Overview
The outbound copilot is currently in beta and is only available to select users. Stay tuned as we automatically roll out this feature to additional people!
The outbound copilot lets you quickly create workflows that automate your prospecting and engagement. Use the copilot to automatically find people who match your ideal customer profile, then add them to lists or sequences. The outbound copilot helps turn leads into meetings faster with smart automation and tailored actions.
Check out the following sections to learn more about how to use the outbound copilot.
Test Drive the Copilot
Imagine you're a sales operation lead at a mid-market business specializing in education software. You can use the copilot to automatically generate prospects and add them to a list every 2 weeks, enabling your teams to focus on outbound efforts without the hassle of manual list generation. The copilot offers easy set up and automation with full transparency.
Check out how it works:
While this tour explores one scenario, you can also automatically add prospects to a new or existing sequence when you use the outbound copilot.
Use the Outbound Copilot
To use the outbound copilot:
- Launch Apollo and click Workflows.
- Click Outbound Copilot.
- Apollo automatically adds filters to find prospects for you based on your company website. To add more filters, click Add a filter, or click Upload CSV to import a CSV of existing contacts.
- Click Preview people.
- Apollo previews prospects matching the filters you selected.
- Next, edit your automation settings to define how often you run the copilot, the number of people you want to add each time it runs, and whether you want to manually or automatically approve adding new people to the workflow.
What are workflow runs? You can run the outbound copilot only once, and for example, build a list with a maximum of 100 people by checking Max people per run.
Or you can run it repeatedly, so that it adds 100 new people every two weeks. Just set a cadence by days, weeks, or months, allowing you to continuously add new prospects to your list or sequence. Set your preferred weekday for the run, and optionally check Set end date to control when the outbound copilot should stop. 
- Review the credit cost, and hover over the cost for details.
- Click Next: Set up actions.
- Choose where to add the prospects in your workflow:
Add to a list
To add contacts to a list:
- Click To a list then select or search for an existing list in Apollo. Click My to narrow your search to lists created by you, or click Team to narrow your search to lists created and shared by your team.
- Alternatively, click Create new list to add prospects to a new list.
- When finished, continue to the next step of your outbound copilot flow.
Sequences are outreach campaigns that sales teams use to reach out to contacts over a planned period of time, with sequential touchpoints like phone calls, emails, social media engagement, and other tasks.
You can create a sequence from scratch, from a template, or use AI to build your sequence.
From scratch
To build from scratch:
- Click Add a step then choose the type of sequence step you want to add, like automatic email, manual email, phone call, action item, or LinkedIn task.
- Repeat to add more steps. Mix and match sequence steps to tailor your approach to your target audience and run a multichannel outreach campaign.
- Click Send emails from and select which mailbox should send emails in the sequence. By default, Apollo selects the contact owner. Check Rotate mailboxes to rotate sending from multiple mailboxes, then choose whether to rotate only mailboxes that send from Mailgun, only direct mailboxes you own, or all mailboxes. Click Update to confirm.
- Click Settings to set a sequence sending schedule which controls the day and time that you send emails. You can also create or edit a sequence ruleset to protect you from sending emails to the wrong people and to manage triggers and automations based on how prospects interact with your outreach. You can optionally add the sequence to a folder or add tags to make it easier to find.
- When finished, click Save sequence, then continue to the next step of your outbound copilot flow.
Learn more about creating a sequence from scratch.
From a template
To build from a template:
- Click Select a template, then choose from templates built by Apollo.
Want to learn more about a particular template? Check out the template library on Apollo Academy — and join the Apollo community! Our community of over 1,000 sales professionals are passionate about sharing and learning industry-leading sales tactics. You can learn more Apollo hacks, proactive sales tips, and network with other like-minded sales souls working hard to hone their craft.
- Click Add and customize, then edit the sequence steps or add more steps to tailor your approach to your target audience and run a multichannel outreach campaign.
