How to Use DenchClaw for Cold Outreach Campaigns

Cold outreach works when it's organized. Most people fail at cold outreach not because their offer is bad but because their process is chaotic—spreadsheets that go stale, follow-ups that fall through the cracks, no way to see what's actually working. DenchClaw gives you a proper system for cold outreach that runs entirely on your machine, with an AI agent that can draft, track, and follow up on your behalf.

Here's how to set it up from scratch.

Step 1: Build Your Outreach Object#

The first thing you need is a dedicated outreach object—a table that's specifically designed for prospecting, separate from your general contacts or deals pipeline.

Ask DenchClaw to create it:

"Create an outreach object with fields: Full Name, Email, Company, Title, 
LinkedIn URL, Outreach Status (enum: Not Contacted, Emailed, Replied, 
Booked Call, Not Interested), First Email Sent (date), Last Follow-Up (date), 
Notes (richtext), and a Send Email action field."

The Outreach Status enum is key—it becomes the kanban column, so you can drag prospects through stages visually. The Send Email action field adds a button to each row that triggers an email send when clicked.

Set the default view to kanban with kanbanField: "Outreach Status" so you can see your full pipeline at a glance.

Step 2: Load Your Prospect List#

You have a few options for getting prospects into DenchClaw:

Import from CSV: If you've been prospecting in a spreadsheet, export it as CSV and ask DenchClaw to import it. The agent will map columns to your outreach object fields and insert the rows into DuckDB.

Import from Apollo via browser: If you use Apollo.io, DenchClaw's browser agent can log in (using your existing Chrome session), navigate to your saved list, and pull the contacts directly. Ask: "Import my saved Apollo list called 'SF SaaS CTOs' into my outreach object."

Build the list with the browser agent: For fresh prospecting, describe who you're targeting and let the agent browse LinkedIn or other sources to build the list. "Find 20 VPs of Engineering at Series B SaaS companies in New York and add them to my outreach object."

Manual entry: For high-value targets, type them in one at a time. The natural language interface makes this fast: "Add Sarah Chen, VP Product at Stripe, sarah@stripe.com to my outreach list."

Step 3: Write Your Email Templates#

Good cold email has three components: a specific hook, a clear value prop, and a single low-friction ask. Before you start sending, create template documents for your sequences.

Ask DenchClaw to create a document in your workspace:

"Create a document called 'Cold Outreach Templates' with three templates: 
initial outreach, follow-up 1 (3 days after no reply), and follow-up 2 
(7 days after no reply). The audience is VP-level at SaaS companies. 
We're pitching DenchClaw as a local-first CRM alternative."

Review and edit the drafts. Once you're happy with the templates, they live in your workspace and the agent can reference them when composing individual emails.

Step 4: Personalize at Scale#

This is where DenchClaw's AI really earns its place. Once you have a template and a list of prospects, you can personalize each email without doing it manually.

Select your prospects (or let the agent query for them—e.g., "all contacts in my outreach object with status 'Not Contacted'"), then ask:

"Draft personalized initial outreach emails for the first 10 prospects 
in my outreach list. Use the template in 'Cold Outreach Templates' but 
customize the opening line based on their company and title. Show me 
each draft before sending."

The agent will generate drafts, show them to you in a review interface, and wait for your approval. You can edit individual emails before anything goes out. This keeps you in control while letting the AI do the heavy lifting on personalization.

Step 5: Set Up the Action Field for Sending#

The Send Email action field needs a script. When you click the button on a row, it should:

1. Pull the contact's email and name from the entry
2. Grab the appropriate template based on their status
3. Compose and send via your email provider (Gmail, SMTP, etc.)
4. Update the First Email Sent date and change Outreach Status to "Emailed"

Ask DenchClaw to set this up using the gog (Google Workspace) skill or himalaya (IMAP/SMTP) skill depending on your email provider. The script communicates back to the UI via NDJSON, streaming status as it runs.

Once configured, sending to a prospect is a single click from your kanban board.

Step 6: Track Responses#

When a prospect replies, you want to update their status immediately. There are two approaches:

Manual update: When you see a reply, drag the card from "Emailed" to "Replied" on your kanban board, or ask the agent to do it: "Sarah Chen replied to my cold email, mark her as Replied and note that she's interested in a demo."

Semi-automated via Gmail label: With the gog skill connected, you can set up a periodic check: "Check my Gmail inbox every morning for replies to my cold outreach emails and update the corresponding contacts in my outreach object." Run this as a heartbeat task.

Step 7: Automate Follow-Ups#

This is where most outreach falls apart. Follow-ups require discipline, and discipline requires systems. DenchClaw can handle follow-up timing automatically.

Ask the agent to create a daily check:

"Every morning at 8am, check my outreach object for contacts whose 
status is 'Emailed' and whose 'First Email Sent' date was 3 days ago 
or more. Draft follow-up emails using the Follow-Up 1 template and 
send them automatically. Update their status and set 'Last Follow-Up' 
to today."

Set this up as a cron job. The agent will run it in the background without you needing to remember.

Step 8: Analyze What's Working#

After running a campaign, query your results:

"Show me the reply rate by company size in my outreach object. 
Also show me average days to reply for contacts who responded."

DenchClaw will run the SQL against your DuckDB and render a bar chart. You can see at a glance which segments are responding and adjust your targeting accordingly.

More useful queries:

• "How many prospects did I contact this week vs last week?"
• "What's my not-interested rate by title?"
• "Show me all prospects who haven't been followed up with in 7 days."

Step 9: Build Saved Views for Your Workflow#

Create named views in your outreach object for the states you check most:

• "Ready to Follow Up" — Emailed, First Email Sent > 3 days ago
• "Hot Leads" — Replied, status not yet Booked Call
• "This Week's Outreach" — First Email Sent in current week

Ask DenchClaw to create these: "Create a view called 'Ready to Follow Up' in my outreach object filtering for contacts with status Emailed and First Email Sent more than 3 days ago."

These views persist and appear in your sidebar so you can jump straight to the right segment every morning.

Step 10: Connect Outreach to Your Main Pipeline#

When a prospect books a call, they should move from your outreach object into your deals pipeline. Create a relation field or ask the agent to handle the handoff:

"When I mark an outreach contact as 'Booked Call', create a new deal 
in my deals pipeline with their company as the account, their name 
as the contact, and stage set to 'Discovery'."

This closes the loop between your outreach effort and your actual sales pipeline.

Frequently Asked Questions#

Does DenchClaw integrate with email providers?#

Yes. DenchClaw works with Gmail via the gog skill, and any IMAP/SMTP email provider via the himalaya skill. You can send emails directly from the CRM without switching to your email client.

Can I run outreach campaigns for multiple products or personas simultaneously?#

Yes. Create separate outreach objects or use a "Campaign" field within a single object to segment your sequences. Views and kanban filters let you work on one campaign at a time.

How do I avoid getting flagged as spam?#

DenchClaw doesn't implement sending limits by itself—you control the pace. Send in small batches (20-30/day max), personalize each email, use your real email address, and don't attach files in cold outreach. The AI helps with personalization, which is the biggest factor in deliverability.

Can I import from LinkedIn Sales Navigator?#

Yes, via the browser agent. Since DenchClaw copies your Chrome profile, it can log into Sales Navigator and scrape your saved leads directly into your outreach object.

Is my outreach data stored locally?#

Everything stays on your machine. Contacts, email templates, sent/reply tracking—all of it lives in your local DuckDB database. Nothing is shared with DenchClaw servers unless you explicitly sync to Dench Cloud.

Ready to try DenchClaw? Install in one command: npx denchclaw. Full setup guide →