Lead lists come with the Outbound add-on. An account owner can add it in Billing. Nothing on a list runs by itself: a step runs only when someone starts it.
Make a list and import leads
1
Make the list
On Outbound → Lead lists, click New list, name it, and click Create list.
2
Import a CSV
Click Import CSV and choose your file. Export it from your spreadsheet as CSV, with the column names in the first row.
3
Choose where each column goes
For each column in the file, pick one of the list’s columns, New column, or Don’t import. Then click Import (the button shows how many columns you chose).
4
Let it run
You can close the dialog: the import keeps going, and rows appear in the grid as they land. Stop the import keeps the rows added so far.
Duplicates and marks
A row whose email is already in the list is skipped. Duplicates are spotted by email, so if no column in the file is an email, every row is added. Each lead is also checked as it comes in. A colored dot next to its row number marks it, and the tabs above the grid show only the leads with that mark:
Marked leads stay in the list. Use Search, Filter (on any column, or on what a step did) and the tabs to narrow the grid. Save view keeps the result as a tab above the grid, and Export downloads what the grid shows as a CSV.
Add workflows: the step columns
The step columns come from the workflows you add to the list. On the list’s page, click Add a workflow and pick one: its steps become columns after your data. A list can run several workflows, but a workflow runs on one list at a time (moving one from another list asks first). From inside a workflow, open Grid and click Start a lead list or Use an existing list. These steps can run on a list:
Every other step still shows as a column, marked Normal runs only. That includes conditions: to work only some rows, run a column with a filter instead. An AI step with sub-agents, or one that writes for the CMS, also runs in normal runs only.
Verify Email and the two Outbound steps work only on lead lists. In a normal workflow run they stop with a message, and nothing is charged or sent.
Run a column safely
1
Run 10 rows first
Click Run on the column’s header. The run dialog starts on Run 10 rows: the next 10 rows the column has not run on. Check their cells before you go on.
2
Run the rest
Click Run again and choose which rows. Until a 10-row run has finished with the column’s current settings, a bigger run is refused with “Run 10 rows first and check the results, then run the rest.” Changing the step’s settings needs a new 10-row run. (A run of 10 rows or fewer, or a list that small, skips this.)
3
Check the count and the cost, then confirm
The dialog shows how many rows the run covers and, for a paid step, the most it can cost. The button repeats both, for example Run 1,000 rows · up to $5.00. If the cost changes before you click, the dialog shows the new one and asks again.
Under How many, choose The first 100, The first 1,000, The first 10,000 or type a number to run a big list in batches. With Rows not run yet, each batch carries on where the last one ended. If a search or filter narrows the grid, the run covers only the rows in view (untick the box to run on the whole list). For a step that comes after a Verify Email step in the same workflow, Which leads can limit the run to leads whose email checked Valid, or Valid or Risky.
While a run is going
- Watch it. Each run shows in a bar above the grid: rows done out of the total, errors, and the cost so far, with Pause, Resume and Cancel. Cancelling keeps the rows already run (and anything already charged); the rest are not run.
- Stop everything. Stop all in that bar pauses every run on the list. Stop all runs on the Lead lists page (shown while runs are going) pauses every run on every list. Runs pause after the rows already in progress, and each one carries on with its own Resume.
- Hold rows. Tick rows and click Hold, or right-click a row and choose Hold this row. Every run skips held rows until you Release them (rows a run is working on right now still finish).
- One at a time. A column has one run going at a time, and an account can have 2 runs going at once. A run covers only the rows the list had when it started.
- Re-run what changed. A cell is tagged Edited when its row was edited after the step ran, and Outdated when the step’s settings changed since. The column’s header then shows N changed · Re-run, which opens the run dialog on Rows that changed. Nothing re-runs by itself.
The step panel
Click the gear on a step column’s header (Settings and merge tags), or click a step cell a second time, to open the step panel on that row. Use its arrows to move to the previous or next row.- What it did shows the step’s result for this row, with Run this row (or Run this row again).
