You're crushing it on LinkedIn—sending connection requests, following up with messages, building pipeline. But some prospects don't respond on LinkedIn alone. They're busy, they miss notifications, or they simply prefer email. Meanwhile, you're manually tracking who needs email follow-up, copying data between platforms, and watching hot leads go cold because you couldn't reach them fast enough.

The solution? Automated multi-channel outreach that follows prospects from LinkedIn to their inbox—without hiring a data engineer or drowning in spreadsheets.

The building blocks: What's what?

HeyReach

HeyReach is a LinkedIn automation platform built for scale. It lets you run personalized outreach campaigns across multiple LinkedIn accounts, manage sequences with smart delays and conditions, and track every connection request, message, and reply. Whether you're an agency managing dozens of accounts or a sales team running high-volume prospecting, HeyReach handles the LinkedIn side—safely, efficiently, and at scale.

Instantly

Instantly is an email outreach platform that automates cold email at scale. It handles unlimited email accounts, keeps your messages out of spam with built-in warmup, manages deliverability across multiple inboxes, and tracks replies in one unified dashboard. If you need to send thousands of personalized emails without tanking your sender reputation, Instantly is the engine that powers it.

What they solve together

Here's the problem: prospects split their attention between LinkedIn and email. If you only hit one channel, you're leaving meetings on the table. But managing both manually is a nightmare—tracking who responded where, remembering who needs email follow-up, syncing data between platforms.

The HeyReach + Instantly integration solves this by automatically routing leads between channels based on engagement. 

LinkedIn messages go unanswered? That lead hits your email sequence. Connection request ignored for 10 days? Email picks up where LinkedIn left off. You set the rules once, and the integration handles the rest—no manual exports, no forgotten follow-ups, no leads slipping through the cracks. You get double the touchpoints with half the effort, and prospects get reached on whichever channel they actually check.

Setup instructions: Connect HeyReach + Instantly in 5 minutes

Step 1: Generate your Instantly API key

1. Open Instantly and go to Settings → Integrations → API Keys‍
2. Click Create a new key
3. Select all scopes (this makes everything work smoothly—don't skip scopes or you'll get errors later)
4. Click Generate and copy the key

Step 2: Connect Instantly to HeyReach

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1. In HeyReach, go to Integrations → Instantly
2. Click Connect now
3. Paste your Instantly API key when prompted
4. Hit save

You'll see the integration status change to Connected ✅

That's it. The two platforms are now talking to each other.

How to send leads from HeyReach to Instantly

HeyReach gives you two ways to sync leads into Instantly:

Option 1: Send leads to Instantly lead lists

Use this when you want to collect leads first, then decide which campaign to run them through later. Perfect for:

• Leads that need email enrichment before sending
• Segmenting leads before activating campaigns
• Building targeted lists over time

How it works:

1. Add the "Add to Instantly" step in your HeyReach campaign sequence
2. Select "Instantly Lists" as the trigger action
3. Choose which Instantly Lead List you want leads sent to

⚠️ Important: Lead Lists must be created Instantly first. Once created there, they'll automatically appear in HeyReach. If you create a new list, refresh HeyReach to see it.

Where lists appear in Instantly: Instantly → Super Search → Lead Lists

Option 2: Send leads directly to Instantly campaigns

Use this when you want leads to immediately start receiving email sequences. No extra steps—they go straight into an active campaign.

How it works:

1. Add the "Add to Instantly" step in your HeyReach campaign sequence
2. Select "Instantly Campaigns" as the trigger action
3. Pick the campaign you want leads sent to

⚠️ Important: The campaign must already exist in Instantly. Only active campaigns will appear in HeyReach.

Leads handling rules

When HeyReach sends leads to Instantly, here's how emails are handled:

For leads sent to campaigns:

• Leads WITHOUT email → will fail (they won't be added to the campaign)
• Leads with enriched email only → enriched email is sent
• Leads with custom email only → custom email is sent
• Leads with both → custom email takes priority

For leads sent to lists:

• Leads without email → still added (you can enrich them later in Instantly)
• Leads with enriched email only → enriched email is sent
• Leads with custom email only → custom email is sent
• Leads with both → custom email takes priority

☝🏼 Pro tip: If you're not sure leads have emails, send them to a List first. If you know they have emails, send directly to Campaigns for instant activation.

