The short version
Export from Personade, upload to Instantly, put {{video_link}} in your copy.
There is no API key to paste and nothing to connect. Personade writes a CSV in Instantly’s own column names, so the import maps itself and one custom variable does the rest.
- No connection to set up
- You send from your own inboxes
- Re-export as often as you like, free
One row, one page
This is what the variable
actually resolves to
Every row in the export carries its own video_link. At send time your sequence swaps {{video_link}}for that lead’s page, and this is the page.
| first_name | company | video_link |
|---|---|---|
| Maya | Fernwood | /p/maya-fernwood |
| Tom | Northbeam | /p/tom-northbeam |
| Priya | Otterly | /p/priya-otterly |
Three rows shown. A real export has one per lead, and four more columns.
Maya at Fernwood
Maya, I went through your site this week and made you a short walkthrough of the one thing I'd change first.
For
Maya
Setup
Four steps, once
01
Build the campaign in Personade
Record your demo once, bring or find your leads, and let Personade build a video and a page for each of them. The first three render for you to approve before the rest of the batch runs.
02
Export the Instantly preset
On the campaign, choose Export and pick Instantly. You get a CSV with Instantly's own column names already in place, so nothing needs renaming. Leads with no email address, or whose page has not rendered yet, are left out and counted for you.
03
Upload it and map one column
In Instantly, upload the CSV to your campaign. Email, first name and company map themselves. Map video_link as a Custom Variable, and thumbnail_url too if you want the embedded image.
04
Put the variable in your copy
Write your sequence as you normally would and drop {{video_link}} where the link belongs. Instantly swaps in a different page for every lead at send time.
What is in the file
Seven columns, already named the way Instantly wants them
| Column | What it holds |
|---|---|
email | Who it goes to |
first_name | Also spoken aloud in the video |
company | Their company |
website | Their site, if we found it |
linkedin_url | Their profile, if we found it |
video_link | Their page. Map this one as a Custom Variable |
thumbnail_url | Their poster frame, play button baked in |
Map video_link as a Custom Variable when Instantly asks. Everything else it recognises on its own.
The email
One line does the work
The link is the whole pitch. You do not need to explain the video, and you should not oversell it: the page opens with their name and company on it, so it explains itself.
If you would rather show the thumbnail in the body, Personade gives you the HTML for that too, wrapping thumbnail_url in a link so the image is clickable and a plain text link survives underneath it.
Plain link
Hey {{first_name}}, I made you a short video, it makes sense about five seconds in: {{video_link}}
With the thumbnail
<a href="{{video_link}}">
<img src="{{thumbnail_url}}" width="480"
alt="A video for you" />
</a>
<p><a href="{{video_link}}">Watch the video</a></p>After the send
Export again, by what people actually did
Personade tracks who opened the page, how far they watched, who clicked and who booked. You can export any of those groups back into a new Instantly sequence, and re-exporting costs no credits.
Coldest
Not opened yet
Nobody saw it. That is a subject line and a sending problem, not a video problem. Re-export this group into a bump sequence.
Warmest
Opened or watched, no click
They watched you and did not act. This is your warmest untouched group and the one most worth a second, shorter email.
Everyone left
Everyone except booked
The straightforward follow-up list. Everyone still in play, with the people already on your calendar removed.
An open tells you an email was rendered. A watch tells you someone gave you forty seconds. They are not the same signal, and only one of them is worth chasing.
Questions people ask about this
Does Personade send the emails?
No, and that is deliberate. Personade builds the videos and the pages and hands you a CSV. Instantly does the sending from your own inboxes, so your deliverability, your warmup and your domain reputation stay entirely yours. We are never in the sending chain.
What exactly do I put in the email?
One variable: {{video_link}}. A line like "Hey {{first_name}}, I made you a short video, it makes sense about five seconds in: {{video_link}}" is enough. If you want the thumbnail image in the body, Personade also gives you ready-made HTML that wraps thumbnail_url in a link.
Will a video link hurt my deliverability?
A link is a link. Personade adds one URL to an email you were already sending, from an inbox you already warmed, at a volume you already control. It does not add tracking pixels to your email and it does not send on your behalf. The usual rules still apply: warm your domains, keep volumes sane, write like a person.
Is the video actually different for each lead, or just the page?
The video itself. Personade writes an opening line for each lead, speaks it in your cloned voice, and lip-syncs it onto your real recorded footage. The demo you recorded never changes; only the greeting does. The person on screen is always you.
How many videos can I send in one campaign?
Your plan's monthly credits, where one credit is one video for one lead. You can export the same campaign as many times as you like without spending anything extra, which is what makes follow-up sequences cheap.
Do I need to re-record for a follow-up email?
No. The same video and the same page work across every step of the sequence. Most people link the video in step one and simply refer back to it later.
Sending from Smartlead instead? Same idea, different column names. Or read how Personade builds the videos.
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