Agency New Business, Run Through Instantly
PPC agencies have an unfair advantage in cold email: the prospect's problem is publicly visible. A company running Google or Meta ads is broadcasting its targeting, its creative, and — to a trained eye — its waste. Broad-match bleed, missing negative keywords, ads pointing at a homepage instead of a landing page. That visible waste is the opener, and it converts far better than "we're a marketing agency, want a call?"
Instantly is where the sequences, A/Z testing, and reply handling live. ColdRelay is the infrastructure underneath — the secondary domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs that Instantly actually sends from. This guide covers how paid-media agencies wire the two together and structure audit-led campaigns that book strategy calls without ever risking the agency's own domain.
Why Run Instantly on ColdRelay Infrastructure
Instantly is a sending and sequencing platform — it sends from whatever mailboxes you connect to it. It doesn't provision the domains or guarantee the deliverability of the mailboxes themselves; that's the infrastructure layer's job.
That's where ColdRelay fits. Instead of buying Google Workspace seats one at a time and hand-configuring DNS across a dozen domains, you order dedicated mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs, fully DNS-configured (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and ready in about an hour. You bulk-import those mailboxes into Instantly and start sending the same day — no warmup waiting period, because warmup runs continuously as part of each mailbox's send budget.
The pairing is additive, not competitive: ColdRelay is the infrastructure, Instantly is the sender on top. You keep Instantly's campaign builder, A/Z variant testing, and Unibox — you just give them mailboxes built to land. For an agency, that matters doubly: the same domain you use to email clients about their accounts should never be the domain you prospect from.
Visit Instantly →Connecting ColdRelay Mailboxes to Instantly
Provision mailboxes on ColdRelay
Pick secondary domains adjacent to your agency brand — never your primary client-facing domain. ColdRelay supports 100-150 mailboxes per domain; most agencies start with 50-150 mailboxes across 1-2 domains. Everything provisions on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs in about an hour, with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC already configured.
Bulk-import the mailboxes into Instantly
Export your mailbox list with SMTP/IMAP credentials from the ColdRelay dashboard, then use Instantly's bulk import under Email Accounts to connect them all in one upload. Each mailbox connects as its own sending account so Instantly can rotate across the full pool.
Set sending limits to match the ColdRelay budget
In each account's settings, cap the daily campaign limit at 2 outbound emails per day — mirroring ColdRelay's per-mailbox budget of 4 sends/day total, split 2 outbound + 2 warmup. Leave ColdRelay's continuous warmup running rather than stacking Instantly's warmup pool on top.
Build the audit campaign in the campaign builder
Create a campaign in Instantly's campaign builder, upload your list of companies verified to be running ads, and attach all connected mailboxes for rotation. Use custom variables for the specific waste signal you spotted — the keyword bleeding budget, the homepage-as-landing-page — so each email reads like the start of an audit, not a blast.
A/Z test the audit offer, then work the Unibox
Run Instantly's A/Z testing across variants of the offer framing — free 15-minute teardown vs. a recorded Loom audit vs. a one-page wasted-spend report — and let the variant data pick the winner. Replies land in the Unibox; staff it daily, because an interested CMO who replied this morning is worth more than tomorrow's sends.
The PPC Agency Instantly Playbook
Lead with the wasted-spend audit, not the agency pitch
Open by pointing at something specific and fixable in the prospect's live campaigns — broad-match terms eating budget, no negative keyword list, ads driving paid clicks to a generic homepage. One concrete observation outperforms any credentials paragraph, and it proves you actually looked.
Target by ad-spend signal, not firmographics alone
Build lists from companies visibly running ads: Google Ads Transparency Center, the Meta Ad Library, and ad-intelligence tools surface advertisers by vertical and geography. A company already spending on paid media has budget, urgency, and a measurable problem — the three things a cold list usually lacks.
Make ROAS case studies do the proving
Your second and third touches in the sequence should carry one number-led proof point — "cut a 7-figure ecom account's CPA 34% in 60 days" — matched to the prospect's vertical where possible. Use Instantly's A/Z testing to find which case study framing pulls replies in each segment.
Let retainer math justify aggressive volume
A single closed client on a typical monthly retainer pays for a year of outbound infrastructure and software combined. That economics means agencies should size the mailbox pool to pipeline targets, not to cost — at 2 outbound sends/day per mailbox, 100 mailboxes is 200 personalized audit openers every day.
Typical PPC Agency Outbound Benchmarks (Instantly + ColdRelay)
| Metric | Benchmark | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox placement rate | 95%+ | Dedicated IPs and isolated tenants outperform shared Google/Microsoft pools |
| Reply rate | 3-7% | Audit-led openers that cite a specific waste signal beat generic agency pitches |
| Outbound capacity per mailbox | 2/day | 4 sends/day total per mailbox — 2 outbound + 2 warmup |
| Time to first campaign | Same day | ~60 minutes to provision, plus campaign setup in Instantly |
| Payback on one closed client | ~12 months of outbound | A single retainer client typically covers a year of infrastructure plus software |
What It Costs: Instantly + ColdRelay
You pay per mailbox per month for the infrastructure, with volume tiers that drop as you scale (see the table below). DNS, dedicated IPs, and isolated Azure tenants are included.
Instantly is billed separately on its own subscription for the campaign builder, A/Z testing, and the Unibox — priced per its current plans.
Infrastructure cost scales with mailbox count; Instantly's cost scales with plan tier. For an agency on retainer economics, the combined stack is a rounding error against one closed client — which is why most agencies size up the mailbox pool rather than down.
| Mailboxes | ColdRelay price / mailbox / month |
|---|---|
| 1–199 | $1.00 |
| 200–999 | $0.85 |
| 1,000–4,999 | $0.70 |
| 5,000+ | $0.55 |
Each mailbox sends 4 emails per day — 2 outbound to prospects + 2 warmup. ColdRelay provisions mailboxes on isolated Azure tenants with dedicated IPs; Instantly handles the sending, sequencing, and inbox rotation on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ColdRelay replace Instantly?
No. They do different jobs. Instantly handles campaigns, A/Z testing, and reply management in the Unibox. ColdRelay provides the underlying domains, mailboxes, and dedicated IPs that Instantly sends from. They're complementary layers — you use them together.
Will prospecting through Instantly hurt our agency's main domain?
Not when the mailboxes come from ColdRelay. Outbound runs on separate secondary domains, dedicated IPs, and isolated Azure tenants — completely walled off from the domain you use for client reporting, billing, and account access emails.
Do I still need Instantly's warmup pool if I use ColdRelay?
ColdRelay mailboxes run their own continuous warmup — 2 warmup sends/day per mailbox as part of the 4/day budget — so there's no waiting period before sending. You generally don't need to stack Instantly's warmup on top; point Instantly at outbound sending only.
How do PPC agencies find prospects that are actually running ads?
Use the Google Ads Transparency Center and Meta Ad Library to confirm a company is live with ads, and ad-intelligence tools to filter by vertical, geography, and estimated spend. Verifying the ad-spend signal before importing the list into Instantly is what makes the wasted-spend audit opener credible — you're commenting on campaigns you've actually seen.