Where to place the "Add to Instantly" step

You can drop this step anywhere in your HeyReach sequence. Common placements:

• At the start (before sending a connection request—build your email list in parallel)
• After ignored connection requests (wait 10 days → no acceptance → trigger email)
• After multiple LinkedIn messages with no reply (tried 3 times, crickets → email time)
• As a fallback (no email found during enrichment → send to List for later enrichment)

Common workflows to set up

Workflow 1: No connection acceptance

• Send connection request → wait 10 days
• If not accepted → Add to Instantly Campaign → start email sequence immediately

Workflow 2: LinkedIn messages ignored

• Send InMail or message → wait 5 days
• No reply → Add to Instantly List (route to "Follow-Up" list, enrich, then activate campaign)

Workflow 3: Warm but unresponsive

• Connection accepted but no replies to messages → Add to Instantly Campaign
• Route to "Warm, No Reply" campaign with softer nurture emails

☝🏼Pro tip: Use different Instantly Lists or Campaigns at different stages based on behavior. Cold prospects get aggressive sequences, warm leads get nurture.

What if a lead has no email?

If you're sending to a campaign:

The lead will fail to be added. Make sure leads have emails before sending them to campaigns, or use the "Find Email" step in HeyReach first.

If you're sending to a list:

The lead will still be added without an email. You can enrich them inside Instantly:

1. Go to the Lead List in Instantly
2. Select the leads without emails
3. Use Instantly's Enrich or Find Emails feature
4. Instantly will attempt to discover their email addresses

Once enriched, move them to a campaign manually.

Moving leads from lists to campaigns (manual process)

If you sent leads to an Instantly List instead of directly to a campaign, here's how to activate them:

1. In Instantly, go to Lead Lists
2. Open the list with your HeyReach leads
3. Select all leads (Instantly requires you to select every lead—you can't send a partial list)
4. Click Move and choose Move to Campaign
5. Select the email campaign you want them in

Now those leads start receiving your email sequences.

⚒️ Troubleshooting

"Add to Instantly" step shows an error

Problem: The step won't save or shows a red error indicator.

Solution: You haven't selected a trigger action. Open the step settings and choose either "Instantly Lists" or "Instantly Campaigns," then select the specific list or campaign. No selection = error.

My new list/campaign isn't showing up in HeyReach

Problem: You created a new list or campaign in Instantly but don't see it in the HeyReach dropdown.

Solution: Refresh HeyReach. The integration pulls lists and campaigns when you load the page, so you need to refresh your browser to see new items.

Leads are failing when sent to campaigns

Problem: Leads aren't being added to the Instantly campaign.

Solution: Check if those leads have email addresses. Leads without emails will fail when sent directly to campaigns. Either:

• Use the "Find Email" step in HeyReach before the "Add to Instantly" step
• Send leads to a List instead, enrich them in Instantly, then move to campaign

Integration shows "Disconnected" or API errors

Problem: The integration was working but suddenly stopped, or you're getting API authentication errors.

Solution:

1. Check if your Instantly API key is still valid (keys can expire or be regenerated)
2. Make sure you selected all scopes when generating the key—missing scopes cause random failures
3. Disconnect and reconnect the integration with a fresh API key

Leads sent to lists aren't receiving emails

Problem: Leads appear in your Instantly list but aren't getting email sequences.

Solution: Leads in a list aren't in a campaign yet. You need to manually move them:

• Go to Instantly → Lead Lists
• Select all leads
• Click Move → Move to Campaign
• Choose your campaign

If you want instant activation, send leads directly to campaigns instead of lists.

Can't move leads to a campaign—button is grayed out

Problem: The "Move to Campaign" option won't work in Instantly.

Solution: You must select all leads in the list. Instantly doesn't allow partial list moves. Click the checkbox at the top of the list to select every lead, then try moving them again.

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