Build and launch

Workflow Reviewed · not yet fact-checked

At a glance

Goal

One sequence that reaches prospects on the channels they actually use — email, LinkedIn, calls, SMS, WhatsApp — with automated steps where safe, tasks where a human touch is needed, and conditions routing each contact down the right branch.

When to use this workflow

Single-channel results have plateaued, or your audience demonstrably lives on more than one channel. Channel data decides feasibility: LinkedIn steps need a LinkedIn URL on the contact, calls and SMS and WhatsApp need a phone number.

What Reply provides

All channels as step types in one sequence; manual and automatic variants for LinkedIn and SMS; task generation for manual touches (worked from the Tasks page or the Chrome Extension); per-account LinkedIn safety limits with daily tracking; Cloud Calls with recording and call resolutions; Yes/No condition steps over contact data and behavior; channel comparison in reports.

What you must provide

Connected accounts per channel, channel-appropriate copy, contact records carrying the data each channel needs, and daily attention to the tasks your manual steps generate.

Preconditions

An email account and a LinkedIn account connected; contacts with LinkedIn URLs and phone numbers where those channels are used; for automation, the LinkedIn account's site language set to English — Reply's LinkedIn automation is fully supported only in English. For in-platform calling, Cloud Calls enabled (Settings → Calls → Request calls; ID verification applies) with at least $10 in the wallet and a rented number.

Flow

LinkedIn view profile → connection request (note ≤300 chars)
    → condition: LinkedIn Connection Status (delay ≥2 h)
        yes → LinkedIn message (≤8,000 symbols)
        no  → email #1 → email #2
    → call task (Cloud Calls or manual) → SMS / WhatsApp follow-up
(a reply finishes the contact under Mark as finished)

Step-by-step

1. Plan channels around contact data. Email steps need an address, LinkedIn steps a LinkedIn profile URL, calls/SMS/WhatsApp a phone number. Condition steps can check each of these up front (Email, Phone Number, LinkedIn URL, Email Validation Status) and route contacts accordingly.
2. Add LinkedIn steps — manual or automatic. Manual steps (Message, Connect, InMail, View Profile) generate tasks you execute from the Tasks page or the Chrome Extension, which auto-completes most of them as you act on LinkedIn. Automatic steps run on their own: Message (up to 8,000 symbols; skipped if you are not connected to the prospect), Connect (optional note up to 300 characters), InMail, View Profile, Like Recent Posts, Endorse Skills (up to 3 skills; skipped if not connected), Follow Profile (skipped if already connected), Voice Message (a 60-second audio clip), and AI Voice Message. Direct messages reach 1st-degree connections only — pair Connect and Message steps to reach beyond your network. Automatic LinkedIn messages support one attachment up to 3 MB; Connect steps take no attachments.
3. Add call steps. A contact reaching a Call step creates a call task with your notes and variables. With Cloud Calls enabled you call from the contact sidebar, the dialer, or the Chrome Extension, take notes in the widget, then log a resolution — Log & Complete moves the contact to the next step, Log Only keeps them on the step. Calls handling is manual (the contact waits until you finish the task) or automatic (the contact moves on after the step delay even if the task is not finished). Two automations help: Automatically call on opens (recommended trigger: 4-7 opens) and Pause on successful call, which stops further automated steps after a completed call. If Call is the last step, the contact becomes Finished after 5 days by default.
4. Add SMS and WhatsApp steps. Automatic SMS sends from the step template; manual SMS becomes a task in the Chrome Extension. Contacts without a phone number stop on an automatic SMS step when task handling is manual, or skip forward when it is automatic. WhatsApp steps are semi-automated: the system creates the task and moves the contact on once it is sent or completed. SMS replies sync into the contact's activity log.
5. Branch with condition steps. A Condition step routes each contact down a Yes or No path. Useful checks: LinkedIn Connection Status (Connected, Pending, Not connected, and more) and InMail Status — both require a step delay of at least 2 hours before the condition so the status can be detected; Email Validation Status; Phone Number and its type (Mobile, Landline, Invalid); Opens and Clicks; ICP Score and LinkedIn Activity Score; Inbox Category, including Meeting intent. Use Action (move to sequence) and Merge to rejoin branches.
6. Review LinkedIn safety limits. Settings → LinkedIn Accounts → your account. Two modes: Limit ranges (Reply picks a random number in the range daily — defaults 25-35 for connections, profile views, likes, InMails, and other actions, 35-50 for messages) or Max amount (a fixed number; default 30 per action). Limits go up to 100 per action, apply only to automatic steps, and edits take effect the next day. The daily counter shows in the corner of each action.
7. Launch and work the tasks. Launch as in Launch an outbound campaign, then clear generated tasks daily — in manual handling mode an unworked task holds that contact in place.
8. Compare channels. Read replies and meetings per channel on the Channel Efficiency dashboard — see Analyze campaign performance — and cut the touches that do not perform.

Important rules

A reply to a sequence email finishes the contact under Mark as finished — Reply detection and Sequence stopping. Automatic steps skip rather than fail when prerequisites are missing: Message and Endorse Skills skip non-connections, Follow Profile skips existing connections, and the contact moves to the next step.

Failure conditions

• Missing LinkedIn URLs or phone numbers — steps skip or contacts stall, depending on step type and handling mode; filter with conditions up front
• Unworked manual tasks — in manual handling mode the contact waits on the task indefinitely
• LinkedIn limit reached — the action pauses for the day, a notification lands in Sequence → Log, and everything resets the next day
• LinkedIn site language not English — some automation features may not work as expected

Verification

Each channel's first action executes: LinkedIn counters tick up under safety limits, call and WhatsApp tasks appear on the Tasks page, SMS sends log in the contact activity, and the channel dashboard shows touches on every configured channel.

Limits

• LinkedIn automatic message: up to 8,000 symbols; connection request note: up to 300 characters
• LinkedIn message attachments: 1 file, maximum 3 MB, LinkedIn-supported formats (PDF, PPT/PPTX, DOC/DOCX, JPG/JPEG, PNG, GIF)
• Endorse Skills: up to 3 skills per contact; Voice Message: 60-second clip
• Safety limits: default ranges 25-35 per action and 35-50 for messages; static default 30; maximum 100 per action; changes apply from the next day
• Direct LinkedIn messages reach 1st-degree connections only
• Condition steps on LinkedIn Connection Status and InMail Status require a step delay of at least 2 hours
• Cloud Calls: requires activation, ID verification, at least $10 in the wallet, and a rented number
• Call as the last step: the contact becomes Finished after 5 days by default

Related

• Multichannel outreach — the capability view
• LinkedIn outreach
• Sequence steps
• Multichannel strategy

Build with Reply

• REST API: docs.reply.io — steps and channel accounts
• MCP: agents.reply.io/mcp