# Sequence steps

> The specification of sequence steps — email, LinkedIn, call, SMS, WhatsApp, task, condition, and Zapier actions, with A/B variants, step delays, and manual or automatic task handling.

**A step is one action inside a sequence: email, LinkedIn, call, SMS, WhatsApp, task, Zapier, or a Yes/No condition. Automatic email steps send themselves; most other channels create tasks completed from the Chrome Extension. Each step defines a delay from the previous one (weekends included), and email steps support A/B variants distributed randomly.**

_Status: Reviewed — human-edited, facts not yet confirmed against the product._

## At a glance

| Aspect | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| **What it is** | One action inside a [sequence](/specifications/sequences) — channel, content, and the delay from the previous step |
| **Belongs to / Contains** | Belongs to exactly one sequence; email steps contain A/B variants; condition steps contain Yes and No branches |
| **Surfaces** | UI · REST API · MCP |
| **Key limit** | One Zapier step per sequence; conditions on LinkedIn statuses need a step delay of at least **2 hours** |
| **Lifecycle** | Steps run in order; a condition splits its position into numbered sub-steps (Step 4 → **4.1 (Yes)** and **4.2 (No)**) |
| **Does not** | Advance a contact past an unfinished task in Manual mode, send manual emails anywhere except the Reply Chrome Extension, or send manual emails to blacklisted or opted-out contacts |
| **Plans** | All plans; assigning generated tasks to contact owners requires Team Edition Public mode |

## Definition

A step is one action inside a [sequence](/specifications/sequences): what to do, over which
channel, after what delay from the previous step. Steps are added on the **Steps** tab or in
the Sequence Wizard, and support templates and variables in their editors.

## Step types

| Type | Channel | Automated or task-creating | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Email (automatic) | Email | Automated send | Sent from the contact's assigned [email account](/specifications/email-accounts); supports A/B variants |
| Email (manual) | Email | Creates a *Manual email* task | Labeled **Send manual email** in the step editor; completed only from the Reply Chrome Extension; exempt from the daily sending limits |
| LinkedIn | LinkedIn | Manual types create tasks; automatic LinkedIn steps also exist | Manual task types: **Message**, **Connect**, **InMail**, **View profile**; InMail requires a Sales Navigator account |
| Call | Phone | Creates a *Call* task | Handled from the **Tasks** page or the extension, with optional Cloud Calls; supports *Automatically call on opens* (recommended trigger: 4–7 opens) and *Pause on successful call* |
| SMS | SMS | Automated or manual | Automated SMS sends from the step template; the manual type creates a task |
| WhatsApp | WhatsApp | Semi-automated — creates a task | The contact moves to the next step once the task is sent or completed |
| Task | Manual to-do | Creates a task | *To-do* or *Meeting*; a reminder with notes, handled in the extension |
| Condition | — | Automated check | Splits the flow into **Yes** and **No** branches based on contact data or behavior |
| Action | — | Automated | Available action: *Move to Sequence* |
| Zapier | External apps | Automated trigger | Connects the sequence to 7,000+ apps on Zapier; one Zapier step per sequence |

**Conditions.** When a contact reaches a condition step, Reply checks the selected rules and
routes them into the Yes or No branch. A condition can *Monitor for* a duration — the system
re-checks every **10 minutes**, moves the contact on as soon as the condition is met, and
sends them down the No branch when the duration expires. Available conditions include Email,
Email Validation Status, LinkedIn URL, LinkedIn Connection Status, InMail Status, Phone
Number, Opens, Clicks, Views, ICP Score, and many contact-field and status filters. The
*LinkedIn Connection Status* and *InMail Status* conditions require the preceding step delay
to be at least **2 hours** (values below 2h are blocked; the default is pre-set to 2h) so the
system has time to detect the status from LinkedIn.

**Zapier steps** offer two behaviors: *Move to the next step immediately*, or *Wait for
action from Zapier to move to the next step*, where the contact pauses until Zapier signals
the sequence to continue.

## Variants

An email step can hold multiple **variants** (A/B) added with the **Add Variant** button.
Distribution is random — you cannot predict who receives variant A or B, and a contact who
received variant A in Step 1 may get variant B in Step 2. Variants can be cloned, edited,
paused, resumed, or removed, and per-variant metrics appear on the **Stats** tab under the
Brief/Detailed view with the A/B toggle turned on. Copying a step copies all of its variants
with the same content.

