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 add contacts to new or existing sequences at any time. If a sequence is active when you add a contact to it, Apollo enrolls them in the first step according to the sequence sending schedule.
You can pause, resume, and remove contacts in sequences as needed.
Wondering how contacts are prioritized in a sequence? Apollo prioritizes contacts based on their prospect score. Contacts with higher scores are more likely to engage with your outreach, and these contacts will proceed through your sequence ahead of lower-scoring prospects. Learn more.
Check out the following sections to add contacts to a sequence from search, a CSV file, a list, or workflows, to pause and resume contacts in a sequence, to mark them as finished, and to remove them from a sequence.
Add Contacts to a Sequence
Each contact you add to a sequence goes through each sequence step once. Apollo tracks a contact's progress within the sequence to avoid sending duplicate messages. If you need a contact to repeat sequence steps, clone the sequence and add the contact to the new sequence.
You can add contacts from search, from a CSV file, from a list, or automatically via the outbound copilot.
Wondering how to avoid adding the same contact to multiple sequences? Apollo warns you before adding contacts to a sequence if:
- The contact is already part of another sequence: Messaging contacts multiple times across different sequences can be burdensome. However, there are often real business reasons to add a contact to multiple sequences at the same time. Consult with your team if you're unsure how to proceed.
- The contact has unverified email addresses: Apollo only recommends enrolling contacts with verified email addresses.
- The contact has out-of-date information or doesn't have an email address: Use enrichment to find information and email addresses before adding contacts to a sequence.
- The contact has an owner other than you: If you're an admin, check out Edit a Contact Owner or Permission Profiles to update ownership permissions.
You can proceed despite the warning, or resolve the issue.
Add contacts from search
To add contacts to a sequence from search:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select a sequence.
- Click Add contacts > Prospect Searcher.
- Use search filters to find the right people for your sequence.
- Check each contact that you want to add to the sequence.
- Click Add to sequence.
Apollo charges 1 credit per net new verified contact that you add to a sequence. There's no charge if you add a saved contact with a verified email address to your sequence.
To learn more about credits, check out What Are Credits?. To learn more about prospect email verification, check out How Apollo Verifies Emails.
- Select the mailbox you want to use to message contacts in the sequence. Alternatively, check two or more mailboxes to rotate sends between the mailboxes. Mailbox rotation can help improve email deliverability by spreading your outbound volume across different sending email addresses.
- (Optional) Check Skip Contacts Validation if you don't want to review issues with contacts before sending them emails. Apollo doesn't recommend you skip validation, as you may miss important warnings.
- (Optional) Click Schedule to set a specific time to add the contacts to the sequence, then choose a date and time.
- Click Add contacts.
- If there are any issues with your contacts, review them and decide whether you still want to add those contacts to your sequence. Then, click Sequence selection.
You have now added contacts to your sequence.
Add contacts from a CSV
Download a sample CSV file that includes the required columns. Learn more about importing contacts via CSV.
To add contacts to a sequence via a CSV file:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Click the sequence you want to use.
- Click Add Contacts > Upload CSV.
- Click Select CSV File, and select the file on your computer.
- Next, map each CSV column header to the matching Apollo field.
- Select the appropriate options for the import settings.
- When finished, click Import.
You have now added contacts to a sequence from a CSV.
Add contacts from a list
To add contacts to a sequence from a list:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Click the sequence you want to use.
- Click Add Contacts > Select list.
- Select one or more lists from the dropdown. There's no limit to the number of lists you can add to the sequence.
- Select the email address you want to use to message contacts in the sequence, or toggle Rotate mailboxes to rotate between the mailboxes you use in Apollo. Then select multiple email addresses, or leave the dropdown blank to rotate all. Mailbox rotation can be useful for email deliverability.
- (Optional) Check Skip Contacts Validation if you don't want to review issues with contacts before sending them emails. Apollo doesn't recommend skipping validation because you may miss important warnings.
- (Optional) Click Schedule to set a specific time to add the contacts to the sequence, then choose a date and time.
