CarcMail quick start guide
The fastest path from signup to your first outbound email — complete in under 20 minutes.
This guide gets you to your first sent email in under 20 minutes. Skip warmup for now — you can always add it before scaling up your volume.
Overview
This guide walks you through the minimum steps to go from a blank CarcMail account to a live outbound campaign. It assumes you have just signed up and completed the onboarding wizard.
There are four things you need before any email goes out: a workspace identity (filled in during onboarding), a connected inbox, a lead list with at least one email address, and a campaign. This guide covers all four as quickly as possible.
Before you start
- You have completed the CarcMail onboarding wizard
- You have access to a Gmail inbox or SMTP credentials for your email provider
- You have at least a small list of real prospects — even 5–10 to start
- You know what you want the email to ask for (a call, a reply, a demo)
Step-by-step
Connect your inbox (2 minutes)
Go to Settings → Inboxes and click Add inbox. Choose Connect Gmail (recommended) or SMTP.
For Gmail, click Sign in with Google and authorise CarcMail. Your inbox will appear as “Connected” within seconds.
For SMTP, you’ll need your host, port, and an app password. See Connect an inbox via SMTP for a full guide.
Import your leads (3 minutes)
Go to Leads and click Import CSV. Upload a CSV file with at least an email column. Map the columns to CarcMail fields — first name, last name, company, and title all improve personalisation.
CarcMail will validate each row and flag any missing or malformed email addresses. Valid leads are imported immediately.
If you don’t have a CSV yet, you can add a single lead manually by clicking Add lead and entering the details by hand.
Create a campaign (5 minutes)
Go to Campaigns and click New campaign. Give the campaign a name (just for your reference), select the inbox to send from, and choose which leads to include.
On the next screen, write a goal for the campaign — a sentence describing what you want the AI to accomplish. Something like: “Book a 20-minute call to show how CarcMail automates outbound for B2B agencies.”
Click Generate email to let the AI draft the first email. Review it, make any edits, and move to the next screen.
Set your daily send limit and launch
On the campaign settings screen, set a daily send limit. For a brand-new inbox, start at 20–30 emails per day. If your inbox has been active for a while, you can go higher.
Review your spam-risk score (aim for 0–2). If it’s higher, follow the suggestions shown to lower it before launching.
Click Start campaign. CarcMail will begin sending emails immediately, respecting your daily limit.
Monitor replies
Go to Replies to see incoming responses. CarcMail automatically classifies each reply as Interested, Not Interested, Out of Office, or Referral. Check back daily to act on interested leads.
How to confirm it worked
After launching:
- The campaign status on the Campaigns page should show “Active”
- The Send logs page will show each email sent with a timestamp and status
- Your credit balance will decrease as emails go out (1 credit per email sent)
It can take a few minutes for the first batch of emails to start sending. CarcMail queues sends and distributes them across the day to avoid sending everything at once.
Common issues
| Issue | What to check |
|---|---|
| Campaign shows “Paused” immediately | Check your credit balance. If it’s 0, upgrade or wait for the next billing cycle. |
| No leads appear in the campaign | Make sure you selected leads during setup. Go back to campaign settings and add leads. |
| Spam score is very high | Follow the suggested fixes on the campaign screen before sending. |
| Replies aren’t appearing | Go to Settings → Inboxes and click Check replies to manually trigger a reply sync. |
Ready to scale your outbound?
Once your first campaign is running, the next step is warming up your inbox to safely increase daily volume.
Learn about inbox warmupPut it into practice
Try CarcMail — free to start.
Set up your first campaign in 4 minutes. AI drafts, spam-risk checks, follow-up automation, and reply classification — all in one workspace.
Was this doc helpful?