Sign up on Apollo's free plan, define one narrow customer profile, search and verify a small list, connect a separate sending domain with authentication and warm-up, then run a short sequence written with AI from your own product facts. Start with 20 to 30 emails a day per mailbox, and put an opt-out and your postal address in every email.
The reason to go in that order is that Apollo makes finding people easy and sending to them easier, so the mistakes tend to arrive fast: a list that is too broad, a domain that gets flagged, an email that sounds like every other one. A slow, narrow start protects your domain, which is the asset you cannot replace.
The steps below follow a three-person startup selling a returns-tracking tool to online clothing stores. Every number is an illustration, and Apollo's plans change, so check the pricing page before you buy.
Step 1: Pick one customer and write it down
Apollo's database is large, which makes it tempting to search for everyone. Instead, write a customer profile in four lines before you open the app: the type of company, its size, the person who would feel the pain and the trigger that makes them care now.
For the returns-tracking startup: online clothing stores, 5 to 50 employees, the owner or head of operations, with a trigger such as using a store platform and running sales that cause return spikes. If you cannot write the four lines, your outreach will be vague, and no amount of AI polish will fix that.
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Buy nowStep 2: Understand the plans and credits before you spend anything
As of Apollo's pricing page in November 2026, plans are priced per seat. The Free plan is $0 with 900 credits per seat a year, granted monthly, and two sequences. Basic is $49 per seat per month billed annually with 30,000 credits a year, unlimited sequences and the deliverability suite with email warm-up. Professional is $79 per seat per month billed annually with 48,000 credits a year and adds A/Z testing and AI lead scoring. Organization is $119 per seat per month billed annually with a three-seat minimum and 72,000 credits a year. A monthly billing option exists at a higher price, so look at it on the page. Trials of paid plans last 14 days and include 75 credits.
| Plan | Price per seat | Credits per year | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 900, granted monthly | Testing your targeting, a few dozen contacts |
| Basic | $49 a month, billed annually | 30,000 upfront | A founder running steady outreach |
| Professional | $79 a month, billed annually | 48,000 upfront | A first salesperson, testing and scoring |
| Organization | $119 a month, billed annually, 3 seats minimum | 72,000 upfront | A team with several sellers |
Credits are what you spend: an email address costs 1 credit, a phone number 8, enrichment between 1 and 8 depending on what you request, and each AI research run 1. Unused credits do not roll over at the end of a billing cycle, so there is no gain in hoarding them. The credit settings page lets you track usage by person and cap how much each user can spend.
A quick sum for a founder on Basic: 30,000 credits a year is 2,500 a month. If you only reveal emails, that is up to 2,500 contacts a month. If you also reveal phone numbers for 20% of them, the cost per contact becomes 1 + (0.2 x 8) = 2.6 credits, so about 960 contacts a month. Most startups will not need that many, since a narrow list of 300 to 500 well-chosen contacts is more useful than thousands of loosely matched ones.
Apollo has a startup programme that gives 50% off for one year. Its page lists the conditions, which include a team of fewer than 20 people, no existing Apollo subscription, a valid company domain and an affiliation with one of its startup ecosystem partners. The discount covers the Basic or Professional plan for up to five seats. If you qualify, apply before you pay, because an existing subscription rules you out. The wider overview of Apollo's plans compared has more on what changes between tiers.
Step 3: Build a search and keep the list small
In Apollo's people search, apply filters in layers: job titles, company size, industry or keywords, and location only if your product needs it. Then save the search. The Free plan limits some filters, and advanced filters sit on paid tiers, so a first search may have fewer options than you expect.
A realistic first search for the example startup: titles containing owner, founder or head of operations; company size 5 to 50; keywords such as clothing, fashion or apparel; websites on common store platforms if the filter is available. Look at 25 results by hand. If more than five look wrong, tighten the keywords before you reveal any contact data, because each reveal spends credits.
Create a list named by the segment and date, for example "clothing stores 5-50 Nov". Add 100 people to start. Check the email status Apollo shows for each contact before sending anything: anything not shown as verified goes into a separate list, not the first send.
Step 4: Use AI for research, not for the whole email
Apollo has its own AI features, including an assistant and AI research runs at 1 credit per run, and you can also use ChatGPT or Claude on a $20 plan. The best use of any of them is turning facts into a short, specific first line and a clear ask. The worst use is generating a full email from a company name.
I run a small startup selling a returns-tracking tool to online
clothing stores. Below are facts about ONE prospect from their website.
Write two possible opening lines (under 25 words each) that refer to
something specific in the facts, with no flattery. Then write a
three-sentence email: the problem I think they have, what we do in one
sentence, a low-pressure question. Do not invent facts about them.
Facts: [paste 3 to 4 facts from their site]An illustrative output for a store that offers 30-day returns and a size guide: "Opening line: I noticed your 30-day returns page links to a form rather than a tracked status. Email: Stores that take returns by form often end up answering 'where is my refund' by hand. We show customers the return status and flag stuck parcels to you. Is returns handling a headache at your size, or already sorted?" Edit the output: shorten it, replace anything you cannot prove, and make sure the question is one a busy owner can answer in a line.
