Overview
Sequences are outreach campaigns that sales teams use to reach out to contacts over a planned period of time. With sequential touchpoints like phone calls, emails, social media engagement, and other tasks, you can customize each step in a sequence on Apollo to engage your target contacts and help your sales teams speed prospects through your pipeline.
Use sequences to enroll your highest priority leads into tailored, automated, multichannel sales campaigns that help you start meaningful conversations and set up meetings to convert prospects into customers as efficiently as possible.
You can combine automated email steps with manual tasks, such as phone calls and LinkedIn actions, to build a multichannel sequence.
If you use Claude or ChatGPT, you can connect Apollo and ask your AI tool to write personalized emails for each contact and add that content to their Apollo sequence steps. You don't need to set up custom fields or copy and paste each email. Review and approve the content before applying it. Learn how to use Apollo with AI tools.
Check out the following sections to learn how to set up and use sequences for success, and discover answers to some frequently asked questions.
Get Started
Ready to dive in? Connect your mailbox, build and activate a sequence, enroll and manage contacts, and review performance.
| Link Your Mailbox to Apollo | Connect your mailbox to send sequence emails in Apollo. |
|---|---|
| Create a Sequence | Create a sequence manually, use a template, or generate one with AI. Add and configure steps, then activate the sequence when you're ready to begin outreach. |
| Add Contacts to a Sequence | Add contacts to a sequence from searches, lists, CSV files, contact profiles, or workflows. Review enrollment warnings before you add them. |
| Manage Contacts in Sequences | Manage contacts in your sequences to review their statuses, pause or resume outreach, mark them as finished, remove them, or re-add finished or removed contacts. |
| Report on Sequences | Review sequence performance to compare results across sequences, run diagnostics, and review statistics, health, funnels, and audience engagement for an individual sequence. |
FAQs
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Frequently asked questions |
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| What happens if a contact replies midway through the sequence? | Can I email a contact in the middle of a sequence? | What happens if a contact is enrolled in multiple sequences? |
| How are contacts prioritized in a sequence? | Does an out-of-office reply pause a contact in a sequence? | What does a multichannel sequence look like? |
What happens if a contact replies midway through the sequence?
Use sequence rulesets to define what happens when a contact replies in a sequence. You can choose to stop sending messages to the contact or keep them enrolled in the sequence outreach.
Can I email a contact in the middle of a sequence?
Yes, you can always reach out to a contact individually outside of a sequence. Just navigate to the contact profile, then select to email or call them directly. If the contact remains in the sequence, they'll also receive any messaging configured in the sequence. You can always pause or remove a contact from a sequence to avoid sending them too many emails.
What happens if a contact is enrolled in multiple sequences?
When you add contacts to a sequence, Apollo will flag if any of those contacts already exist in other sequences. You can choose whether to continue adding the contacts. If a contact is enrolled in multiple sequences despite this warning, the contact will receive messaging from all the sequences they're enrolled in. Check out Add Contacts to a Sequence to learn more.
How are contacts prioritized in a sequence?
Apollo prioritizes contacts in a sequence based on their prospect score. Contacts with a higher score are more likely to be a good fit for your outreach, and they will move through the sequence ahead of contacts with lower scores.
When multiple automated emails are eligible to send at the same time across different sequences, your team's email priority settings determine which emails Apollo sends first across active sequences.
Does an out-of-office reply pause a contact in a sequence?
If you send a message to a contact that has set up an out-of-office auto-reply, Apollo pauses the contact in the sequence. Apollo can automatically resume messaging the contact if the contact specifies the return date in their out-of-office email. If Apollo can't detect a return date, you can manually resume messaging a paused contact.
When Apollo identifies an out-of-office message, Apollo pauses the contact and doesn't count the out-of-office message as replied.
In order for Apollo to detect a recipient's out-of-office return date, the date must be written with the month first, either in numeric format (MM/DD/YYYY, like 12/25/2025) or in long-form (like December 25, 2025). Apollo can detect auto-response messages in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Swedish, and Dutch.
To identify when Apollo has paused a contact in a sequence:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select your sequence, and click Contacts.
- Click Show filters, then click Sequence Status.
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Set the status to Paused, then select Auto resume date scheduled or Auto resume date not scheduled to filter your contacts:
- Auto resume date scheduled: Hover over the Paused status on a contact to view the auto resume date.
- Auto resume date not scheduled: Hover over the Paused status for more details. Select one or more contacts to manually resume them in the sequence.
Can't find those filters? These filters only appear as options on your sequence if Apollo has detected an out-of-office reply from one of your contacts.
Was an out-of-office reply not detected? Reach out to Apollo support to share the message so Apollo can get better over time.
What does a multichannel sequence look like?
A multichannel sequence combines email, phone calls, LinkedIn actions, and other tasks over time. This example is designed for high-priority prospects who warrant more individual research and personalized outreach.
| Day | Outreach |
|---|---|
| Day 1 | Send a personalized manual email that connects your offer to the prospect's needs. Interact with a relevant LinkedIn post to start building familiarity. |
| Day 4 | Call the prospect and, if appropriate, leave a voicemail referencing your email. Send a LinkedIn connection request. |
| Day 7 | Send an automated email follow-up that reinforces the value of your original message. |
| Day 10 | Use an action item to remind yourself to send a handwritten note or another personal touch. |
| Day 23 | Send a manual email referencing your earlier outreach and adding a relevant insight or reason to connect. |
| Day 25 | Make a final follow-up call and leave a brief voicemail if appropriate. |
Use this example as a starting point. Adjust the timing, channels, and level of personalization to your audience, and use sequence rulesets to determine what happens when a prospect replies.
For more examples, explore Apollo's free Outbound Sales guide to multichannel outreach.
Learn More
Explore more ways to configure, automate, optimize, and manage your sequences.
| Configure a Sequence Sending Schedule | Set when Apollo can send automated sequence emails, including business hours, time zones, holidays, and email priority. |
| Manage Sequence Rulesets | Control when Apollo sends, stops, or skips sequence emails based on prospect activity and contact stages. |
| Use an A/B Test in a Sequence | Compare versions of an automated email to identify the subject lines and messaging that generate the most engagement. |
| Use Stage Triggers in a Sequence | Automatically update a contact or account stage when specific sequence events occur. |
| Edit the Sending Mailbox on Contacts in a Sequence | Change the sending mailbox for contacts already enrolled in a sequence to manage mailbox capacity or continue outreach from another mailbox. |
| Complete LinkedIn Tasks in a Sequence | Add and complete LinkedIn tasks as part of your multichannel sequence outreach. |
| Organize Sequences and Email Templates with Folders | Organize sequences and email templates into folders so your team can find and manage outreach content. |
| Archive a Sequence | Archive inactive or completed sequences to reduce clutter while preserving them for future reference. |