Multichannel sequences
What does a LinkedIn then email cadence look like?
By Asen Levov, co-founder of Sellinger. Reviewed by Viktorio Shopov. Published . Last updated . 9 minute read.
Start with a LinkedIn invitation, follow up on LinkedIn two or three times, then move to two or three emails if the person stays silent. Space steps 5 days or more for senior buyers. A reply on either channel ends the sequence and the agent takes over. An opt out stops everything.
This post gives three day by day plans for three buyer types, the stop rules that go with them and a note on what Sellinger does by default. The plans are starting points we wrote from our defaults and our case studies. They are not measured optimums, and your market may need fewer steps.
What are the defaults?
Sellinger sets a default number of follow ups per channel, a default gap and a channel to move to when the follow ups run out. From the multichannel follow up page:
| Channel | Follow ups | Next channel when exhausted | First gaps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 days, then 5 to 7 days, then 7 to 14 days | ||
| 5 | 1 to 3 days, then 3 to 6 days, then 7 to 14 days |
Every value can be changed per campaign, and a campaign's own settings, a flow sequence step or an AI scheduled follow up take priority over these defaults. The plans below are shorter than the defaults on purpose, for a reason the case studies give: each extra touch buys fewer replies and more refusals.
| First replies that were negative | First message | Follow up 1 | Follow up 2 | Follow up 3 or later |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wealth advisor network (LinkedIn) | 0.4% | 2.8% | 9.6% | 16.0% |
| Sellinger own account (LinkedIn) | 0.9% | 8.5% | 14.3% | 14.7% |
Source: our follow up post and the wealth advisor network and own account case studies.
What does the cadence look like for a senior buyer?
Buyer type 1: a founder, owner or executive in a small or mid sized company. They read slowly and ignore most messages. Give them time and a reason.
| Day | Channel | Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invitation with a short, specific note, or no note if your market treats notes as pitches | |
| 6 | If accepted, a message with one question. If not accepted, wait | |
| 13 | Follow up that adds one new fact and repeats the question | |
| 20 | Switch channel after silence. A first email of 50 to 100 words, one question, a reference to the LinkedIn invitation | |
| 26 | One follow up that adds something new, with an easy way out | |
| 33 | Last note, labeled as the last. Stop |
That is six touches over about five weeks. The gaps are 5 to 7 days because a senior buyer who ignored a message on day 6 is not helped by another on day 8.
What does the cadence look like for an operator or manager?
Buyer type 2: an operations, procurement or quality lead at a mid sized company. They have a clear job, answer quickly when the question touches it, and are likely to forward to a colleague.
| Day | Channel | Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Invitation naming the function, for example their area of responsibility | |
| 4 | Message after accept: one question about the process you help with | |
| 9 | Follow up quoting a detail from their profile or company | |
| 14 | First email with one question and a referral ask: who handles this? | |
| 19 | Follow up that adds a concrete detail and repeats the question | |
| 26 | Last note. Stop |
The referral ask matters for this buyer. In the Green Shield email campaign, the follow up added one concrete procedure detail and asked who on the team was responsible; of the 15 replies to that follow up, 5 were referrals (Green Shield). Named heads of function replied at 8.2% there, against 2.2% for generic inboxes, so the email step in this plan should go to a named person, not a shared address.
What does the cadence look like for a partner or an existing relationship?
Buyer type 3: an installer, reseller or other partner who already knows your brand. They owe you nothing, but they are warm. Here the goal is often an answer, not a sale.
| Day | Channel | Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The question or questions, in the reader's language, in the body of the email | |
| 8 | Short follow up that carries the questions again | |
| 16 | Last touch | |
| 17 | Optional invitation for partners who did not reply, if you hold profiles |
In the Shelly installer programme the first follow up went out a median 8.3 days after the first email, and Shelly capped the sequence at the first email plus two follow ups after touches 4 and 5 produced the only two stop complaints. This plan is email first because the contact data was email, and LinkedIn is a polite fallback. For a partner base, check which channel they use before you decide. See LinkedIn or email first.
How does a reply on one channel affect the other?
The rule on our multichannel pages is one conversation, not several. The multichannel outreach entry says that when someone answers on any channel, the other channels stop, and the agent has the full history. The follow up use case says a reply ends the sequence and the agent takes over the conversation.
In practice that means:
- A LinkedIn reply on day 6 cancels the email scheduled for day 20.
- An email reply on day 19 ends the cadence, and the agent continues in the email thread.
- The agent keeps the history from both channels, so it does not ask a question the person has already answered.
- A person can take over any conversation, and the agent stops on its own when it cannot answer, for example when a price is asked that it has no answer for.
We have not published a test of the cross channel timing for every combination, so check a few real leads in your own campaign before you rely on it for a high stakes account.
What are the stop rules?
Write these down before you launch. A cadence without stop rules is a blast.
| Rule | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reply on any channel | Ends the sequence; the agent takes over |
| Opt out reply (STOP, unsubscribe) | The contact goes on the team's suppression list, the agent stops and the lead is closed out |
| Unclear opt out phrase | The agent stops and a person decides |
| Suppression check | Before every send the platform checks the list; the send is refused when the contact is on it or the check cannot be completed |
| Machine mail (auto replies, no reply senders, surveys) | Never counts as a human reply, and the agent does not answer it |
| Follow ups used up | The lead moves to the next channel you set, or is treated as exhausted |
| Last note sent | Stop for good |
| Daily limits | Each account has limits the agent cannot exceed |
The first four rows are enforced by the product (see outreach rules). The last note is a rule you set in your campaign. A direction template reads: send at most a set number of follow ups, spaced at least a set number of days apart, each shorter than the last and each adding a new angle, then a clean one sentence exit.
What should the email say after LinkedIn silence?
It should not pretend the LinkedIn message never happened, and it should not repeat it. Refer to it in half a sentence, add one thing the LinkedIn message did not contain, and ask the same single question. Keep it to 50 to 100 words (see how long should a cold email be).
Hi Marta, I sent you an invitation last week and I don't want to be a nuisance, so I'll use email once. If your dispatch team still confirms delivery slots by phone, I can send a two line summary of how other distributors handled it. Is that your area, or whose is it?
This is an illustration written for this post, not a customer message.
A checklist before you launch
- [ ] Each contact has a profile URL and an email, or you know which step you lose without one.
- [ ] The cadence has at most six or seven touches and a labeled last note.
- [ ] Gaps are 5 days or more for senior buyers.
- [ ] Every follow up adds something new and repeats the question.
- [ ] The email step goes to a named person.
- [ ] The unsubscribe line is on for the sending mailbox. It is off by default.
- [ ] You tested a few leads end to end to see that a reply stops the other channel.
- [ ] You checked the rules for each country on your list (is cold email legal, not legal advice).
Common questions
How many touches should a LinkedIn then email cadence have?
What happens when someone replies on LinkedIn while an email is scheduled?
What happens if someone opts out?
Does the cadence need the invitation to be accepted first?
How Sellinger helps
Read how it works on See multichannel follow up sequences, or see a real campaign in Read how the wealth advisor network ran its sequence.
