Outreach is SeekOut's built-in email tool that lets you send automated, personalized email sequences to candidates — all without leaving your workflow. This guide walks you through everything you need to get your first campaign up and running.
Before You Begin
Complete these two setup steps before launching any campaign.
1. Connect your email account
Go to your Outreach Settings and connect your preferred email provider (Google, Microsoft Outlook 365, or others). Without this, you won't be able to send messages. If you haven't done this yet, follow the Email Connection guide.
2. Create a Workspace
Outreach lives inside SeekOut Workspaces. If you don't have one yet, follow the Workspace setup guide to create one before continuing.
Setting up your Outreach campaign
Outreach is located within each of your Workspaces, as shown below:
Step 1: Get Candidate Email Addresses
Candidates need an email address on file before you can include them in a campaign. Candidates missing one will show a Missing email status.
To retrieve email addresses, go to the Outreach tab inside your Outreach, then:
Individual candidates: Click Get email next to a candidate's name (uses one contact credit).
All candidates at once: Click Get email for all in the toolbar above the candidate list.
See the Contact Information Credits guide to understand how credits are counted.
Step 2: Create a Sequence
A Sequence is the series of emails that will be automatically sent to your candidates on a schedule you control.
In your Workspace open the Outreach tab and click Create Sequence.
Choose how you'd like to start:
Create Sequence with AI — SeekOut drafts messaging for you. See the AI Messaging guide.
Create new from scratch — Build your emails manually (covered in the steps below).
Sequences library — Reuse a Sequence you've saved before. See the Sequences Library guide.
Note: Please read our guide on Creating multiple Outreach campaigns in a Workspace for information on how to create multiple Outreach campaigns in a single Workspace
Step 3: Write Your Email
In the Outreach editor, add a subject line and write your message. Use the formatting toolbar to style your text.
Tip: Click the {X} buttons to insert personalization variables — like the candidate's name, job title, or the day of the week — that will auto-fill when the email sends.
Optional Customizations
Signature — Click the pen icon, then Add Signature. Format it using the toolbar and click Save signature. Use PNG or JPG logo files under 64KB for best results.
Attachments — Click the paperclip icon to attach a file. Note that some email providers may block emails with attachments before they're opened, which can lower your open rate. If you notice poor open rates, try removing attachments.
Templates — Click the envelope icon to save your message as a template for future campaigns, or to load a template you've already created.
Step 4: Add Follow-Up Emails
Click Add step to include additional emails in your Sequence. For each step you can:
Set a delay — Choose how many hours or days to wait before sending the next email. Spacing emails out naturally helps avoid spam filters.
Choose thread behavior — Click the arrow next to New thread and select either Send in the same thread (for continuity) or Send in new thread (for distinct, separate messages).
Click Save when you're done configuring each step.
Step 5: Set Your Send Schedule
Click Change on the left side of the editor to configure your sending preferences:
Select which email address to send from.
Choose which days of the week to send.
Set your preferred time zone and sending window.
Click Save when finished.
Step 6: Verify Your Email Limits
Before launching, confirm your send limits are configured correctly. Access these via Outreach settings (next to the Outreach tab) or Global outreach settings in the schedule panel.
The two key limits to know:
Delay between messages — Time (in seconds) between individual sends. Default is 120 seconds.
Send limit per day — Maximum emails sent per day. Default is 720.
These limits exist to protect your sender reputation and prevent your messages from being flagged as spam. We recommend leaving them at their defaults unless your mail server requires otherwise. If your campaign has more candidates than your daily limit allows, SeekOut will automatically space out delivery to stay within your parameters.
Step 7: Test Your Campaign
Always test before sending to real candidates. Testing lets you catch issues with personalization tokens, formatting, and links before they affect the candidate experience.
Select your candidates, then click Preview.
Scroll through each candidate's message. Click Customize message to make individual edits if needed.
Click the dropdown arrow next to Start campaign and select Test email.
Choose the step to test, enter your email address (or a colleague's), and click Send test message.
Review the email in your inbox and check that all elements look correct.
To make edits, deselect your candidates, go back to the Outreach tab, and click Edit sequence. Repeat for every step.
Note: Once you've customized a specific candidate's message individually, you can no longer edit the overall campaign template via Edit sequence for that candidate.
Step 8: Launch Your Campaign
When everything looks good, start sending:
Single candidate: Click Start campaign next to their name.
Multiple candidates: Bulk select them, click Preview, then choose Start campaign for [X candidates] from the dropdown.
SeekOut will begin sending emails according to your defined schedule.
Understanding Campaign Statuses
Once a campaign is running, you'll see a status next to each candidate's name. Here's what each one means:
Status | What it means |
Waiting for Preview | The candidate has a valid email and is ready for you to preview and launch. |
Missing Email | No email on file. Click Get email to use a credit, or manually add one. |
Running | The campaign is actively sending to this candidate. |
Paused | The campaign has been paused. Click Resume Campaign to continue. |
Opened | The candidate opened at least one of your messages. |
Replied | The candidate replied to one or more messages. |
Clicked | The candidate clicked a link in your message. |
Campaign Ended | All messages have been sent. The campaign is complete. |
Error | Something went wrong. Contact your CSM or email [email protected]. |
Bounced | The message couldn't be delivered. Click Add email to update the address, then restart the campaign. |