Overview

Generic cold emails get ignored. You know it. Your prospects know it. The moment they see "Hi {{first_name}}, I noticed your company..." they're already reaching for the delete button. But here's the paradox: manual personalization that actually resonates takes 15-20 minutes per email, making it impossible to scale beyond a handful of prospects per day.

Instantly's dynamic variables and custom fields offer a middle path. Instead of choosing between blast-and-pray campaigns or time-intensive manual personalization, you can build templated emails that pull in prospect-specific data automatically. This guide walks through every variable type available in Instantly, shows you how to structure custom fields for maximum impact, and demonstrates real-world patterns that scale personalization without sacrificing relevance.

Understanding Instantly's Variable System

Before diving into implementation, you need to understand how Instantly handles variable substitution. The platform uses double curly brace syntax ({{variable_name}}) to insert dynamic content at send time. When Instantly processes your campaign, it looks up each variable against the lead record and replaces the placeholder with the actual value.

Built-in Variables

Instantly provides several system variables out of the box. These pull from your lead data automatically without any additional setup.

These basic variables handle the foundational personalization that every cold email needs. But relying only on first name and company name is exactly what makes emails feel templated. The real power comes from custom fields.

Custom Variables

Custom variables let you pass any data point into your email templates. This is where personalization moves beyond surface-level tokens into genuinely relevant messaging.

You create custom variables by including additional columns in your lead upload CSV or by mapping enrichment data to custom fields. Any column header in your CSV becomes an available variable, following this naming convention:

Setting Up Custom Fields for Maximum Impact

The structure of your custom fields determines the quality of your personalization. Think of custom fields as the data architecture behind your messaging strategy.

The key insight here is that your custom field structure should mirror your persona and use case modeling. If you're targeting VP of Sales at Series B startups, your custom fields should capture what matters to that specific audience - not generic firmographic data.

Fallback Logic: Handling Missing Data Gracefully

In an ideal world, every lead record would have complete data. Reality is messier. Enrichment fails. Data goes stale. Some prospects simply don't have the information you're looking for. Instantly's fallback system lets you handle these gaps without breaking your campaigns.

Syntax for Fallbacks

Instantly uses the pipe character to define fallback values:

{{variable_name|fallback_value}}

If the variable is empty or missing, Instantly substitutes the fallback value instead. For example:

Conditional Blocks for Complex Scenarios

For more sophisticated logic, you can combine variables with conditional content. While Instantly doesn't have native if/else syntax, you can achieve similar results by creating multiple campaign variants targeted at different data availability scenarios, or by using enrichment tools upstream to populate fallback values before import.

Integrating Enrichment Data into Custom Fields

The power of custom fields multiplies when you connect enrichment tools upstream. Instead of manually researching each prospect, you can automate data collection and flow it directly into your Instantly custom fields.

Common Enrichment Sources

Most GTM teams use some combination of these data sources to populate custom fields:

• Clay: The most flexible option for building enrichment recipes that improve personalization. Clay can pull from dozens of sources, run AI analysis on the results, and output structured data ready for Instantly import.
• Clearbit/Apollo/ZoomInfo: Traditional B2B data providers for firmographic and technographic data.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Role-specific signals, recent posts, job changes.
• News APIs: Recent company mentions, funding announcements, executive changes.
• Website scrapers: Tech stack detection, recent content, hiring signals.

Structuring Enrichment Output for Instantly

When building enrichment workflows, structure your output columns to match Instantly's custom field names exactly. This prevents manual remapping on every import. A typical workflow outputs:

This approach - enriching upstream, then flowing structured data into Instantly - is how top-performing teams achieve outbound data enrichment at scale. The alternative, manual research per prospect, simply doesn't work when you need to reach hundreds or thousands of prospects per week.

For teams managing complex enrichment and personalization pipelines, a context engine like Octave can help unify data from multiple sources and ensure consistent personalization across all your outbound tools.

Template Patterns That Actually Work

Understanding variable syntax is one thing. Using it effectively is another. Here are proven patterns that combine Instantly's variables with solid copywriting principles.

Pattern 1: Trigger-Based Opener

This pattern works best when you have strong trigger data (funding, hiring, news mentions).

Subject: {{trigger_type}} at {{company_name}}

{{first_name}}, saw {{trigger_detail}}.

When companies {{trigger_implication}}, they often {{pain_point}}.

[Value proposition that addresses the pain]

{{relevant_proof}}

Worth a conversation?

The key is making the trigger feel observed, not scraped. "Saw your Series B close last week" feels different than "Noticed your company raised funding."

Pattern 2: Pain-First Approach

When triggers are weak but pain data is strong, lead with the challenge. This pattern aligns with pain-proof-outcome frameworks for sales email.