## Delays and ordering

Each step defines its delay from the previous one in days, hours, and minutes. **Weekends
are included** in the day count, and one day of delay equals 24 hours. Contacts already on a
step ignore a newly edited delay. Actual send time also depends on the
[schedule](/specifications/schedules) and daily limits — see
[When Reply sends](/behavior/sending-schedules).

When you add a new step, the system pre-fills a recommended default delay based on the
insertion position:

| Insertion position | Default delay |
| --- | --- |
| 1 (first step) | 0 days |
| 2 | 2 days |
| 3 | 4 days |
| 4 | 7 days |
| 5 | 9 days |
| 6 or later | 11 days |

In conditional sequences, two branches created from the same parent step receive the same
default delay. In an active sequence that already has contacts in progress, a step cannot be
inserted before Step 1 — steps can only be appended at the end.

## Processing behavior

Task-creating steps follow the sequence's **Tasks handling** setting. In **Manual** mode the
system does not finish the task or move the contact further until you complete the task. In
**Automatic** mode the contact is moved to the next step either when you finish the task or
automatically after the step delay, finishing the current task. When a Call or Task step is
the last step, the contact gets the *Finished* status after a specified number of days
(5 by default for Call steps). In Team Edition Public mode, generated tasks can be assigned
to the sequence owner or to each contact's owner.

## Side effects

Task-creating steps produce tasks on the **Tasks** page and in the Reply Chrome Extension.
The **Complete** button on the Tasks page marks a task as completed and moves the contact on
**without sending anything** — manual emails are actually sent only from the extension, where
the task's due date is the date and time of the sequence's next step. SMS replies are synced
into Reply and appear in the contact's activity log.

## Limits

| Limit | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Zapier steps per sequence | **1** |
| Minimum step delay before *LinkedIn Connection Status* or *InMail Status* conditions | **2 hours** — lower values are blocked; the default is pre-set to 2h |
| Default delay for a newly added step | 0 / 2 / 4 / 7 / 9 / 11 days by insertion position |
| Daily email volume | Bounded by the sequence and account limits — see [Limits](/reference/limits); manual email steps are exempt from the daily sending limits |

## Edge cases

- A contact without a phone number who reaches an automated SMS step stops on the step when tasks handling is manual, and moves further along the steps when it is automatic.
- Manual emails are never sent to blacklisted or opted-out contacts — the system reports an error for blacklisted contacts and does not generate the task at all for opted-out ones.
- Bounced contacts are automatically marked *Finished*; remove the *Bounced* status manually if you want them to continue to the next steps.
- A LinkedIn **View profile** task is not completed automatically by the extension — Message, Connect, and InMail tasks are, as soon as the action is done on LinkedIn.
- The *Last Touch* condition applies to email steps only, not LinkedIn steps.

## FAQ

### Which steps run automatically and which create tasks?

Automatic email, SMS (automated type), condition, action, and Zapier steps execute on their
own. Manual email, LinkedIn (manual types), call, manual SMS, WhatsApp, and task steps create
tasks, completed from the **Tasks** page or the Reply Chrome Extension. See
[Multichannel outreach](/capabilities/multichannel-outreach).

### How are A/B variants distributed?

Randomly. You cannot predict which contact gets which variant, and a contact who received
variant A in Step 1 may get variant B in Step 2. Compare per-variant metrics on the Stats
tab — see [How statistics are calculated](/behavior/statistics-calculation).

### What happens if I never complete a task in Automatic mode?

The sequence moves the contact to the next step after the step delay and finishes the current
task. In Manual mode the contact waits on the step until the task is completed.

### Why must a LinkedIn status condition wait 2 hours?

The system needs at least 2 hours to detect the connection or InMail status from LinkedIn, so
the step delay before *LinkedIn Connection Status* and *InMail Status* conditions cannot be
set below 2 hours.

### Can I add a step before Step 1 of an active sequence?

Not while contacts are in progress — the insert-at-top control is hidden and steps can only
be appended at the end. To restructure earlier steps, duplicate the sequence and move
contacts over — see [Sequences](/specifications/sequences).

## Related

- [Sequences](/specifications/sequences)
- [How a sequence executes](/behavior/sequence-execution)
- [Multichannel outreach](/capabilities/multichannel-outreach)
- [Create a sequence](/how-to/create-a-sequence)

## Build with Reply

- REST API: [docs.reply.io](https://docs.reply.io/api-reference/introduction) — sequence step and variant endpoints
- MCP: [agents.reply.io/mcp](https://agents.reply.io/mcp) · CLI: [agents.reply.io/cli](https://agents.reply.io/cli)