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Overview

Instantly is a cold-email platform for running multi-step outreach campaigns. The OrbitForms integration closes the loop on that outreach: when someone you emailed from a campaign fills out a form, books a meeting, or gets a call outcome, OrbitForms can tell Instantly what happened. Two workflow steps do the work:

Instantly Lookup

An Enrich Data step. Finds the lead in your workspace and adds fields like instantly_found, instantly_campaign_name, instantly_interest_status, and instantly_clicked_email for the rest of the workflow.

Instantly

A Send Data step. Update lead sets their interest status (Interested, Meeting Booked, No Show…) and writes details back as custom variables. Add to campaign adds a new lead to a campaign.
Triggers you can use:
  • A form is submitted (or abandoned with an email captured)
  • A meeting is booked on one of your scheduling pages
  • A meeting outcome is set (for example “No Show” or “Live Call”)

Step 1: Create an Instantly API Key

1

Log in to Instantly

Go to app.instantly.ai and sign in.
2

Open API Keys

Go to Settings → Integrations → API Keys.
3

Create a key

Click Create API Key, name it “OrbitForms”, and give it the campaigns:read, leads:read, leads:update, and leads:create scopes. The all:all scope also works.
4

Copy the key

Copy the generated key. Instantly only shows it once.
Instantly API v2 keys are scoped. campaigns:read lists your campaigns, leads:read powers the lookup, leads:update sets status and custom variables, and leads:create adds leads to a campaign.

Step 2: Connect Instantly in OrbitForms

1

Go to Integrations

From your dashboard, click Integrations in the left sidebar.
2

Find Instantly

Search for “Instantly” and click the card.
3

Paste your API key

Paste the key into the API Key field and click Connect Instantly. OrbitForms verifies the key against your workspace before saving it.

Step 3: Look up the lead (Instantly Lookup)

Add this step when you want to know whether a lead came from an Instantly campaign before doing anything else.
1

Add the step

In a workflow, click +, open Enrich Data, and pick Instantly Lookup.
2

Choose the email field

Leave it on Auto-detect for form email fields and meeting attendees, or pick the field explicitly.
3

Optionally scope to a campaign

Pick a campaign to only match leads in that campaign. Leave as Any to match across the workspace.
4

Branch on the result

Add a Filter or Router after it. For example, continue only when instantly_found is true, or route by instantly_campaign_name.
Fields the lookup adds:
Attribution: if instantly_clicked_email is true and the lead just submitted a form, they clicked a campaign email and then converted. You can put instantly_campaign_name in a Slack alert so sales sees where the lead came from.

Step 4: Tell Instantly what happened (Instantly step)

1

Add the step

Click +, open Send Data, and pick Instantly.
2

Choose the action

Update lead finds the lead by email and updates them. Add to campaign creates a new lead in the campaign you choose.
3

Update lead: set the interest status

Pick a status such as Meeting Booked, Meeting Completed, No Show, or Interested. Setting a status stops the lead’s sequence in Instantly. Choose whether to fail or skip the step when the email isn’t in Instantly (skip is the default).
4

Add to campaign: pick the campaign

Select the campaign and duplicate handling (skip if already in campaign or workspace, verify email on import).
5

Map the Email field (required)

Map the field that holds the lead’s email to Email. For meeting triggers this is usually attendee_email.
6

Map other fields (optional)

Map first name, last name (or a single Full Name field, which is split for you), company, phone, website, job title, and personalization. Anything else can be written as a custom variable, which you can reference in Instantly sequences as {{variable_name}}.
7

Save and activate

Save the workflow and toggle it to Active.
Example: meeting booked — Meeting Booked → Instantly Lookup → Filter (instantly_found is true) → Instantly (Update lead: Meeting Booked, custom variable meeting_time).
Example: no-show follow-up — Meeting Outcome → Filter (outcome is “No Show”) → Instantly (Update lead: No Show) → Instantly (Add to campaign: “No-show re-engagement”).
Example: inbound from a campaign — Form Submission → Instantly Lookup → Filter (instantly_found is true) → Instantly (Update lead: Interested) → Slack (” from campaign just filled out the demo form”).

Custom Variables

Any field you map to a Custom Variable destination is written to the lead’s custom variables in Instantly. Instantly adds new variables to the campaign automatically so every lead in that campaign can use them. Values must be text, numbers, or true/false. Lists are joined with commas.

Troubleshooting

Check that the API key has the campaigns:read scope and that your workspace has at least one campaign. Click the refresh button in the node to reload.
The lookup matches on exact email. Check the email field it’s reading (Auto-detect uses form email fields and attendee_email), and that the key has leads:read. If you scoped it to a campaign, make sure the lead is in that campaign.
The email isn’t a lead in Instantly (or not in the selected campaign). That’s expected for leads who didn’t come from a campaign. Turn on Fail the step if the lead isn’t in Instantly if you want the run to error instead.
Instantly needs an email to identify the lead. Map the field that contains the email to Email. For meeting triggers use attendee_email.
The key was revoked or regenerated in Instantly. Disconnect and reconnect with a new key.
Create a new key in Instantly with campaigns:read, leads:read, leads:update, and leads:create, then reconnect.
The Instantly API requires an active paid Instantly plan.
If Skip if already in campaign or Skip if already in workspace is on and the email already exists, Instantly does not add it again. Turn the option off if you want duplicates.

Resources

Instantly API v2 Reference

Developer documentation

Instantly Help Center

Setup guides and FAQs