Are you struggling to automate your lead generation? Or perhaps your current tools aren't generating the right leads? Or maybe you're drowning in the complexities of cold email outreach...
If that sounds like you, this blog is for you…
Every business, including yours and mine, aims to grow. The main challenge is generating enough quality leads to support that growth. You might be using different tools to try and get ahead, just like your competitors.
So, how can you gain a competitive edge?
This isn’t just another review blog on a generic tool. Over the past couple of months, I've personally leveraged Instantly.ai’s features: from its unlimited email warmup to managing multiple email account replies, to significantly enhance my lead generation outcomes.
🌟 In this blog, I'll walk you through what Instantly.ai is and its extensive feature set.
🌟 We'll explore its pricing and discuss the unique value proposition it offers.
🌟 You’ll learn about both the perks and the pitfalls of Instantly.ai, ensuring you know exactly what you’re getting into.
🌟 Lastly, I'll cover why some users might consider Salesforge a worthy alternative.
Let’s get into it!
Instantly is a cold email outreach platform that automates and streamlines the process of sending emails to potential customers.
Its key features include:
Here's a breakdown of Instantly key features:
Let's say you're new to a networking event. If you bombard everyone with introductions right away, people might get suspicious. That's similar to sending a ton of emails from a new email account. Email providers might flag you as spam.
Instantly's unlimited email warmup solves this by gradually increasing the number of emails you send from each connected account. This helps build a good reputation with email providers. It increases the chances your messages landing in inboxes and avoiding the spam folder.
Cold emailing random people is like cold calling wrong numbers. It's a waste of time and effort.
Instantly (with its paid plan) offers a massive B2B contact database exceeding 160 million entries.
With Instantly’s Lead Finder, you can search for potential customers based on specific criteria. You can filter their LinkedIn profiles by starting with criteria like Job Title, Location, to keywords used in their profiles.
Generic emails that start with "Hi there" style greetings rarely grab attention. Instantly allows you to craft targeted email sequences. Think of it as a series of automated messages, like a mini conversation. You can personalize each email with details like the recipient's name company, or even mention something specific from their profile. This personalization can significantly increase your response rates compared to generic emails.
As an example, imagine the difference between someone calling you by name at a networking event versus a generic "Excuse me."
Instantly's Unibox feature (available exclusively in paid plans) acts as a central hub for all your replies. No more switching between accounts!
You can manage conversations, track responses, and stay organized, all within one unified inbox. This saves you time and keeps your outreach efforts super streamlined.
Instantly provides valuable insights and analytics on your campaigns. You can see which emails get opened, which ones get clicked, and how many replies you generate.
This data allows you to identify what resonates with your audience and what needs improvement. You can use this information to refine your approach, craft better emails, and, ultimately, achieve better results.
Instantly offers three main pricing plans: Growth, Hypergrowth, and Lightspeed.
All Plans Include:
Growth Plan ($37/month) and ($30/month - paid annually):
Hypergrowth Plan ($97/month) and ($77.6/month - paid annually):
Lightspeed Plan ($358/month) and ($286.3/month - paid annually):
Recommendation:
When choosing an Instantly plan, consider your specific needs: number of leads, email sending volume and other desired features. It might also be helpful to contact their sales team for clarification on specific features and pricing details. Now, let’s move to the pros and cons of Instantly...
Instantly doesn't just throw you into the deep end of cold emailing. They understand that, especially for beginners, sending cold emails can feel daunting.
That's why they provide a variety of free resources and AI features for writing emails. The AI even sends warm-up emails and replies to your emails. From crafting compelling subject lines to writing effective email copy that gets responses, you get it all.
But some people feel the lead generation is still ineffective.
One of the things users appreciate most about Instantly is their commitment to ongoing development. The Instantly team actively listens to user feedback and constantly works on adding new features and functionalities.
This means you can be confident that the tool you're using is staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in cold email marketing. So, even if there might be a feature you'd like to see today that isn't currently available, there's a good chance it could be on the horizon thanks to Instantly's dedication to improvement.
Instantly understands that not everyone who uses their platform is a tech whiz. That's why they've designed their interface to be user-friendly and intuitive.
Users consistently praise the platform's ease of use, highlighting how straightforward it is to set up, navigate, and learn the ropes. So, you can focus on what truly matters: crafting compelling cold emails and building relationships with potential customers. But Instantly users found that there is no way to tag email accounts. And the number of accounts in a campaign is limited.
Imagine putting a lot of effort into your sales strategy, only to discover that the leads you're contacting aren't suitable for your business.