If you're using someone else's mailbox to send sequence messages, the recipient may see that name as the sender of the email. Check out Manage User Mailboxes to change the sender name on Microsoft Exchange mailboxes. Alternatively, use a Microsoft Exchange mailbox that you created in your name, or any other connected mailbox from a supported email service provider. Apollo recommends Gmail to get the most out of Apollo.
- Click Add now.
You have now added contacts to a sequence from a list.
Add contacts with the outbound copilot
To add contacts automatically with workflows:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Click the sequence you want to use.
- Click Add Contacts > Automate adding contacts.
- Configure the copilot workflow, then click Create workflow.
You have now automated adding contacts with the outbound copilot. Check out Use the Outbound Copilot to learn more.
Pause and Resume Contacts
You can check the progress of contacts in the sequence over time:
- Launch and Apollo and navigate to Sequences.
- Select a sequence and click Contacts to review a contact's status.
There may be times you need to pause a contact moving through a sequence. For example, if you're already actively engaging with a contact's colleague, or if they request temporary space from your outreach campaign. When you, your team, or Apollo pause a contact in a sequence, you have the option to resume the contact manually or with an automatic resume date.
If Apollo pauses a contact because it detects an out-of-office response, you may not need to manually resume the contact. Check out Sequences Overview to learn more.
Pause
To pause a contact in a sequence:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select your sequence.
- Click Contacts, then check the contacts you want to pause in the sequence.
- Click Pause Sequence.
- If you want to set an automatic resume date, select a date. Click Pause.
You have now paused a contact in a sequence. You can manually resume the contact in the sequence later or use auto-resume.
Resume
To resume a paused contact:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select your sequence, then click Contacts.
- Under filters, click Sequence Status and check Auto resume date not scheduled, Manually Paused, or Out of Office to find the contacts you want to resume.
- Apollo displays the paused contacts. Check the contacts that you want to resume, then click ► to immediately resume the contacts. Click ► to confirm.
- To schedule a date and time to automatically resume the contacts, click Set Auto-resume date.
- Select a date and time, then click Set resume date.
- When finished, click Resume.
You have now resumed a contact in a sequence.
Mark Contacts as Finished
By default, sequences end when a contact replies to an email. However, there may be situations where you want to manually mark a contact as finished. For example, if you changed the default trigger settings for sequences and a contact wishes to unsubscribe or has changed jobs.
To manually mark a contact as finished in a sequence:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select your sequence, then click Contacts.
- Check the contacts you want to mark as finished, and click Mark as Finished.
- Select a reason to mark the prospect as finished so Apollo can complete related tasks for you, then click Mark Finished.
You have marked a contact as finished in a sequence.
Remove Contacts
There may be times when you need to remove a contact from a sequence. For example, if you enroll multiple contacts from the same company in a sequence and one of the contacts responds to close a deal. Removing the other contacts from your sequence might make sense.
Use caution when removing contacts from a sequence. When you do so, you bypass the safety checks that prevent re-deploying the contact to the same or multiple sequences at a later time.
To remove a contact from a sequence:
- Launch Apollo and click Sequences.
- Select your sequence, then click Contacts.
- Check the contacts you want to remove, and click Remove from Sequence.
- Click Remove to confirm.
You have now removed a contact from a sequence.
If you remove a contact from a sequence, you can add them back and Apollo remembers their progress by placing them back on the same step they were on in the sequencs. This ensures they don't receive duplicate messages. If you need the contact to start fresh from the first step, clone the sequence and add the contact to the new one.
Next Steps
Looking to get even more from your sequences? Here are a few next steps to keep your outreach on track:
| Use A/B Tests | With contacts added to your sequence, use A/B tests on e-mail steps to find the best performing messages. |
|---|---|
| View and Respond to Emails | Stay connected with prospects through email directly on Apollo, where you can view contextual information from contacts, set up meetings, and take notes. |
| Complete LinkedIn Tasks on Sequences | Complete LinkedIn tasks on sequences to engage on social media and run a multichannel outreach campaign. |
| Use Stage Triggers | Use stage triggers to update contact statuses based on how they interact with your sequence engagement. |
| Report on Sequences | Report on sequences to stay in-the-know on your prospecting performance and finetune your outreach strategy. |