- Click Send emails from and select which mailbox should send emails in the sequence. By default, Apollo selects the contact owner. Check rotate mailboxes to rotate sending from multiple mailboxes, then choose whether to rotate Mailgun mailboxes, direct mailboxes you own, or all mailboxes. Click Update to confirm.
- Click Settings to set a sequence sending schedule which controls the day and time that you send emails. You can also create or edit a sequence ruleset to protect you from sending emails to the wrong people and to manage triggers and automations based on how prospects interact with your outreach. You can optionally add the sequence to a folder or add tags to make it easier to find.
- When finished, click Save sequence, then continue to the next step of your outbound copilot flow.
Use AI
To build a sequence with AI:
- Click AI-Assisted Sequence.
- Apollo AI generates a sequence for you. This process can take a moment.
- Spot check each sequence step and email, and edit them as needed.
- Click Edit my information to adjust the customer pain points, value props, and other insights managed in your content center.
- When finished, click Save sequence.
- Click Send emails from and select which mailbox should send emails in the sequence. By default, Apollo selects the contact owner. Check rotate mailboxes to rotate sending from multiple mailboxes, then choose whether to rotate only mailboxes sending from Mailgun, only direct mailboxes you own, or all mailboxes. Click Update to confirm.
- Click Settings to set a sequence sending schedule which controls the day and time that you send emails. You can also create or edit a sequence ruleset to protect you from sending emails to the wrong people and to manage triggers and automations based on how prospects interact with your outreach. You can optionally add the sequence to a folder or add tags to make it easier to find.
- When finished, click Save sequence, then continue to the next step of your outbound copilot flow.
Add to an existing sequence
To add contacts to an existing sequence:
- Click Use existing sequence then select or search for an existing sequence in Apollo.
- Click Done, then continue to the next step of outbound copilot.
- Click Next: Review.
- Add a descriptive name to your workflow. Click Show details to add an optional description.
- Review your workflow settings and the workflow visualization.
- When finished, click Create workflow then choose whether to activate it.
You have now created a workflow using the outbound copilot. Depending on your configuration, Apollo automatically enrolls additional prospects who match your filters, then adds them to your selected sequence or list. You can check the status and complete tasks on the workflow as needed.
Curious what else you can accomplish on Apollo? For more complex use cases, create customizable workflows that use automation to optimize your outbound campaigns.
Check Workflow Status
To check the status of your workflow:
- Launch Apollo and click Workflows.
- Apollo shows all of your workflows.
- Workflows created with the outbound copilot have an Apollo AI badge.
- Apollo shares the last run and the next scheduled run for your workflow.
- Click the workflow for more details.
- Click a tab to review additional details about the workflow:
| Tab | Description |
|---|---|
| Overview | Overview shows the total number of people who were enrolled in your sequence or list, as well as the total in progress and failed. Apollo shares the associated sequence or list. You can review manual tasks, enrolled contacts, and an activity log. |
| Workflow | Review a visualization of your workflow. |
| Settings | Review settings for your workflow. Click Edit in outbound copilot to adjust settings. |
| Enrollment | Check the total number of workflow runs, the total number of people who were enrolled in your sequence or list, as well as the total in progress and failed. Review enrolled contacts. |
| Email metrics | Review email statistics for your workflow, including the number of emails sent, number of emails delivered, number of emails opened, number of emails replied, number of emails interested, and percentage of emails bounced. |
| Tasks | Complete assigned tasks to stay on track with your workflow engagement. |
| Activity | Review a dedicated activity log for the workflow, and use filters to find specific activities. |
Next Steps
Complete tasks to stay on track with your engagement:
- You can make calls directly on Apollo to reach contacts by phone without juggling multiple apps.
- View and respond to emails on Apollo to stay connected to prospects.
- Reach out on LinkedIn to execute your multichannel outreach.
You can edit or deactivate your workflow as needed.