- Its settings shows the step’s settings, with a Merge tags | This row switch. This row puts the row’s real values in place of the merge tags, highlighted, as a run would send them; a value that is empty for this row shows in amber, so you can spot a blank before you run. Merge tags shows each tag as a pill instead, such as Lead: Email.
- Merge tags it gives later steps shows what later steps can use, filled in once the row has run.
Outbound steps
Add to Outbound Campaign adds leads to the campaign chosen in the step’s settings, with their custom fields. Update Outbound Lead sets fields on leads already in a campaign: custom fields merge, and the change applies to the lead in every campaign it is in. Every row is checked before anything is sent. A row that fails is skipped with the reason in its cell, such as “Email not checked yet (run Verify email first)” or “On your do-not-email list”, and nothing bypasses your do-not-email lists. The step’s Only add when (or Only update when) settings decide the rest:
The run dialog names the campaign and its status, lists the merge fields its emails use, and says about how long the run takes at Outbound’s pace.
What it costs
The run dialog shows a cost only for Verify Email and AI steps. Verify Email- $5 per 1,000 checks past the 1,000 included each month.
- An email checked in the last 30 days is reused for free.
- Unknown results and checks that fail are not charged. Rows with no email, and leads on your do-not-email list, are skipped and not charged.
- A monthly cap starts at $100. An account owner can change it in **Billing** under **Outbound email checks** (**Change cap**), up to $1,000; contact support to go higher. A run that reaches the cap pauses: raise the cap, then click Resume.
- Without a card on file (or during a trial), only the included checks run.
- Charges show on your Hiveku invoice as “Outbound: email verification”.
- Charged to your AI credits at the model’s price. A row the AI gave no answer for is not charged. An answer the step cannot use (not JSON, the wrong format, or too long) is charged, and its cell says so.
- An AI step runs on Hiveku Lite (fast and low cost, made for lead lists of thousands of rows) unless you choose Hiveku Mini, Hiveku Max or Hiveku Ultra in its settings, where each model’s price is shown.
- The run dialog shows the model, its thinking level and the expected cost: from the rows the column already ran, or from a typical row before any have run. The run pauses if it reaches the most it can cost; run the column again to see the new cost and continue.
Ask the Outbound agent
The Outbound agent can find your lists, read their rows and step results, make a list, add leads (up to 500 at a time; import big files yourself with Import CSV), add a workflow to a list, and pause, resume or stop runs. Starting a run is an approval card. It shows the rows the run covers, the most it can cost, an AI step’s model, and an Outbound step’s campaign and whether it is sending. Nothing starts until you approve it, and the agent follows the grid’s rules: 10 rows first, and held rows skipped. A run into a campaign that has started sending is resumed from the grid, where you confirm. AI tools you connect to Hiveku through MCP get the same actions:outbound_lead_lists_list and the outbound_lead_list_* tools.
Troubleshooting
Run 10 rows first and check the results
Run 10 rows first and check the results
A bigger run needs a finished 10-row run of the column with its current settings. Run 10 rows, check the cells, then run the rest. If you changed the step since, run 10 rows again.
An account can have 2 runs going at once
An account can have 2 runs going at once
Wait for a run to finish, or pause one. A column with a run already going says “This column already has a run going. Pause or cancel it first.”
A run paused by itself
A run paused by itself
The reason shows in the run bar. “This month’s cap on email checks is reached” means raise the cap in Billing, then click Resume. “This run reached the cost you confirmed” means run the column again to see the new cost. A campaign that started sending needs your yes before the run goes on.
An Outbound step skipped rows
An Outbound step skipped rows
Each skipped cell says why. “Email not checked yet (run Verify email first)”: run Verify Email on those rows first. “Missing opener (the campaign’s emails use it)”: fill that column first, for example with an AI step. “On your do-not-email list”: that lead is never sent.
A column says Normal runs only
A column says Normal runs only
That step cannot run on a lead list. Open its step panel to see why. Only the steps in the table above run on lists.
Next steps
Cold Email
Set up the Outbound campaigns your lists feed.
Outbound Lead Pipeline
Turn replies into CRM contacts and deals.
Add workflow steps
Build the workflow whose steps become your columns.