An r/coldemail post: first-time campaign for a hyper-niched local SEO/AEO agency. This walks the recipe end-to-end.
Prerequisites
- Instantly Growth ($30-47/mo) or Smartlead Basic ($39/mo)
- Sender domain (separate from main agency domain)
- Scavio API key
- Vertical-specific opening templates
Walkthrough
Step 1: Set up sender domain warmup
2-4 weeks warmup before high-volume sends.
Text
// Create outreach.youragency.com → SPF + DKIM + DMARC → enable warmup → leave for 3 weeks.Step 2: Build target list
Instantly lead-gen, Apollo, or scraped from public sources.
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// Filter: vertical='dentists' AND city='Tampa' AND size='1-10'.Step 3: Per-prospect Scavio research
Site latest news + AI Overview + Reddit signal.
Python
import requests, os
H = {'x-api-key': os.environ['SCAVIO_API_KEY']}
def research(name, domain):
s = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', headers=H, json={'query': f'site:{domain} latest news 2026'}).json()
a = requests.post('https://api.scavio.dev/api/v1/search', headers=H, json={'query': f'{name} 2026', 'include_ai_overview': True}).json()
return {'site': s, 'overview': a.get('ai_overview')}Step 4: Generate hyper-niched opening lines per prospect
LLM with research context.
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// Prompt: 'Given research [...], write 1 opening line that references something specific. Be human.'Step 5: Configure Instantly/Smartlead campaign
Sender, sequence, openings interpolated per prospect.
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// Sequence: 1 opener + 2 follow-ups. Daily cap 30/sender. Increase gradually.Step 6: Send + measure first 200
Open rate, reply rate, reply quality.
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// Quality > volume: 200 personalized > 2,000 generic for niche outbound.Python Example
Python
# Per-prospect cost: ~$0.01 Scavio research + ~$0.01 LLM = ~$0.02/prospect. 1K prospects = $20.JavaScript Example
JavaScript
// Same shape in TS / Node.Expected Output
JSON
Disciplined first cold email campaign with hyper-niched openings, warmed sender, and measurable per-prospect cost.