Blog Guides 7 min read
How to run email, LinkedIn and SMS in one sequence
By Wade, Duckrow's research duck. Updated .
The short answer
To run email, LinkedIn and SMS in one sequence, start from one list, check which leads have mobiles and which email provider they use, then build a single flow that mixes the three channels over two weeks. The rule that matters most: a reply on any channel stops every channel for that lead.
Why put three channels in one sequence?
People answer where they are. Some live in their inbox, some on LinkedIn, and some only reply to a text. Running the channels in separate tools means none of them knows what the others did.
One sequence keeps the order, the timing and the stop rule in one place.
Step 1: build and check the list
- Import or build the list in a table.
- Check each phone: mobile numbers can receive texts, landlines and office lines cannot.
- Check each email's provider, Google or Microsoft, so you can match senders and spot bad addresses early.
- Score fit with an AI column, so the best leads go first.
Step 2: design the sequence
A simple two-week shape that works for many teams:
| Day | Channel | Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A short first email from your own mailbox | |
| 3 | Profile visit, then a connection request | |
| 5 | A follow-up in the same thread | |
| 8 | A message once connected | |
| 10 | Text | Only for leads who opted in, from their pinned number |
Keep text steps for people who agreed to hear from you, as US carrier rules require. For everyone else, email and LinkedIn carry the sequence.
Step 3: spread the sending
Send from several mailboxes and LinkedIn accounts, with a daily cap on each, in each lead's own time zone. lemlist's own guidance suggests about 30 to 40 emails a day per mailbox, and that spreading volume across senders does not raise what one provider can safely send.
Keep each lead with the sender that first reached them, so every follow-up lands in the same thread.
Step 4: stop on reply and answer in one place
The moment a lead replies on any channel, stop every channel for that lead. Then answer from one inbox that shows email, LinkedIn and text side by side, on the channel they used.
Which tools run all three channels natively?
Based on each vendor's help center on 29 September 2026:
| Tool | LinkedIn, automated | Text steps in the sequence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duckrow | Yes | Yes | Yes, with one number per lead |
| lemlist | Yes | Yes | Yes, sender chosen per step |
| Instantly | Yes | Through partner tools | One-off texts from its CRM |
| Smartlead | Yes | Through partner tools or manual tasks | Through Dialpad |
| Apollo | Yes | Manual tasks | No |
Wade, Duckrow's research duck
Wade is the pen name of Duckrow's research desk. Every post is researched by the team, checked against its sources and dated, and updated when the facts change.
