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Apollo
Intermediate

Create Outreach Sequences in Apollo

Set up multi-step outreach sequences in Apollo

Instructions

Create Outreach Sequences in Apollo

Prerequisites

  • Apollo account with sequence access (paid plan)
  • Verified sending email connected to Apollo
  • Contact list ready for outreach

Steps

  1. Create a new sequence via API. Use the Apollo API to create a sequence. Name it with campaign context (e.g., "Q1 DevTools VP Eng - Pain Point"). Select your sending mailbox and set the sequence to run on weekdays only, between 8am-11am in the recipient's timezone.

  2. Build your email steps. Add 3-4 email steps for a standard outbound sequence. Step 1: personalized cold email (day 0). Step 2: value-add follow-up (day 3). Step 3: social proof or case study (day 7). Step 4: breakup email (day 14). Keep each email under 150 words.

  3. Add manual tasks. Between email steps, add manual LinkedIn tasks: "View profile" (day 1), "Connect with note" (day 4), "Comment on recent post" (day 8). This multi-channel approach increases reply rates by 2-3x over email-only.

  4. Configure sequence settings. Set daily send limits per mailbox (30-50 for warmed accounts). Enable "Stop on reply" so prospects who respond are automatically removed. Set "Stop on bounce" to protect sender reputation.

  5. Add contacts to the sequence. Import contacts from your Apollo saved search or upload a CSV. Apollo will deduplicate against contacts already in active sequences to prevent double-messaging.

  6. Monitor performance. After the first 50 sends, check open rate (target >50%), reply rate (target >5%), and bounce rate (keep under 3%). If bounce rate exceeds 3%, pause and re-verify your list.