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How to review or auto-send campaign emails in FirstSales

Choose whether AI-drafted emails send automatically, require your approval, or auto-send if you don't respond. And route approval prompts to Telegram.

Tutorials
Campaigns
min read
6 min
steps
6 · Beginner

  1. Open the Content Approval step

    In the campaign builder, click the Content Approval step. This is where Approval Mode controls how much control versus speed you have over AI-drafted emails before they send.

    Open the Content Approval step

  2. Pick Review or Auto-send

    The default mode, Review or Auto-send, notifies you to review each draft. If you don't respond within 24 hours, the email sends automatically. It's the best balance of speed and control for most campaigns.

  3. Or pick Must Approve

    Must Approve keeps every email on hold until you explicitly approve it: no action means no send. Use this for high-stakes or regulated outreach where nothing should go out unreviewed.

  4. Or pick Skip Review

    Skip Review sends every email on schedule with no approval step at all. It's the fastest mode, for teams that fully trust their tuned SDR config. Choosing it hides the Notification Channels section below: there's nothing to be notified about.

  5. Connect Telegram for approval prompts

    For Review or Auto-send and Must Approve, add a Telegram connector under Notification Channels so you actually receive the prompts. Click Add Telegram or use the Connect a notification channel link. A connected channel is required for Must Approve: the picker shows a validation error if it's left empty.

  6. Save and launch

    The approval mode you set here governs every email step in the campaign, not just the first send.

Pro tips

  • Start on Review or Auto-send

    You get to review real drafts without risking a stalled campaign if you're away: the 24-hour auto-send is the safety net.

  • Must Approve needs a live channel

    Without a connected Telegram connector the step won't validate. Connect it before you switch to Must Approve.

  • Skip Review only after tuning the SDR

    Pair Skip Review with a tuned SDR Config so unreviewed drafts are already on-voice before they go out unchecked.

  • The 24-hour auto-send is per-email

    Silence approves each email individually: don't rely on it as a hard gate. Use Must Approve when you need one.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I don't respond to an approval prompt?

Under Review or Auto-send, no response within 24 hours means the email sends automatically. Under Must Approve, no action means no send.

Which mode sends emails without me reviewing anything?

Skip Review: emails send on schedule with no approval step at all.

Where do approval notifications go?

To a connected Telegram connector, configured under Notification Channels.

Why is my campaign not sending anything?

Check the approval mode. If it's set to Must Approve and drafts are waiting on approval, nothing sends until you explicitly approve them.

Do I need Telegram to use Skip Review?

No. Skip Review hides the Notification Channels section entirely, since there are no approval prompts to send.

Can I change the mode after launch?

Yes: the Approval Mode setting can be updated on the Content Approval step at any time; it applies to subsequent emails in the campaign.

Is the 24-hour window configurable?

Not in the UI: it's fixed at 24 hours for the Review or Auto-send mode.

Does Must Approve block the whole campaign or just one email?

It holds each email individually. Other contacts and steps keep moving; only the emails waiting on approval stay on hold.

Campaigns

Outreach that keeps going after you log off.Leads, emails, follow-ups and replies, handled.

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Install with AI

Your coding agent sets up the FirstSales CLI and skills for you.

Prompt for Claude Code

I'm setting up FirstSales (https://firstsales.io), an AI outbound sales platform: campaigns, contacts, a reply inbox, deliverability and lead signals. Help me get my workspace sending real, good emails end to end, from Claude Code.

Read these first so you know how FirstSales works:
- Developer docs and API: https://developer.firstsales.io
- CLI: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@firstsales.io/cli
- Skills for coding agents: https://github.com/firstsalesio/firstsales-skills (read README.md and GUIDE.md)

Setup
1. Install the CLI: npm install -g @firstsales.io/cli
2. Install the FirstSales skills:
   claude plugin marketplace add firstsalesio/firstsales-skills
   claude plugin install firstsales@firstsales
3. Ask me if I already have a FirstSales account. If not, send me to https://app.firstsales.io to sign up.
4. Ask me to create an API key under Settings → API → API Keys, with only the scopes we need.
   Never ask me to paste the key into this chat. Tell me to run this in my own terminal, so the key stays hidden:
   read -rs FS_KEY && firstsales auth login --api-key "$FS_KEY"; unset FS_KEY
5. Run `firstsales whoami` and tell me which workspace and organisation we are connected to.

Then ask me about my business: what I sell, who I sell to (roles, company size, countries), my best customers, and what I use today for outbound (tools, lists, mailboxes). Walk me through:
1. Teaching FirstSales my business: website, offer, proof points and case studies in the knowledge base, so the AI writes like someone who knows the product.
2. Connecting my sending mailboxes and checking my sending domain: SPF, DKIM, DMARC and warm-up. If anything is unhealthy, tell me the exact DNS record to add.
3. Bringing in contacts: import my CSV or CRM export into a clean list, remove duplicates and bad emails, and block domains I must never email (customers, competitors, my own).
4. Building my first campaign: the right list, senders, steps and timing. Write the sequence with me, show me the drafts, and do not launch until I say yes.
5. Setting up Signals if it fits: find people engaging with LinkedIn posts about topics my buyers care about, and turn them into leads.
6. Inviting my team and giving each person the right access.

Once campaigns run, show me how to work the reply inbox from here: which replies need an answer, draft responses in my voice, and move good conversations into deals. If I use Cal.com, connect it so follow-ups can offer my booking link (not the first email).

Throughout, as you learn about my business, proactively suggest and help create:
- Reply templates for the questions and objections my prospects are likely to raise, based on my product, site and codebase if you can see them.
- Campaign ideas and segments worth testing, with the reason for each.

Safety rules:
- Show every change as a dry run (--dry-run) first and wait for my yes. Never send emails, launch campaigns or delete anything without my yes.
- Tell me before anything that spends credits, and how many.

Be opinionated. If the docs give a sensible default, just use it. Don't make me choose between five options.
Developer docs ↗npm: @firstsales.io/cli ↗GitHub: firstsales-skills ↗