GTM Plays + Smartlead integration

The GTM Plays Smartlead integration pushes every lead with an email address into the Smartlead campaign you choose, with name, phone, company, website, location, LinkedIn profile and custom fields for job title, buying signal and GTM Plays score. It connects with your Smartlead API key and sends data one way.

What the integration does

Smartlead describes itself as cold email software for sales teams that run outbound at scale, with unlimited mailboxes and AI warmups (smartlead.ai, checked October 2026). GTM Plays finds people on LinkedIn who show buying signals, scores them and runs LinkedIn outreach. This integration adds the same leads to your Smartlead campaigns. See all integrations.

What syncs

Data flows one way, from GTM Plays to Smartlead. GTM Plays reads only your campaign list.

GTM Plays field	Smartlead lead field
Work email (required)	email
First and last name	first_name, last_name
Phone	phone_number
Company name	company_name
Company domain / URL	website, company_url
Location	location
LinkedIn profile URL	linkedin_profile
Job title, signal, GTM Plays score	custom fields job_title, signal, gtm_score

Campaign. After you verify your key, choose a campaign from the Campaign menu. It is required.

Safety settings stay on. GTM Plays adds leads with Smartlead's global block list, unsubscribe list and duplicate settings left on, so it does not override them. Smartlead reports leads already in the campaign or duplicated; GTM Plays counts those as already there. Contacts without an email are skipped.

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 Smartlead.

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

Before you connect

• Create the campaign first. Set up the sequence and mailboxes in Smartlead, then choose that campaign in GTM Plays.
• Add the custom fields to your copy. Use signal and job_title in your templates before leads arrive, so the first email is already personal.
• Decide on timing. If GTM Plays is also messaging these people on LinkedIn, space the email steps so the two channels support each other.

How to set it up

1. Copy your API key. In Smartlead, open Settings and copy your API key.
2. Open GTM Plays. Go to Settings → Integrations → Smartlead.
3. Paste the key and press Verify. GTM Plays loads your campaigns.
4. Choose a campaign.
5. Save and press Check connection. No test lead is added.

Use cases

• Two-channel sequences. LinkedIn messages from GTM Plays, email from Smartlead, both aimed at people showing intent.
• Signal-based copy. Reference signal in your Smartlead templates so the email explains why now. See LinkedIn cold outreach for message ideas.
• Agencies running client campaigns. Pick a campaign per client and keep LinkedIn and email in step. See agencies.
• Live Leads files. Live Leads orders can also be downloaded in a Smartlead import format, separate from this integration.

Good to know

• Only contacts with an email are sent.
• GTM Plays does not change your campaign sequence, mailboxes or schedule.
• Replies in Smartlead 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 SmartLead campaign". Press Verify and pick a campaign; nothing is sent until one is set.

Security and data handling

• Your Smartlead 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 Smartlead with an empty value.
• You can disconnect at any time from Settings → Integrations. Records already created in Smartlead stay there.

Plans and next steps

Smartlead is included in Pro at $149 a month. Start a 7-day free trial and connect your Smartlead campaign.