GTM Plays + Instantly integration

The GTM Plays Instantly integration adds every lead with an email address straight into the Instantly campaign you choose, with name, company, title, phone, website and custom variables for the LinkedIn URL, location, buying signal and GTM Plays score. It uses an Instantly V2 API key and sends data one way.

What the integration does

Instantly describes itself as automated outreach with a B2B lead database, email deliverability tools and an AI-powered CRM (instantly.ai, checked October 2026). GTM Plays finds people on LinkedIn who show buying signals, scores their fit and runs LinkedIn outreach. This integration lets the same leads enter your email sequences in Instantly, so you can run both channels. See all integrations.

What syncs

Data flows one way, from GTM Plays to Instantly. GTM Plays reads only your campaigns (with their status) so you can pick one.

GTM Plays field	Instantly lead field
Work email (required)	email
First and last name	first_name, last_name
Company name	company_name
Job title	job_title
Phone	phone
Company website	website
LinkedIn URL, location, signal, GTM Plays score	custom variables linkedin_url, location, signal, gtm_score

Campaign. After you verify your key, a Campaign menu lists your Instantly campaigns with their status (Draft, Active, Paused, Completed). Choosing one is required.

Who is skipped. Contacts without an email are skipped. Instantly reports duplicates, invalid emails and blocklisted addresses for each batch; GTM Plays counts duplicates as already there and the others as skipped.

Verification on import. The option "Ask Instantly to verify leads on import" is off by default. Turn it on and Instantly checks each email in the background, using your Instantly verification credits.

When leads are sent

• New leads, automatically. With "Automatically send new contacts" on (the default), each new lead your agents find, or that you import into an agent, is sent as it arrives.
• One contact at a time. From any contact's drawer, choose Send to… and pick Instantly.

Leads are sent in batches through Instantly's API, in the background, so your agents never wait on it. The Instantly card in Settings → Integrations shows the time, status and any error of the last delivery.

How to set it up

1. Create a V2 API key in Instantly. In Settings → Integrations → API Keys, create a key with the leads and campaigns scopes.
2. Open GTM Plays. Go to Settings → Integrations → Instantly.
3. Paste the key and press Verify. GTM Plays loads your campaigns.
4. Choose a campaign and decide whether Instantly should verify emails on import.
5. Save and press Check connection. The check does not add a test lead to your campaign.

Use cases

• LinkedIn plus email. Run LinkedIn outreach in GTM Plays and an email sequence in Instantly for the same high-intent people.
• Personalise with the signal. Use the signal custom variable in your Instantly copy, so each email references the reason you reached out. Our cold outreach templates show how.
• Prioritise by score. Use gtm_score to split strong and weak fits into different steps.
• Live Leads too. GTM Plays Live Leads orders can also be downloaded as an Instantly import file, separate from this integration.

Good to know

• Only contacts with an email are sent; LinkedIn-only contacts stay in GTM Plays.
• GTM Plays does not change your campaign settings, schedules or sending accounts.
• Replies in Instantly are not read back into GTM Plays.
• GTM Plays does not book meetings by itself.

Troubleshooting

The integration card in Settings → Integrations shows the last delivery and the error message, if any. The common ones:

• "The key was rejected (401)". The key was revoked, expired or mistyped. Paste a new one and press Verify.
• "The key is missing a permission this needs (403)". Give the key the access listed in the setup steps, then verify again.
• Rate limiting (429). The service asked GTM Plays to slow down. The current delivery stops and the message shows on the card; later leads go out with the next delivery.
• "The service redirected the request". Usually the wrong account region or URL. GTM Plays never follows redirects with your key attached.
• "Choose a campaign". Press Verify and choose a campaign; leads are not sent until one is set.

Security and data handling

• Your Instantly API key is encrypted (AES-256-GCM) before it is stored, used only on GTM Plays' servers, never sent back to your browser and never logged. Settings show only its last four characters.
• Empty fields are left out of every request rather than sent as blanks, so GTM Plays never overwrites something you typed in Instantly with an empty value.
• You can disconnect at any time from Settings → Integrations. Records already created in Instantly stay there.

Plans and next steps

Instantly is included in Pro at $149 a month. Start a 7-day free trial, connect Instantly and pick the campaign your new leads should join.