FAQ — Defrost Help

How is Defrost different from Apollo, Outreach, or Lemlist?

Apollo and similar tools sell you a database; you do the work of finding the right contact, writing the email, and managing the send. Outreach is sales engagement built around your existing data and team. Lemlist is a sequencer that requires you to bring leads and copy.

Defrost runs the entire pipeline end-to-end: it finds the leads, verifies them, researches each company, writes the copy, personalizes every email, and sends with deliverability protection. You provide the goal and ICP; Defrost handles the rest.

Will Defrost get my domain blacklisted?

No, if you follow the setup. Defrost enforces hard sending limits (50/day per warm mailbox, 30/hour per recipient domain), automatic warmup, and deliverability monitoring with auto-pause on bounces over 5%. As long as you complete DNS setup and let warmup finish, your domain reputation stays healthy.

That said, anyone can damage their reputation by sending to a stale or fake list. The 8-step pipeline only sends to leads that pass the verification cascade — but if you upload a bad CSV or skip verification, you can hurt yourself.

Can I use my own data?

Yes. Settings → Leads → Import CSV. Imported leads go through the same verification cascade as discovered leads (unless you tell Defrost to skip it).

Can I write my own email copy?

Yes. The new-campaign wizard offers two paths:

Pick a framework — Defrost generates from one of 7 frameworks, optionally with edits
Bring your own — paste your sequence and Defrost will personalize per lead but not rewrite

Both paths run through the personalizer agent so each email is unique to its recipient.

How do you avoid spam filters?

Several layers:

Warmed mailboxes — gradual ramp builds reputation
DNS authentication — SPF/DKIM/DMARC must pass
Send delays — 45-120s random spacing between consecutive sends
No HTML tricks — Defrost sends plain-text by default; HTML available but with sane defaults
No tracking pixels by default — opt-in only; tracking pixel is a known spam signal
Personalization — every email is unique, defeating "same body, many recipients" filters
Per-domain hourly cap — prevents bursting one mailbox with many sends

Is my data private?

Yes. Defrost is your data processor. We don't share workspace data with third parties except sub-processors needed to run the platform (Anthropic for AI, Resend for email transit, MillionVerifier/ZeroBounce/NeverBounce for email verification).

API keys (Anthropic, Resend, etc.) are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. See the privacy policy for full details.

What happens if I cancel?

You keep access until the end of the current billing period. Within 30 days of cancellation you can re-activate without losing data. After 30 days, data is purged.

Does Defrost work for B2C?

Defrost is purpose-built for B2B. The lead-discovery engine and verification cascade assume work-email contacts. You can technically run B2C campaigns by importing your own list, but you'll get less value out of the platform.

How long until I see results?

Roughly:

Day 1 — first warmup-completed mailbox starts sending
Day 1-3 — first replies (if you have a clear CTA)
Day 7-14 — meaningful reply volume to compare against your goal
Day 30 — enough data to know if your ICP + copy are working

If you see zero replies by day 7 with a complete pipeline, that's a sign your ICP or copy needs revision — start with Understanding ICP.

What if my industry isn't a good fit?

If you sell to consumers, government, or very small (<5 employee) businesses, cold email may not be your best channel. We're happy to recommend alternatives — email help@defrostmail.com.

What's coming next?

See the changelog for shipped features. Major roadmap items:

Native CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack)
White-label theming
Multi-mailbox load balancing
Calendar integration (Calendly OAuth)
Real-time signal monitoring (funding, hiring, news triggers)