Before you start
- Lead credits cover data operations. The standard units are 1 credit for one email verification, 5 credits for one lead reveal and 15 credits for Auto Outreach email lead research.
- Sending emails does not use lead credits. Paid plans have unlimited platform email sending; mailbox/provider capacity, campaign pacing and daily operational limits still apply.
- Lead-credit allowances remain finite or custom by plan. A trial allowance is not the same as the recurring paid-plan allowance; use your workspace balance and current pricing for the applicable amount.
Steps
Understand the company-first research
Auto Outreach searches for companies matching the campaign’s audience, finds current decision makers in the chosen roles and looks for a usable contact route. The agent needs searchable targeting and a relevant offer. A company estimate or a research attempt is not itself a newly added email lead.
Distinguish research from enrollment
For paid Auto Outreach, the 15-credit operation is charged when a newly researched lead with an email is attached to the campaign. It is not a separate 15-credit charge for every retry, unsuccessful search or send-time personalized message. A duplicate or already-attached contact is not charged again as a new enrollment in that campaign.
Check the balance and blocker
Read your workspace credit balance and any research message in the campaign controls. A research budget blocker can stop new lead enrollment while other campaign status remains visible. Adding credits or changing access resolves a budget prerequisite; it does not fix an irrelevant audience or guarantee more matches.
Understand replenishment timing
Research can provide an initial set of leads for an empty managed draft. Live replenishment adds matching contacts as an active campaign uses its current leads. A published campaign that is paused should not be treated as actively replenishing. No fresh search may be needed while current contacts still await enrollment.
Keep verification and reveal separate
Email verification and manual lead reveals have their own credit units. Do not add all three unit costs automatically to every contact or to every sent message. Identify the operation performed: verifying an address, revealing a lead or enrolling a new researched email lead through Auto Outreach.
Investigate paused research without duplicating work
If budget runs out partway through a result set, resolve the balance issue and let recovery continue. Repeatedly starting a new preview does not restore the balance. Use the campaign’s visible research and enrollment state to determine whether contacts were added; support can investigate a persistent mismatch.
What happens next
FAQ
Are credits deducted for sending or following up?
Sending emails does not use lead credits. Research/enrollment, verification and lead reveals are separate data operations. Platform sending on paid plans is unlimited, while actual sender capacity and campaign rules still govern delivery.
Does a failed search cost 15 credits?
The paid Auto Outreach enrollment charge applies to a newly attached lead with an email, not an unsuccessful search or an invalid route. Retries and duplicate attachments are not new paid enrollments.
Are lead credits unlimited?
No. Plans have a stated or agreed allowance. Check the current pricing and your workspace balance. Do not interpret unlimited paid email sending as unlimited data research.
Does free Auto Outreach have a separate limit?
Where free Auto Outreach is available, its 100 lifetime Auto Outreach leads are shared across the billing account’s campaigns and workspaces rather than reset per campaign. Deleting or disabling campaigns does not reset that usage. Use the access and allowance shown in your workspace; the website-to-draft path can still require trial activation.
Check your audience, messages, controls and readiness before handing over campaign management.