Do this for the first 20 prospects by hand, and only then consider scaling with Apollo's AI features or a prompt that covers a batch. When you reach batch work, paste facts in groups of five and read every output. The tutorials on ChatGPT prompts for B2B cold emails and on writing cold emails with AI that stay out of spam go deeper on wording.
Step 5: Connect a mailbox and protect your domain
This is the step that decides whether any of your emails are read. On Apollo's free plan you can connect Gmail accounts only; paid plans allow Microsoft and other providers. Do not send cold email from your main company domain. Buy a close variant, such as a "get" or "try" version of your name, set it up with its own mailbox, and keep your main domain for customers and investors.
On that sending domain, set up three records with your domain host: SPF, DKIM and DMARC. They tell receiving servers that you are allowed to send as that domain. Apollo's Basic and higher plans include a deliverability suite and email warm-up, and the walkthrough on authenticating your domain before sending goes through it. A new mailbox should warm up for two to four weeks, sending small volumes and getting replies, before you run a campaign. In that time, you can do the research and list-building above.
Mailbox providers publish sender rules too. Google's sender guidelines ask senders to keep the spam rate shown in its Postmaster Tools below 0.3% and to aim for under 0.1%, and anyone sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts must also use SPF, DKIM and DMARC and offer one-click unsubscribe on marketing mail. Check Google's page, and the rules of any other provider your buyers use, before you scale up.
Step 6: Build a short sequence
A sequence in Apollo is a series of scheduled emails, with steps spaced by days. Keep the first one to three or four steps. More is not better, and long chains of follow-ups can annoy people and raise complaints.
| Step | Day | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | Specific first line, problem, one-line offer, a yes/no question |
| 2 | 3 | A short follow-up with one useful fact or a one-line example |
| 3 | 7 | A different angle and an easy exit: "If this is not for you, tell me and I will not write again" |
| 4 (optional) | 14 | A closing note, no pressure |
Use merge fields for first name and company, and set a fallback value in case a field is empty, so no email goes out starting "Hi ,". Send a test to yourself and to a mailbox at a different provider, and check how each renders. The free plan allows two sequences, which is enough for a test. Unlimited sequences come with Basic.
Step 7: Know the consent rules before the first send
This is general information, not legal advice, and the rules differ by place and by type of recipient, so ask a qualified adviser if you have any doubt.
- CAN-SPAM: applies to business-to-business email too. It does not require prior consent, but it does require accurate header information, a subject line that reflects the content, clear disclosure that the message is an advertisement, a valid postal address, a clear way to opt out, and honouring opt-outs within 10 business days. Read the official CAN-SPAM compliance guide for the detail.
- UK GDPR and PECR: business email to a corporate address is generally treated differently from email to sole traders and some partnerships, who count as individuals and generally need consent. Personal data still needs a lawful basis, usually legitimate interests with a documented assessment, plus clear information about who you are and how to object.
- EU recipients: rules vary by country; get advice before emailing at volume.
In practice, make it plain that the email is a sales approach, put your company name, postal address and a one-line opt-out in every email, and keep one suppression list of everyone who says no, so the same person is never emailed again from any sequence. The longer write-up on Apollo's data sources, GDPR and opt-outs covers what to ask Apollo about where its data comes from.
A full first email and two follow-ups, filled in
Abstract advice about "specific first lines" only goes so far, so here is a complete illustrative sequence for the returns-tracking startup, aimed at the owner of a small online clothing store. Replace every detail with facts you can show.
Email 1, day 0. Subject: "Returns status at [company]". Body: "Hi [first name], I saw that returns on your site start with a form. We built a small tool that shows customers where their return is and tells you when a parcel is stuck, so fewer 'where is my refund' emails land in your inbox. Would a short look be useful, or is returns already under control? [your name], [company name], [postal address]. If you would rather not hear from me, reply 'stop' and I will not email again."
Email 2, day 3. "Hi [first name], one example of what I mean: a store with a 30-day returns window will often have a handful of parcels each week that sit unscanned at the carrier. Our tool lists them each morning. Happy to show you on your own return page if that helps. [your name]".
Email 3, day 7. "Hi [first name], last note from me. If returns tracking is not on your list this quarter, no problem, and a quick 'not now' will stop my emails. If it is, I can show you in ten minutes. [your name]".
Look at what this does. Each email is under 80 words, makes one point, offers an exit, and contains no claim that needs a case study. The postal address and opt-out line cover two of the sender rules above; whether the wording also meets the advertisement-disclosure rule for your recipients is a question for an adviser. The statement about carrier scans is a general description of how returns work, not a statistic, and you would only send it if your product really does what it says.
