Smartlead Integration

Paste one Smartlead API key into SendWaves and your SendWaves mailboxes are added to Smartlead for you, ready to send. No CSV files and no typing in SMTP settings. New mailboxes follow on their own.

Before you start

• A Smartlead plan with API access. SendWaves adds mailboxes through Smartlead's API. If your plan doesn't include it, SendWaves tells you when you paste the key.
• Owner or admin role in SendWaves. Anyone on your team can see the Integrations window, but only team owners and admins can connect, change or disconnect a tool.
• A few minutes. Getting the key takes about a minute. Mailboxes usually show up in Smartlead within a few minutes of being added.

Step 1: Get your Smartlead API key

1. Log in to Smartlead.
2. Click your profile icon at the top right and open Settings & Profile.
3. Click API Key Management. Use an Admin API Key from the top section, not a Client API Key.
4. Click + Create Admin Key. If Smartlead asks for a name, type one you'll recognize, such as SendWaves.
5. Copy the key with the copy button next to it. The key stays on this page, so you can come back later to show or copy it again.

Smartlead's own guides: Smartlead API authentication (finding your key) and How multiple admin API keys work.

Treat the key like a password. Smartlead's key gives full access to your Smartlead account. Don't paste it into email or chat. You only paste it into SendWaves.

Step 2: Connect Smartlead in SendWaves

1. Log in to the SendWaves app.
2. Click the gear icon at the top right to open your user menu.
3. Click Integrations. It sits just above API Keys.

The connect window has two steps.

Step 1 of 2: Paste your API key

4. If you already connected Instantly, click Connect another tool.
5. Paste your Smartlead key into the box Paste your Instantly or Smartlead API key.
6. Click Next at the bottom right. (On a phone, Next is the top button.) Next stays grey until you paste a key.

Step 2 of 2: Choose warmup

7. SendWaves checks the key and works out which tool it belongs to, so you don't have to pick Smartlead from a list. Step 2, Choose warmup, opens with a green line: Valid key — Smartlead account found. Smartlead doesn't share an account name, so make sure you copied the key from the Smartlead account you want to use.
8. In the highlighted box, Last step: choose warmup to connect, answer Turn on Smartlead warmup? with Yes or No (see the next section).
9. Click Connect at the bottom right. Connect stays grey until you pick Yes or No. To change the key, click Previous to go back to step 1.

Under both steps, Need detailed setup instructions? links to this guide and the Instantly guide.

Your key is stored encrypted. SendWaves uses it only to add and update your SendWaves mailboxes in Smartlead. You can disconnect at any time.

Warmup: Yes or No

Warmup is Smartlead's feature that sends and replies to emails between real inboxes, so a new mailbox builds a good sending reputation before you start a campaign. It's your choice. Neither answer is picked for you, and neither is the "right" one.

Yes

Your mailboxes are added and SendWaves turns Smartlead warmup on for each one, using Smartlead's own warmup settings (about 45 to 50 warmup emails a day, 20% reply rate). Warmup emails are separate from the 100 sending emails a day.

No

Your mailboxes are added with Smartlead warmup off. Pick this if you warm up another way or want to decide per mailbox in Smartlead.

Your choice applies to every mailbox SendWaves adds to Smartlead, including ones that were already in Smartlead before you connected. You can change it later (see Change settings later).

What SendWaves sets up in Smartlead

Each mailbox arrives in Smartlead as a working email account. You don't need to enter anything. Here is every setting and what it means:

Sender name

The name people see in their inbox. It comes from the mailbox's sender name in SendWaves. If a mailbox has no sender name, SendWaves uses the part of the address before the @.

Sending and receiving settings

The mailbox's SMTP and IMAP login, so Smartlead can send from it and read replies. SendWaves fills these in for you.

Daily limit: 100

Smartlead sends at most 100 campaign emails a day from each mailbox (warmup emails are separate). 100 a day is the SendWaves limit per mailbox, so this keeps you inside it.

5 minutes between sends

Smartlead waits at least 5 minutes between two emails from the same mailbox. At that pace, 100 emails take about 8 hours, which spreads sending through the working day and looks natural to inbox providers.

Warmup

On or off, as you chose when connecting. When on, Smartlead uses its own warmup settings.

SendWaves tag

Every mailbox is tagged SendWaves in Smartlead, so you can find your SendWaves mailboxes quickly.

You can change any of these in Smartlead afterward. SendWaves doesn't undo changes you make there.

Which mailboxes are added, and when

• Only mailboxes that are ready to send. A mailbox is ready when its domain is active and its DKIM record is confirmed. That's the signature that proves your emails really come from your domain. Sending before then would hurt deliverability.
• Others wait, then go by themselves. A mailbox on a new domain shows Adding when DNS is ready. As soon as its DNS is ready, SendWaves adds it. You don't need to do anything.
• New mailboxes are added automatically. When you buy more mailboxes later, they go to Smartlead as soon as they're ready.
• Mailboxes already in Smartlead are linked, not duplicated. If you had added a SendWaves mailbox to Smartlead yourself, SendWaves finds it and links it. It sets the 100-a-day limit and the 5-minute gap, applies your warmup choice and adds the SendWaves tag. It never creates a second copy.
• How fast. SendWaves works through mailboxes every few minutes. Most arrive within 5 minutes.

