The difference between a “blast” and Apollo Space outbound
Most cold outreach tools do a blast: take a list, send the same text to everyone, swap in{first_name}, and call it “personalization.” Recipients see through it immediately — reply rates hit the floor.
Apollo Space works differently. For every lead, Marcus does public research (via Scout/Tavily), composes a message grounded in a real signal about that lead, and sends it on the right channel at the right time.
Campaign types
Drip
A sequence of N touches spread over time. Configurable cadence.
Each touch is a fresh composition — not a reused parameterized
template.
Oneshot
A single touch. Useful for point-in-time sends (launch, event,
announcement). Ends on reply or after N days.
Follow-up
Reactive cadence: sends the next touch only if the recipient
hasn’t replied within the defined window. Auto-drops on reply.
Campaign flow
You define the audience and intent
Select a set of leads from the CRM (filter, imported list, entire
pipeline) and describe the campaign goal in plain text
(e.g., “introduce product X to prospects in sector Y”).
Signal gather (per lead)
Marcus delegates to Scout a public search on
each lead — website, recent post, new hire, award, job change.
Output: 3–5 cited snippets that ground the composition.
Compose (per lead)
Using the signals, the org’s voice, and the recipient’s persona,
Marcus generates the draft. At this point it decides:
- channel (email vs. WhatsApp based on availability)
- tone (formal / casual, per the org’s
voice_md) - specific CTA (call, link, reply, demo)
HITL — human approval (optional)
By default, every draft waits for approval. You review the text,
see the snippets that informed it, and approve / edit / reject.
Alternative modes: auto-approve (low-risk campaigns), batch-approve
(approve an entire run after a spot-check).
Delivery
Once approved, Marcus sends via the configured channel (email via Resend /
Gmail, WhatsApp via Twilio). Idempotent — retries never duplicate
a message.
WhatsApp 24-hour window
Meta has a strict rule for WhatsApp Business:- Once the customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens
- Inside that window: you can send any free-form text
- Outside it: the first message must be a Meta-approved template
- Detects whether an open window exists with the lead
- Window open → free-form text in the org’s voice
- Window closed → an appropriate template from your Twilio Messaging Service
Metrics
Each campaign and each individual touch exposes:| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Delivery rate | Delivered / sent (filters out bounces) |
| Open rate | Detected opens (email only — WhatsApp has no reliable read receipt) |
| Reply rate | % of leads who replied |
| Reply-to-CTA rate | % of replies that accepted the call to action |
| Opt-out rate | % of leads who asked to stop |
| Bounce rate | % of emails that weren’t delivered |
| Total cost | Stars consumed over the course of the campaign |
When NOT to use automated outbound
This section is here to be honest:- Enterprise sales with 6-month+ cycles — automated outbound helps with the first touch, but the rest of the cycle is human consultative work. Don’t try to automate the entire sale.
- Highly regulated markets (healthcare, finance) — check local rules on cold outreach first. Apollo Space gives you the tools, but legal responsibility is yours.
- Low-quality purchased lists — outbound on a bad list is spam even with personalization. You burn your domain and phone number.
Next steps
Marcus
The agent that executes outbound, in depth.
WhatsApp setup
Connect Twilio and an approved number.
CRM
The lead base that outbound campaigns operate on.
Brain
Where org voice and knowledge live.