Outreach Engine

Step 1

Prospects arrive here from three other modules

Backlink Monitor sends lost links over for recovery, Competitor sends gap prospects, and the Backlinks prospect finder sends sites worth pitching. In every case the domain lands in the box, the pitch angle is preset, and a violet note tells you which module sent it and why. A 'Clear' link empties it if you'd rather start from scratch. Landing here is always free — Draft is the paid step.

Step 2

Get prospects from the Backlinks module

Use the AI link-prospect finder in the Backlinks module, then copy a prospect URL. Or paste any blog / podcast / journalist page directly.

Step 3

Pick a pitch angle chip

6 canonical angles — guest post / link insert / link restore / tool collab / podcast / resource page. Click the chip and the AI prompt is steered for that angle. Free text still works for anything else. Sticking to the chips is worth it: the reply-rate breakdown groups by angle, so a typo'd one-off angle becomes its own lonely bucket and tells you nothing.

Step 4

Click 'Draft single email' (2 credits)

Outerank reads their page and writes a peer-tone subject + body. If the draft fails our quality check (length, AI-authorship leaks), you are NOT charged — the credit refunds automatically.

Step 5

Or 'Draft 3-step sequence' (2 credits)

Initial + 2 follow-ups, each shorter with a fresh angle. Refund-on-fail applies per step.

Step 6

Find their email with 'Find emails' (7 credits)

Hunter.io domain-search with confidence + role. We only charge when Hunter returns at least one email — empty results refund. When Hunter's monthly quota is exhausted, an amber banner says so explicitly (instead of silent 'no emails').

Step 7

Copy → send from your own inbox → track status

We don't send for you on purpose (better deliverability + you keep sender reputation control). Mark Sent → Replied → Declined; auto-stamped timestamps power the funnel chart.

Step 8

v2 — Connect your Gmail inbox (OAuth, one click)

Under 'Connected inboxes', click 'Connect Gmail'. You'll bounce to Google's consent screen, then back to Outerank. Your OAuth tokens are Fernet-encrypted at rest. From then on, every 'Send' button ACTUALLY sends from your Gmail — no copy/paste. Disconnect any time.

Step 9

v2 — Bulk-add prospects (paste OR CSV)

Instead of one URL at a time, use the 'Bulk add' section. Two ways in: (1) paste a comma/tab/semicolon-separated block from Apollo or a spreadsheet — the 'Fill from clipboard' button auto-parses it. (2) 'Import CSV' — upload a CSV/TSV file from Apollo, Hunter, LeadMagic, Snov, or anything else. Header row is auto-detected and columns are mapped (Email / Name / Company / URL / Notes). Duplicates within the project are skipped automatically. Cap: 5,000 rows per file, 8 MB.

Step 10

v2 — Schedule sends (Phase 2)

Instead of firing immediately, hit 'Schedule send' on any draft. Pick a date + time in your own timezone. Outerank stores it in outreach_scheduled_sends; the outreach_scheduled_dispatch cron picks up due rows every minute and sends via your connected inbox. Cancel anytime before dispatch.

Step 11

v2 — Auto reply detection (Phase 3)

Once you've sent, the outreach_reply_detection cron polls your inbox via IMAP hourly and looks for replies in the same thread. When one lands, the campaign auto-flips to 'Replied' (and the follow-up sequence is auto-cancelled so you never accidentally follow up on someone who already answered).

Step 12

v2 — Respect the unsubscribe (outreach_unsubscribes)

Any recipient who clicks the unsubscribe footer lands in a global outreach_unsubscribes table. From then on, that email is refused across every project — you cannot accidentally re-add them via bulk-import. Legal + deliverability both need this.

Step 13

v2 — Inbox warmup (outreach_warmup_liftoff)

A brand-new Gmail sending 100 cold emails on day 1 = spam folder guaranteed. The outreach_warmup_liftoff cron gradually ramps the daily send cap for a newly-connected inbox (5 → 10 → 25 → 50 → 100 over ~14 days) so Google trusts you're a real sender.