Subject: {{pain_point}} at {{company_name}}?

{{first_name}}, {{persona_type}} at {{company_stage}} companies often tell us {{pain_statement}}.

{{proof_point}} helped {{similar_company}} {{outcome}}.

[Specific ask or CTA]

Pattern 3: Proof-Centric

When you have strong social proof that matches the prospect's profile, lead with it. See our guide on proof points that convert in cold email for more examples.

Subject: How {{similar_company}} {{outcome}}

{{first_name}}, {{similar_company}} was facing {{shared_challenge}}.

After implementing [solution], they {{specific_result}}.

Given {{relevance_hook}}, thought it might be worth sharing how they did it.

Open to a quick breakdown?

Testing and Optimizing Variable Usage

Variables give you natural A/B testing points without rewriting entire templates. Test which personalization elements drive opens and replies, then double down on what works.

What to Test

• Subject line variables: Does {{company_name}} in the subject improve opens? What about {{trigger_type}}?
• Opener style: Trigger-based vs. pain-based vs. compliment-based first lines
• Proof specificity: Named customer logos vs. anonymized results vs. aggregate metrics
• CTA personalization: Generic ask vs. role-specific value proposition

Measuring Variable Impact

Instantly's analytics show open and reply rates by campaign. To isolate variable impact:

For teams running multiple campaigns simultaneously, tracking which variable combinations perform best becomes complex quickly. This is where Octave provides value - correlating personalization strategies across campaigns and identifying patterns that aren't visible in individual campaign metrics.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced GTM engineers make these errors when setting up Instantly personalization.

Advanced Variable Patterns

Once you've mastered the basics, these advanced patterns can further differentiate your outreach.

Spintax Combined with Variables

Instantly supports spintax syntax ({option1|option2|option3}) for randomizing elements within a template. Combine this with variables for natural variation:

{{first_name}}, {noticed|saw|came across} {{trigger_detail}} and {thought|figured|wondered} if you're {dealing with|running into|facing} {{pain_point}}.

This prevents the "exact same opener" pattern that spam filters and savvy prospects detect across your campaign volume.

Persona-Specific Variable Sets

Different personas need different personalization. Create separate custom field sets for each persona:

• VP Sales fields: quota_pressure, team_size, sales_cycle_length, competitor_used
• RevOps fields: tech_stack, integration_pain, data_quality_issue, reporting_gap
• CMO fields: attribution_challenge, channel_mix, brand_vs_demand_tension

Then build templates that reference the appropriate field set for each segment. This approach requires more upfront work but produces dramatically better sequence performance.

Multi-Touch Variable Strategy

Your follow-up emails need different personalization than your initial outreach. Structure your variable usage to evolve across the sequence:

• Email 1: Trigger + pain + proof (establish relevance)
• Email 2: Different proof point + outcome focus (new angle)
• Email 3: Industry trend + their position (bigger picture)
• Email 4: Simple check-in + one line value reminder

This prevents the awkward "just following up" emails that add nothing to the conversation.

Scaling Personalization Without Breaking

The ultimate goal is personalization that feels custom but operates at scale. Here's how to build systems that don't collapse under volume.

Batch Enrichment Workflows

Don't enrich leads one at a time. Build batch workflows that process hundreds or thousands of leads at once, outputting ready-to-import CSVs with all custom fields populated. Tools like Clay excel at this, and integrating Clay research with sequences creates a seamless pipeline.

Tiered Personalization Investment

Not every lead deserves the same personalization depth. Create tiers:

• Tier 1 (Enterprise/Strategic): Manual research + AI enhancement + human review
• Tier 2 (Mid-Market): Full automated enrichment + AI-generated personalization
• Tier 3 (SMB/Volume): Basic enrichment + segment-level personalization

This lets you maintain high-touch personalization for accounts that matter most while still running efficient campaigns for your broader market.

Quality Control at Scale

Build review steps into your process. Before launching any campaign:

• Spot check 10-20 leads for variable accuracy
• Send test emails to yourself with real lead data
• Review fallback scenarios for empty variables
• Check for data freshness on time-sensitive triggers

The ROI of these checks far exceeds the time invested. One bad batch email to your ICP damages your brand more than dozens of good ones help it.

For teams managing personalization across multiple tools and channels, Octave provides the context infrastructure to ensure consistent, accurate personalization at scale.

Related Articles

• Scaling the Unscalable: A Guide to AI-Powered Cold Email Personalization
• Best Cold Email Software for High Reply Rates in 2026
• Best Tools for Email Deliverability Optimization in 2026
• Clay Enrichment Recipes that Improve Personalization
• Personalization Beyond the First Line