supplement with dedicated tools (Apollo, RocketReach, ContactOut).
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