If Smartlead is the second tool you connect (after Instantly), nothing is added at first. See Using Smartlead and Instantly together.

Check each mailbox's status

Your mailbox table in SendWaves shows where each mailbox stands in Smartlead, right under its address.

Smartlead mark (a small purple "S")

The mailbox is in Smartlead. Tap or hover it to see "In Smartlead".

Smartlead mark with a small clock

The mailbox is being added right now. This usually takes a few minutes.

Adding when DNS is ready

The domain or its DKIM record isn't ready yet. The mailbox goes to Smartlead by itself once it is.

Waiting for a new Smartlead key

Smartlead stopped accepting your key. Paste a new key (see Messages and how to fix them). Waiting mailboxes are then added.

Our team is on it

Smartlead had a temporary problem with this mailbox. SendWaves retried several times on its own and has now passed it to our team. You don't need to do anything.

Red chip with Retry

Something only you can fix in Smartlead, such as an account that is full. Click the chip to read what to do, fix it in Smartlead, then click Retry.

Team members who aren't owners or admins see Details instead of Retry, with a note to ask an owner or admin.

Change settings later

Open the user menu and click Integrations again. The Sending tools window shows, for each connected tool:

• your Smartlead connection, the last four characters of your key and the date you connected;
• counts: how many mailboxes are in Smartlead, how many are on the way, and how many need you;
• the Warmup switch, and a Disconnect link.

To turn warmup on or off: flip the Warmup switch and confirm. The change applies to every SendWaves mailbox already in Smartlead, and to new ones. If Smartlead doesn't accept the change right away, SendWaves tells you and keeps retrying on its own (up to 5 tries, waiting longer each time). If it still can't, our team is alerted and follows up. New mailboxes use the new setting either way.

To use a new key: if Smartlead stops accepting your key, a box appears here asking for a new one. Paste it and click Save key. Your warmup choice and history are kept.

To move to a different Smartlead account: disconnect first, then connect with a key from the other account. You can connect one Smartlead account at a time.

Deleting mailboxes and disconnecting

You delete a mailbox in SendWaves

SendWaves removes it from Smartlead too, within a few minutes. The same happens when you delete a whole domain. This stops Smartlead from trying to send from an address that no longer works.

You disconnect Smartlead

SendWaves deletes your key and makes no more changes in Smartlead. Mailboxes already in Smartlead stay there with their current settings, so running campaigns aren't cut off. You can also revoke the key in Smartlead. If you connect again later, mailboxes are linked, not duplicated.

Note that after you disconnect, deleting a mailbox in SendWaves no longer removes it from Smartlead. Remove it there yourself.

Messages and how to fix them

"This key didn't work in Instantly or Smartlead."

The key was mistyped, cut short or revoked. Copy the key again from Smartlead, or create a new Admin key, and paste it.

"This Smartlead plan doesn't include API access."

Upgrade your plan in Smartlead, then paste the key again. If your plan changes after you connected, mailboxes show a red Smartlead plan has no API access chip instead: upgrade, then click Retry on the chip.

"Account full"

Your Smartlead plan has no room for more email accounts. Raise the limit in Smartlead (upgrade, or remove accounts you don't use), then click Retry on the red chip. Mailboxes wait until then. Nothing is lost.

"Smartlead stopped accepting your key"

The key was deleted or changed in Smartlead. Open Integrations, paste a new key and click Save key. Mailboxes that were waiting are added again.

"Smartlead is already connected."

Your team already has a Smartlead connection. To use a key from another account, disconnect the current one first.

"Couldn't check the key."

SendWaves couldn't reach Smartlead just then. It doesn't mean your key is wrong. Click Try again.

"Our team is on it"

Smartlead couldn't log in to the mailbox or had a temporary error. SendWaves retries automatically with growing waits. If it still fails, our team is alerted and follows up. No action is needed from you.

Using Smartlead and Instantly together

You can connect both tools. The first tool you connect gets all your ready mailboxes and new ones automatically. When you connect a second tool, nothing is added to it at first. You choose:

• select mailboxes in the table, click Add to… and pick the tool;
• in the Sending tools window, set New mailboxes go to: Instantly, Smartlead or Both. Both means each new mailbox sends from both tools.

If one mailbox sends from both tools, the 100-a-day SendWaves limit is shared between them. Plan your campaigns with that in mind. See Instantly Integration.

FAQ

Need help?

If you get stuck or see a message that isn't covered here, use the chat button at the bottom right of the SendWaves app. Our team will help you. Please don't send us your API key. We never need it.