General Campaigns
What happens if I add steps to an active campaign?
Once a campaign is active (i.e. no longer in draft mode), any additional steps you add become permanent – you cannot remove those new steps later. Make sure to plan your sequence carefully before activating a campaign. (If you need a different sequence, you would have to stop or archive the campaign and create a new one rather than deleting steps mid-campaign.)
Can I delete steps from an active campaign?
No. Steps in an active campaign cannot be deleted. This restriction exists to maintain the consistency of the campaign flow once it has started. If you must change the sequence, the typical approach is to stop the campaign and relaunch a revised campaign (for example, duplicate the campaign in draft, adjust the steps, then start it fresh).
What happens if a contact responds at any step?
If a contact replies to one of your campaign messages (at any step in the sequence), the automated sequence for that contact stops. They will not proceed to the next scheduled step after their reply. For example, if a lead responds to your first email, they won’t be sent the second email or any further steps in that campaign sequence.
What happens if a lead doesn’t respond?
If the contact does not respond to a given step, the campaign will automatically move on and execute the next step as scheduled. The sequence continues according to your design (e.g. sending follow-up messages) until either the contact replies or the sequence runs out of steps.
When a contact responds, who continues the conversation?
When you get a reply from a lead, you have three options for how to continue the conversation:
Manual Handling: You or your team can take over and respond manually, outside of the automated campaign flow. This is useful if you prefer a personal touch or the situation requires a custom response.
AI Copilot Mode (AI Suggestions): If you enable the AI Copilot, the AI will suggest a reply based on the context and the campaign’s configured prompt. You’ll see the AI’s suggested response, which you can review and edit. You remain in control – the message isn’t sent until you approve or modify and send it yourself.
AI Auto-Reply Mode (AI Replies): If you choose to let the AI handle replies automatically (Copilot turned off), Genesy’s AI will generate and send a reply to the contact without requiring your approval. The AI uses the campaign’s settings and prompt to craft a response immediately when the contact replies. (In this mode, the conversation continues AI-to-human without manual intervention.)
Important: In all cases where a contact replies, the campaign’s sequence for that contact is halted (no further automated steps will be sent). The conversation shifts to either you or the AI, as per the mode chosen, ensuring the lead gets a timely and context-aware response.
How does the working hours configuration affect campaigns?
Working hours settings define the time window during which your campaign can send out messages. Outside of the defined working hours, campaigns are automatically paused. This means if your working hours are set to (for example) 9am–5pm, Genesy will not send any campaign messages before 9am or after 5pm. The system will only execute steps during the allowed timeframe. This ensures prospects don’t receive messages at odd hours (e.g. middle of the night or weekends, depending on your configuration), which helps you target optimal engagement times and maintain professionalism.
Where can I configure working hours?
You can set the working schedule for sending messages under the Identities > Configuration > Working Hours section of Genesy. In that settings page, you can specify the days of the week and time range considered as “working hours” for each identity (email or LinkedIn account). Make sure to adjust these settings according to your business hours or the time windows you want your outreach to occur.
Can I set a different schedule for each campaign or team?
No – the schedule is configured per identity, not per individual campaign. This means the working hours apply to all campaigns using that particular identity (email inbox or LinkedIn account). If you want different campaigns to operate on different schedules, you would need to use different identities with distinct working hour settings. Each identity (for example, each sender email or each LinkedIn profile) can have its own schedule, providing flexibility within a team, but you cannot have two different schedules for campaigns that use the same identity.
Does the working hours pause apply to both LinkedIn and emails?
Yes. The working hours settings affect all types of campaign steps – both LinkedIn actions and emails. In practice, this means if it’s outside the set hours, Genesy will hold back both LinkedIn connection requests/messages and email sends until the next permissible sending window. Both channels respect the pause to avoid any outreach going out at undesired times.
LinkedIn Campaigns
How many connection requests can I send daily on LinkedIn without exceeding the limits?
LinkedIn imposes strict limits on how many connection requests you can send per day to protect against spam. Genesy adheres to these limits to keep your account safe. Here’s a general guideline:
Standard LinkedIn accounts: It’s safest to send around 20 invitations per day. Pushing beyond ~20/day on a regular (free) account can trigger LinkedIn’s defenses. In fact, LinkedIn often has a weekly cap (around 100 invites per week in many cases), so ~20/day is a good rule of thumb.
