Write the campaign sequence in plain English
A text box, in sentences: call, then WhatsApp, wait, call again, then email. No retry-after field and no channel matrix, because nobody briefs a new agent that way.
Most outreach tools ask you to fill in retry_after_hours and max_attempts, per channel, in a grid. Those fields describe a machine. Nobody briefing a new sales hire has ever said "set your retry interval to four hours" — they say "if nobody answers, send them a WhatsApp, try again after lunch, and if you still cannot reach them, email." So the input here is a text box and you write sentences, mixing calls, WhatsApp and email as you go.
The sequence runs from a day to two months, and for each person it stops the moment they connect — a call answered, a reply on any channel.
Before you start
- A campaign with its audience and channels chosen.
- A decision on when to stop, which is the sentence most often missing.
Steps
Find the sequence box on the campaign
Six default lines are already there. Editing them is easier than starting from a blank box, and they show you the expected level of detail.
Write it the way you would brief a new agent
"Call them. If they pick up and we talk, we're done. If nobody answers, send a WhatsApp. Wait four hours and call again. Still nothing, email that evening and make one more call the next morning. Then a WhatsApp every third day for two weeks. After that, stop."
That is the actual input. It reads like a briefing because it is one.
Switch channels, do not just repeat one
People who will not answer an unknown number will often read a message, and people who ignore WhatsApp sometimes answer email at their desk. A sequence that changes channel after a miss almost always beats one that repeats the same channel three times. Write the switch in: "if nobody answers, send a WhatsApp" is a valid instruction.
Say when to stop, explicitly
The most important sentence in the box, and the one most often missing. "After that, stop" is not implied. Pair it with the campaign duration — a day, a week, two months — which is the ceiling; the stop line is what actually ends the sequence for somebody who never connected.
Use uneven intervals
"Wait four hours" reaches somebody at a different time of day than the first attempt. "Wait one day" rings them at the moment they were busy yesterday, which is why day-interval sequences underperform. Vary the hour as well as the channel.
Read it aloud before you save
If it does not make sense read out to a colleague, it will not make sense to the automation either. That is a genuinely reliable test, and it catches the ambiguous "then" that could mean two things.
Check it against every channel's hours
Calling hours bound the calls; broadcast timings bound the WhatsApp steps. "Try again in four hours" will not dial at 11pm on a daytime line — it waits until the line opens. A WhatsApp written for 9pm goes out at the next permitted hour. The sequence never overrides a channel.
Check it worked
After the campaign has been running a day, open a contact who did not answer the first time and read their activity feed. The attempts should look exactly like the sequence you wrote — call, WhatsApp, wait, call, email — with timestamps. If they do not, the wording was ambiguous; rewrite it more plainly.
The parts people get wrong
- A WhatsApp step to anyone outside the 24-hour window needs an approved template, or it does not send.
- The sequence stops per person on connection — an answered call that was handled, or a reply on any channel — regardless of what lines remain.
- For one person with a stage change, a task or a booking between steps, use a sequence rather than a campaign.
The ones people actually ask
What does the sequence box actually accept?
Plain English, written the way you would brief a new agent, naming channels and waits: "Call them. If nobody answers, send a WhatsApp. Wait four hours and call again. Still nothing, email. After two weeks, stop." Six default lines ship, and editing them is easier than starting from a blank box.
The campaign never stops chasing people.
You have not said when to stop. That is the most important sentence in the box and the one most often missing — "after that, stop" is not implied. The campaign duration is a ceiling, not a stop line.
Why do my follow-ups underperform?
Usually two things: even intervals, which ring somebody at the moment they were busy yesterday, and a single channel repeated. Vary the hour and switch channels after a miss — a WhatsApp between two calls almost always beats a third call.