Sequences · Every plan
Email sequence software, built for cold email.
Write the first email and the follow-ups once, test up to 5 versions of each, and read every one as a real lead will before it goes out. Ballast sends them from your own mailboxes, in each lead's working hours, and stops the moment someone answers.
Ballast is cold email software with every feature on every plan. Connect unlimited mailboxes, send sequences at a pace your domains survive, and handle replies in one inbox, priced by the emails you send.
Last updated
The editor
Write it once. Read it as each lead will.
Variables with fallbacks, spintax and variants in one editor, with the preview and the content checks next to the text.
Rendered by the real template engine
To Maya Okafor <maya@brightline.io>
Quick question about Brightline
Hey Maya,
Saw that Brightline is hiring two SDRs. Teams that size lose the first month to setup: lists in one tool, mailboxes in another, replies nobody reads.
We get new reps sending from their own mailboxes in a day, with the replies sorted for them.
Worth a short call next week to see if it fits?
Sam
What a sequence can do
Everything a cold sequence needs, on every plan.
Steps and waits
Up to 10 steps, each waiting up to 60 days after the one before. Follow-ups reply in the same thread with Re: and the subject the lead really got, or start a new thread when you want a fresh opener.
A/B variants, A to E
Up to 5 variants a step, weighted 1x to 3x. Each lead gets one variant per step, picked the same way every time, so a resend never shows them a different email.
Variables with fallbacks
{{firstName|there}} fills in the lead's first name, or "there" when it's empty. Lead fields, sender fields and your own CSV columns all work, and the preview warns you before a lead gets a blank.
Spintax
{Quick|Short} question picks one option per lead, nested options included. Variables inside spintax are left alone, and each lead's pick stays the same in the preview and in the sent email.
Preview against real leads
Pick any lead in the campaign and read the email exactly as they will, with their variables filled in and their spintax picked. Shuffle to see another version.
Sent in each lead's time zone
Choose the days and hours once. Ballast sends inside that window in each lead's own time zone, with optional start and end dates for the campaign.
Stops when it should
A reply stops the sequence for that lead, and optionally for everyone at their company. Out of office pauses it until the return date in the reply, and an unsubscribe stops it for good.
Written with AI, if you want
Write with AI drafts a whole sequence from your offer profile, or rewrites, shortens or tries a new angle on one email. Drafts arrive as variants turned off: nothing you wrote changes.
Content checks
Eight checks while you type.
Every email is checked as you write it. First emails get stricter ranges than follow-ups, because a stranger decides in a few seconds whether to read on. A check that fails warns you; it never blocks you.
| Check | First email | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|
| CharactersShort emails get read on a phone. Long ones get skimmed or skipped. | 250 to 900 | 25 to 600 |
| WordsMost replies come from emails a reader can take in at a glance. | 50 to 150 | 5 to 100 |
| Spam wordsSales phrases trip filters and sound like every other pitch. | 0 | 0 |
| QuestionsOne clear question gets answers. Several make the reader work. | 1 to 2 | 0 to 2 |
| VariabilitySpintax options make each email a little different, so filters don't see the same text a thousand times. | 3+ | 2+ |
| ImagesImages in a first email look like marketing and hurt delivery. | 0 | 0 |
| LinksEvery link is a reason for a filter to look closer. One at most. | 0 to 1 | 0 to 1 |
| EmojisEmojis read as marketing in a business inbox. | 0 to 1 | 0 to 1 |
How it sends
Paced like a person, not a blast.
Each mailbox waits a random 4 to 10 minutes between emails and never passes its daily limit. New mailboxes ramp up slowly. Gmail leads get Gmail mailboxes and Outlook leads get Outlook mailboxes when you have both.
- One click to leave
- Every email carries a one-click unsubscribe header (RFC 8058), which Gmail's sender guidelines ask for.
- Breakers when bounces climb
- A campaign whose bounce rate passes its limit pauses on its own and says why. Nothing else stops. How sending safety works
- A/B on replies, not opens
- A variant wins once each variant in the step has 50 sends and it beats the runner-up on reply rate. Opens are off unless you turn them on.
The honest part
A sequence can't fix the list.
Follow-ups get more replies from the right people and more unsubscribes from the wrong ones. If you don't know who you're writing to and why they'd answer, more steps won't help. Start with a short list you'd be happy to call, and check your domain before the first send.
Read next
How many follow-ups, and when.
The editor sets no number of steps for you. This guide covers how many to send, how long to wait between them and what each one should say.
Questions
What is email sequence software?
A tool that sends a series of emails to each lead on a schedule, one step at a time, and stops when the lead replies. For cold email it also has to rotate your mailboxes, keep each one under its daily limit and handle bounces and unsubscribes.
How many steps should a cold email sequence have?
Ballast allows up to 10. Most cold sequences work with 3 or 4: the first email and two or three short follow-ups a few days apart, each in the same thread. Past that, replies drop and unsubscribes rise.
How does A/B testing pick a winner?
Ballast compares reply rates, not opens. A variant becomes the winner once every variant in the step has at least 50 sends and it beats the runner-up. Until then it says it's too early to call.
Are sequences limited on cheaper plans?
No. Steps, variants, spintax, previews, Write with AI and the schedule are on every plan. Plans only set how many emails you send a month.
Can my AI write and launch a sequence?
Yes. Every editor action is a tool on the Ballast MCP server, so Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor can draft the steps, preview them against your leads and launch. Launching asks you to confirm first.
Do follow-ups land in the same thread?
Yes, by default. Each follow-up carries In-Reply-To and References headers and Re: plus the first email's subject, so Gmail and Outlook show the whole sequence as one conversation. You can start a new thread on any step.
Write the sequence. Send it steady.
Sequences, A/B variants, warmup, the Unibox and the API on every plan, from $19 a month.