Cold email workflow
Sales Navigator to Smartlead: verify the list before you import it
Workflow · SimpleVerifier Team · Steps checked 20 October 2026
Sales Navigator has no CSV export, so save the leads to your CRM, export them from there as a CSV with an email column, upload it to SimpleVerifier as it is, and import only the valid file into Smartlead, mapping the email column to Email. Keep risky (usually catch-all) rows out of the main campaign and drop invalid ones.
Step 1
Get the CSV from Sales Navigator
- 1Sales Navigator has no CSV or spreadsheet export for leads or accounts, so the list has to leave through your CRM.
- 2On the Advanced Plus plan, set up CRM Sync with your CRM.
- 3Save the leads into your CRM from Sales Navigator.
- 4Export the leads or contacts from your CRM as a CSV, with an email column filled in from your CRM or an enrichment tool.
Sales Navigator does not hand over email addresses itself, so emails come from your CRM or an enrichment step. Guessed or enriched addresses are the ones most likely to bounce, so verify them before you send.
Source: LinkedIn Sales Navigator help centre · LinkedIn Sales Navigator export guide
Step 2
Verify every address
- 1Sign in and upload the CSV as it came out of the export. The email column is found by its header or its contents.
- 2Every row gets a live mailbox check with catch-all, disposable and role-address detection.
- 3Download the valid, risky and invalid files. Each keeps every original Sales Navigator column.
Then $9 for 2,500 emails, or $29.99/mo unlimited.
Step 3
Import into Smartlead
- 1In Smartlead, go to Engage > Campaigns, select the campaign and click Edit.
- 2In the Import Leads section, click Import CSV and pick the valid file.
- 3Choose the import settings (block list, unsubscribes, community bounces, leads in other campaigns) and click Save.
- 4Map the columns: Name, Email and Location map automatically; map the rest to custom variables or choose Ignore.
Source: Smartlead: How to map CSV columns in campaigns · Smartlead: Community bounce feature
Column mapping in Smartlead
| Column in the Sales Navigator file | Smartlead field | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Email address | Mapped automatically; check it. | |
| First and last name | Name fields (e.g. first_name, last_name) | |
| Location | Location | Mapped automatically. |
| Company, title or anything your copy uses | Custom variable | Up to 40 per lead. Placeholders like {{first_name}} must match the mapped names. |
Column names in your Sales Navigator file depend on your export settings, so match them by what they hold. Field names on the right are as Smartlead’s help article writes them.
- Blank cells do not populate in emails, so fill or drop columns your copy depends on.
- Set unneeded columns to Ignore at the mapping step.
Which results to send
- validSend
The mailbox server confirmed the address. This is the file that goes into the main campaign.
- riskyHold, or send separately
Usually a catch-all domain, which accepts every address so no verifier can confirm the mailbox. Leave it out, or load it into its own smaller campaign at low daily volume so any bounces stay visible and away from the main one.
- invalidDrop
The server said the mailbox does not exist, or the domain cannot take mail. Sending will bounce.
Things to watch with Sales Navigator and Smartlead
- Sales Navigator does not export a CSV or hand over email addresses, so the file comes from your CRM after CRM Sync, with emails added by your CRM or an enrichment tool.
- Addresses produced by enrichment or pattern guessing are the ones most likely to bounce, and many sit on catch-all company domains. Keep those risky rows out of the main Smartlead campaign.
- Tick Skip leads that are already in another campaign if the list overlaps earlier sends, and keep Import leads that have bounced across the entire userbase switched the way you want: Smartlead's help notes that by default it imports them.
- Smartlead can pause a campaign when bounces pass a percentage you set, measured against all leads in the campaign. Source.
Skip the export: subscribers can connect Smartlead and verify a campaign's leads directly. See the Smartlead integration.
Estimate what an unverified list would do to the campaign with the cold email bounce cost calculator, or reshape the file for Smartlead with the CSV import formatter.
Common questions
- How do I move a Sales Navigator list into Smartlead?
- Get a CSV of the list out of Sales Navigator (Sales Navigator has no CSV or spreadsheet export for leads or accounts, so the list has to leave through your CRM. On the Advanced Plus plan, set up CRM Sync with your CRM. Save the leads into your CRM from Sales Navigator. Export the leads or contacts from your CRM as a CSV, with an email column filled in from your CRM or an enrichment tool.), verify it, then import the valid file into Smartlead: In Smartlead, go to Engage > Campaigns, select the campaign and click Edit. In the Import Leads section, click Import CSV and pick the valid file. Choose the import settings (block list, unsubscribes, community bounces, leads in other campaigns) and click Save. Map the columns: Name, Email and Location map automatically; map the rest to custom variables or choose Ignore.
- Do I need to verify a Sales Navigator export before Smartlead?
- Lead databases go stale as people change jobs, and a bounced cold email counts against your sending domain the same as any other. Verifying the Sales Navigator export before it goes into a sequence keeps the bounce rate under the roughly 2% line where mailbox providers start filtering, and it catches catch-all domains you should not send to blind. Smartlead can pause a campaign when bounces pass a percentage you set, measured against all leads in the campaign.
- Which columns should I map in Smartlead?
- Email address to Email; First and last name to Name fields (e.g. first_name, last_name); Location to Location; Company, title or anything your copy uses to Custom variable. Set every column your copy does not use to skip or ignore.
- Should risky or catch-all addresses go into the campaign?
- Usually a catch-all domain, which accepts every address so no verifier can confirm the mailbox. Leave it out, or load it into its own smaller campaign at low daily volume so any bounces stay visible and away from the main one.
- What does verifying the list cost?
- Your first 100 checks are free after Google sign-in, once per account. Then $9 for 2,500 emails one-time, or Pro at $29.99 a month with no cap on email verification. Files up to 100,000 rows.