Verify leads in Make.com before they reach an Instantly campaign

Before you start

• A Cold Leads secret key (sk_…) from Settings → API keys. The API is part of the Business plan.
• An Instantly API v2 key with a scope that can create leads (leads:create, leads:all, all:create or all:all). Create it in Instantly under Settings → Integrations → API Keys; it is shown only once. Your Instantly workspace needs a paid plan with API access.
• The ID of the Instantly campaign. GET https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/campaigns lists campaigns with their IDs (it needs the campaigns:read scope).
• A sheet with a header row and the columns email, first_name, last_name and company. Make's Watch New Rows stops at a blank row, so keep the data without gaps.

Build the scenario

1. Google Sheets → Watch New Rows: choose the spreadsheet and the sheet.
2. HTTP → Make a request (the HTTP app, version 4). Authentication type: API key. Under Credentials add a key: Key = your sk_ key, API key placement = In the header, API key parameter name = x-api-key. URL: https://coldleads.app/api/v1/verify. Method: POST. Body content type: application/JSON. Body input method: JSON string. Body content: the JSON below, with the e-mail mapped from step 1. Parse response: Yes. In Advanced settings set Return error if HTTP request fails to Yes and Timeout to 30 seconds.
3. Click the wrench on the link after the Cold Leads module and choose Set up a filter. Label: Valid only. Condition: status from the Cold Leads module's response data, Text operators: Equal to, value valid.
4. HTTP → Make a request again for Instantly. Authentication type: API key; add a key with Key = Bearer followed by a space and your Instantly API key, API key placement = In the header, API key parameter name = Authorization. URL: https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/leads. Method: POST. Body content type: application/JSON, JSON string, Parse response: Yes, Return error if HTTP request fails: Yes.
5. Run the scenario once with a test row, check both module outputs, then schedule it.

{
  "email": "{{map the e-mail field of the trigger here}}",
  "timeout_ms": 10000
}

{
  "campaign": "your-instantly-campaign-id",
  "email": "{{map email from the Cold Leads module}}",
  "first_name": "{{map from the trigger}}",
  "last_name": "{{map from the trigger}}",
  "company_name": "{{map from the trigger}}",
  "skip_if_in_workspace": true
}

Replace each placeholder by clicking into the field and choosing the item in Make's mapping panel. Use only field names from Instantly's documentation; campaign and email are what it needs to add a lead to a campaign. skip_if_in_workspace set to true skips leads that already exist in your Instantly workspace.

Choose how strict the filter is

To keep risky leads instead of dropping them, add a Router after the Cold Leads module: one route with the filter above leads to Instantly, a second route with status Equal to risky leads to Google Sheets → Add a Row in a review sheet.

Test both requests from a terminal

If a module fails, send the same request with curl. It shows the exact answer, including error codes such as bad_api_key, api_not_in_plan or no_credits from Cold Leads.

# 1) the Cold Leads request the first HTTP module sends (1 credit)
curl -s https://coldleads.app/api/v1/verify \
  -H "x-api-key: $COLDLEADS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"anna@example.com","timeout_ms":10000}'

# 2) the Instantly request the second HTTP module sends, for a lead that passed the filter
curl -s https://api.instantly.ai/api/v2/leads \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $INSTANTLY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"campaign":"your-instantly-campaign-id","email":"anna@example.com","first_name":"Anna","last_name":"Novak","company_name":"Acme","skip_if_in_workspace":true}'

Errors and retries

• With Return error if HTTP request fails set to Yes, a 401 or 403 (key or plan), a 402 no_credits or a 429 stops the run at the module instead of passing an error body on to the next step.
• Cold Leads allows 120 requests per minute per key and answers 429 rate_limited with Retry-After: 60 when that is exceeded. If other tools share the key, turn on Store incomplete executions in the scenario settings and add a Retry error handler to the Cold Leads module (right-click the module, Add error handler).
• Make renamed its error handlers on May 26, 2026: Break is now Retry and Ignore is now Skip. The full set is Skip, Retry, Resume, Commit and Rollback.
• Instantly allows up to 100 requests per second and 6,000 per minute per workspace, shared by all API keys, and answers 429 above that.

Limits and costs

• 1 Cold Leads credit per lead checked, whatever the result and also for results from the 30-day cache.
• timeout_ms 10000 keeps each check under about 10 seconds; if the budget runs out the result is risky with the reason timeout, so it stops at the filter.
• The Business plan costs $99 a month and includes the API and 10,000 credits a month; extra packs of 1,000 credits cost $5.
• Make and Instantly bill their own usage under your plans with them.

FAQ