Premium/Sales Navigator accounts: These accounts have historically allowed higher volumes (some users report 50–100 invites per day in the past). However, LinkedIn’s current algorithms still err on the side of caution – even if you have Sales Navigator, sending the maximum (100) every day could risk restrictions if your acceptance rate is low. We recommend staying closer to 20–30 per day even on premium accounts unless you’ve seen consistently high acceptance and no issues. The key is gradual, organic growth.
New LinkedIn profiles: If your LinkedIn profile is new or relatively inactive, start very low – about 5–10 invites per day. New accounts have less trust built up, so LinkedIn will be more strict. Only increase your daily invites once those initial invitations are getting accepted and you’ve established some credibility on the platform.
Genesy will help manage these limits for you. In fact, Genesy sets a default cap of 20 connection requests per day for each LinkedIn identity to keep your outreach in a safe zone. If you ever hit the daily limit, Genesy automatically pauses sending new connection requests and will resume the next day once the 24-hour period resets. This prevents you from accidentally exceeding LinkedIn’s limits. In addition, Genesy limits LinkedIn messages to 100 per day per profile as another safety measure(this refers to direct messages to 1st-degree connections, which also shouldn’t be spammed).
Bottom line: Focus on quality over quantity. Sending fewer, more personalized invites (well under LinkedIn’s hard limits) will yield better results and keep your account in good standing.
What does “LinkedIn Invitation not accepted” mean?
“LinkedIn Invitation not accepted” is a status indicating that your connection request was not accepted within the defined timeframe for the campaign. In Genesy, when you send a LinkedIn connection request as a campaign step, you can specify a timeout (for example, 14 or 15 days). If the contact does not accept your invite within that period, Genesy considers the invitation “not accepted” and will automatically end the sequence for that contact (they won’t proceed to subsequent steps). Essentially, the prospect didn’t respond to your invite in time, so the campaign stops attempting further LinkedIn steps with them.
(Note: The invitation can still be accepted later by the person, but by that point Genesy has marked it as unresponsive. If they accept much later, you could always follow up manually, but the automated sequence will not continue.)
Why is it important to set a timeframe for LinkedIn invitations?
Setting a timeframe for your connection request step helps you manage your campaign more efficiently and avoid indefinite waiting. Here’s why it matters:
Keep the campaign organized: You’ll know which contacts have not responded within a reasonable time. Leads who don’t accept within, say, 2 weeks are unlikely to accept at all – marking them helps keep your active funnel clean.
Identify interested contacts quickly: A defined timeframe lets you quickly separate engaged prospects from unresponsive ones. Those who accept promptly can move forward in your sequence (and eventually receive your follow-up message), while those who don’t are tagged as “not accepted” so you can focus on other leads.
Avoid redundant requests: It prevents you from repeatedly or continuously sending messages to someone who hasn’t accepted your invite. If a person hasn’t connected with you after the set period, it’s a signal that they might not be interested or active – sending more LinkedIn messages would be wasted effort or could annoy them if they eventually do see your invite.
In short, the timeframe acts as a cutoff for LinkedIn connection steps, ensuring your campaign doesn’t stall on unopened invitations and helping you decide next actions for those leads (e.g. try another channel or move on).
What can you do if a contact doesn’t accept the invitation within the timeframe?
If a prospect hasn’t accepted your LinkedIn connection request after the timeframe has elapsed, you have a few options on how to proceed:
Wait and resend later: Give it a little more time and then consider sending a new connection request. Sometimes people just miss the first invite or forget. After withdrawing the old pending invite (to free up your quota), you might wait a few days or weeks and then attempt to connect again with a personalized note. Be cautious not to do this too often – one follow-up invite after some time can be acceptable, but if they ignore that as well, it’s best to move on.
Reach out through other channels: If you have alternate contact information (like their email address or phone number), you could send a brief, polite message through email or another medium. For example, you might say you had tried to connect on LinkedIn and would love to speak when they have a moment. Keep it light – the goal is to gently nudge them, not to scold them for not accepting.
Do nothing (and possibly withdraw): It’s perfectly okay to decide that an unresponsive invite is a low priority. You might simply let it be and focus on other contacts. If you have Genesy’s auto-withdrawal enabled, the system will pull back the pending request after the set number of days. With the invitation withdrawn, you won’t be stuck at LinkedIn’s invite limit, and you maintain a cleaner pending list.
No matter which approach you choose, remember to stay respectful and not push too hard. If someone hasn’t accepted or responded, chasing aggressively can come off as spammy. Sometimes the best action is to leave the ball in their court.
How many messages should be sent in a LinkedIn sequence?