Handling the replies you get back
Replies need a plan because they arrive in a trickle and the first few hours matter. Create four labels in your inbox or CRM: interested, not now, wrong person and do not contact. Then keep short templates for each, so you can answer in a minute.
- Interested: reply the same day with two time options for a call and one line on what you will show.
- Not now: thank them, ask whether to check back in three months, and set a reminder only if they say yes.
- Wrong person: ask who handles it, and thank them. Add the referred contact to a new list.
- Do not contact: add to your suppression list immediately, and stop any active sequence for that person.
A chat assistant can help classify a batch of replies. Paste ten, with names removed, and ask it to label each and draft a one-line response for the interested ones. You still read and send each yourself. Misreading a polite "no" as "interested" is the common failure, so skim the originals.
A second example: a different market
The same set-up works for a startup selling to a different kind of buyer. Say a two-person startup sells a stock-count app to specialist food importers. The search changes: titles such as warehouse manager or operations lead, company size 10 to 100, keywords like import, wholesale and ambient or chilled goods. The first line draws on something you can see, such as a job advert for a warehouse role, which hints at stock handling pains. Credits behave the same way, and 2,500 a month on Basic is far more than the 150 well-researched contacts they need to reach. The lesson is that the limit is your ability to personalise, not Apollo's allowance.
A three-week plan for the first campaign
- Days 1 to 3: write the customer profile, sign up on the Free plan, run three searches, and inspect 25 results each. Decide which segment you will test.
- Days 4 to 7: buy the sending domain, create the mailbox, set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, and start warm-up. If you plan to move to Basic, check the startup discount first.
- Week 2: build the list of 100, verify emails, write first lines for 20 by hand with AI help, and draft the three-step sequence. Keep warm-up running.
- Week 3: send to 50 contacts at 20 to 30 emails a day, answer replies the same day, and review the four numbers after seven days.
By the end of week three you have a tested segment, a working domain and a sequence with real response data, for a total of one month of $49 on Basic or nothing on Free. That is a far better position than a bulk send in week one.
Step 8: Launch small and read the numbers
Send the first sequence to 50 contacts, not 500. After a week, look at four numbers: bounce rate, replies, positive replies and unsubscribes. As rough guides, a bounce rate above about 3 to 5% suggests your list is dirty, and any spam complaint is a reason to pause and look at who you are targeting. For the example startup, an illustrative result might be 50 sent, 2 bounces, 6 replies, 2 positive: a 12% reply rate and a 4% positive rate. That is a base to improve, not a verdict.
Change one thing at a time: the first line, the question or the target segment. After three rounds, you will know which segment replies, which is worth more than the volume you could send.
Mistakes that cost startups their domain
- Buying the plan before defining the customer. Credits are spent on contacts nobody wanted.
- Sending from the main domain. One bad week of complaints and your invoices land in spam.
- Skipping warm-up. A fresh domain sending 200 emails on day one looks like abuse.
- Pasting AI output unread. A claim you cannot back up, like "I saw you raised funding", sinks trust.
- Ignoring replies. Reply to positive responses within hours, and mark negatives as do-not-contact at once.
Where it fits with the rest of your stack
Once replies come in, send interested contacts into your CRM rather than leaving them in Apollo; the guide to pushing Apollo prospects into your CRM with Zapier shows one way. And if you want a second opinion on your target customer and first sequence, a short AI implementation consultation can go through them with you before you send anything.
Apollo set-up questions from small startups
Which Apollo plan should a startup begin on?
Begin on the Free plan to test searches and your own targeting, then move to Basic when you need unlimited sequences and the deliverability tools. The Free plan has 900 credits a year and two sequences, which is enough to test an idea but not to run steady outreach. Check Apollo's pricing page for current terms.
Does Apollo discount startups?
Apollo has a startup programme with 50% off the Basic or Professional plan for one year, for up to five seats. Its page lists conditions, including a team of fewer than 20 people, no existing Apollo subscription, a company domain and an affiliation with one of its startup ecosystem partners. Check the eligibility wording on Apollo's startups page before you buy at full price.
Is cold email to businesses legal?
It depends on where recipients are and who they are. CAN-SPAM requires honest headers, identification as an advertisement, a postal address and a working opt-out, and does not require prior consent. Under UK GDPR and PECR, business-to-business email is treated differently for companies than for sole traders. This is general information, not legal advice; ask a qualified adviser.
How many emails can I safely send a day?
Start low, around 20 to 30 per mailbox a day, and raise it slowly while watching replies and bounces. Apollo's plan comparison caps daily sends at 250 emails on Free and Basic, and mailbox providers set their own limits. Sending more than you can personalise, from a brand-new domain, is the fastest way to land in spam.
Further reads
- Startup AI Tools for Growth: 8 That Earn Their Subscription — Other growth tools that justify a startup subscription.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Apollo.io pricing page and Apollo for Startups page, Google email sender guidelines, CAN-SPAM Act compliance guide for business, data-protection regulator guidance on business-to-business email, checked November 2026. Not legal advice.