This is a common complaint among users of the Instantly lead finder tool, which has been criticized for its inability to accurately target and qualify leads. Just as a new phone number needs to build trust, a lead finder must precisely identify the right prospects. Without this, your outreach efforts could be wasted, contacting leads with no interest in your offerings.
The Instantly system charges more as usage increases, starting at $0.03 per email, which can quickly become costly.
Users have reported that even after paying for plans, some features remain inaccessible, requiring them to buy additional plans or contact customer support.
This complex and escalating pricing model appears to frustrate users seeking a straightforward, affordable solution.
Keeping track of your email campaigns is crucial to see what's working and what's not. Unfortunately, some Instantly users have experienced issues with inaccurate data tracking.
Imagine you think your emails are crushing it, but the numbers are inflated! This makes it difficult to understand how well your campaigns are actually performing and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Setting up customized signatures is complex and user-unfriendly.
The email warmup process is unreliable, often disconnecting and requiring repeated interventions from the support team to restart. This causes significant disruptions and time wastage. Many users have also recommended adding features to transfer emails seamlessly between campaigns targeting non-bounced and non-unsubscribed contacts. And they want an import history feature to simplify the management of bulk emails.
Instantly is a platform designed to automate and streamline cold email outreach.
It offers features like:
Pricing Summary:
Plans: Growth ($30-$37/month), Hypergrowth ($77-$97/month), Lightspeed ($286-$358/month)
Pros:
Cons:
Note: the price tags do not match the value for some users!
👉 Price Pinch: Instantly pricing can feel steep, especially for basic plans. You might find similar features on other platforms for a better price.
👉 Limited Features on a Budget: The Growth Plan restricts the number of leads you can manage and emails you can send each month. Upgrading unlocks more features, but that means spending more.
👉 Spam Filter Frustration: Some Instantly users report emails ending up in spam despite using the warmup feature. This defeats the purpose of your outreach efforts.
👉 Tracking Troubles: Inaccurate data tracking Instantly can make it difficult to measure your campaign's success. You might be wasting efforts on strategies that seem effective based on inflated numbers.
👉 Customer Support Conundrum: Inconsistent customer support with slow response times or unhelpful answers can be frustrating, especially if you encounter technical difficulties.
Let's start with understanding what Salesforge is and how it distinguishes itself as a superior alternative to Instantly. Then, we'll delve into a comparison of their features, followed by a look at pricing, and finally, we'll discuss which tool might be the better choice for your needs.
Salesforge isn't just another email automation tool; it's a comprehensive toolkit built to take cold email outreach to the next level. Unlike Instantly, which primarily focuses on automation, Salesforge takes a holistic approach by prioritizing inbox deliverability, advanced personalization, and cost-effectiveness.
Salesforge:
Instantly:
Salesforge:
Instantly:
Salesforge:
Instantly:
Personalization:
Managing Replies:
Tracking and Analytics:
Email Warm-up:
Instantly:
Salesforge:
And if that's all too much information, here's a quick comparison table for the TL;DR:
Comparison Table: Salesforge vs. Instantly
Here’s why Simon, a small business owner, prefers Salesforge over Instantly. Here’s the complete review:
👉 Salesforge is a strong and efficient tool for email marketing
Salesforge can create personalized emails that are tailored specifically to each person receiving them. Salesforge also works very wellat making sure emails actually reach people’s inboxes instead of getting caught by spam filters.
👉 Cheaper when you use it more
Salesforge becomes cheaper when you send more emails, making it a good choice for growing businesses. Look at this review by Ryan.K, a small business owner:
👉 Unique way of creating emails.
Salesforge uses advanced smart technology to write unique emails by looking up information on the internet, which makes these emails very effective.
Here’s how you can create unique emails from any mailbox. Join the 15 min email masterclass now! 🔥
👉 Suits businesses of varied needs
Salesforge makes marketing campaigns more effective: It uses special techniques to make sure emails reach the right people and catch their interest. It's also great for businesses needing specific solutions: and it’s especially good for businesses that need their emails to be very specific and well-integrated into their overall business strategy. Finally, Salesforge works well for international businesses and can handle multiple languages and is suitable for businesses that operate in different countries.
Creating the perfect email is not easy. It needs a lot of practice. But sometimes, even the best emails don’t get noticed. Now, let’s talk about Instantly... maybe we should call it “Instantly Outdated”? Instantly is a decent tool for sending bulk emails automatically, but is it really effective in filling your pipeline? Instantly misses out on effective deliverability and personalization.
Here’s a quick recap of how Salesforge turns out to be a better alternative.
So, what now?
Let’s end the talking stage and sign up for a free 7-day trial and take control of your cold email game today!