The optimal number of messages in a LinkedIn outreach sequence can vary with your strategy, but generally less is more. A highly effective sequence often includes about 2–3 touches in total:
Connection Request: The initial outreach – typically a custom connection note (optional but recommended) to introduce yourself or explain why you want to connect.
First Message (after acceptance): Once the person accepts your invite, send a message thanking them for connecting and adding some value – for example, a note about how you can help them or a resource that might interest them. This message should be personable and relevant.
Second Follow-up Message: If they don’t respond to your first message, you may send one more gentle follow-up after a few days or a week. This could be a reminder or an additional value-add (like sharing an insight, asking a question to engage them, etc.).
⚠️ Avoid overwhelming the contact. Sending too many messages can be perceived as spam. We recommend capping it at 2 or 3 messages per sequence at most. After a couple of attempts with no response, it’s usually best to step back. Additional unsolicited messages beyond that are unlikely to help and could harm your credibility or even prompt the person to report or block you.
Keep your messages polite, concise, and spaced out over several days. This respectful persistence shows professionalism and gives the lead breathing room to respond.
What common mistakes should be avoided in LinkedIn campaigns?
When running LinkedIn campaigns, watch out for these common pitfalls that can reduce your effectiveness or even get your account restricted:
Using generic templates: Sending boilerplate or generic messages is a big turn-off. If your connection requests or messages feel copy-pasted and not personalized, prospects are less likely to accept or reply. Always try to tailor your outreach to the individual (mention a common interest, their work, etc.) rather than using the same text for everyone.
Sending too many messages: Bombarding someone with a series of messages (especially if they haven’t responded yet) can come across as spammy. Stick to the recommended 2–3 message sequence. If you send message after message without a reply, it not only annoys the recipient but could also trigger LinkedIn’s spam detection.
Poor targeting/segmentation: Make sure you’re reaching out to the right audience. Contacting people who are outside your ideal customer profile or who likely have no interest in your offering is a waste of time and can lead to low response rates.Use LinkedIn’s filters or your own research to build a relevant list of prospects. Quality of leads is more important than sheer quantity.
Lack of a follow-up or next step: On the flip side of too many messages, some campaigns fail because they don’t follow up at all. If someone accepts your connection but you never send a follow-up message, that connection might not realize your intent or may forget about you. Always plan at least one follow-up after the initial connect – and when a conversation does happen, end your messages with a clear next step or question to keep the dialogue moving.
Avoiding these mistakes will improve your LinkedIn outreach success. In short: be personal, be patient, target the right people, and have a plan for engagement.
What should you do if a contact responds but is not interested?
If a lead replies to you on LinkedIn but indicates they’re not interested (or not interested right now), it’s important to handle it gracefully. Here’s how to turn a polite rejection into a positive outcome:
Thank them for their time: Always begin by acknowledging their response and thanking them for replying, even if it’s a “no.” For example, “Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate you responding.” This leaves a good impression. Being courteous now keeps the door open for the future – just because they aren’t interested today doesn’t mean they won’t need your solution later. A positive interaction can make them remember you favorably.
Stay positive and professional: You might add a line wishing them success or saying you understand. Never show frustration or push back against their “no.” The goal is to leave a positive feeling. The person may respect that you handled their response professionally, which means they might be more receptive if you reach out down the line with something new.
Ask for a referral (if appropriate): If it feels right, you can politely ask if they know someone else who might benefit from what you offer. For instance, “No worries at all. Perhaps you know someone in your network who might find this useful? I’d be grateful for any referrals.” Often, people are willing to refer you if they see a fit for someone else, especially since you respected their decision.
Close on a positive note: End the exchange by keeping the connection warm. Something like, “Thanks again for your time. Let’s stay connected – feel free to reach out if I can ever assist you in the future.” This way, you leave the conversation open and amicable.
Remember, a “no” today isn’t a dead end. By handling it graciously, you ensure that the contact would be happy to engage with you in the future or refer you elsewhere. Every interaction, even rejections, shape your professional reputation on LinkedIn.
How can I withdraw multiple connection requests on LinkedIn?
If you have a bunch of pending LinkedIn connection requests that haven’t been accepted, Genesy provides a convenient way to withdraw them in bulk rather than manually one by one. Here’s how to do it:
Navigate to the Withdrawals settings: In Genesy, go to Identities > Configuration > LinkedIn > Withdrawals. This section is where you manage pending connection invites for your LinkedIn identities.
Enable automatic withdrawals (optional): You’ll see an option called “Automatically withdraw pending invitations.” If you turn this on, Genesy will auto-withdraw any unanswered connection requests after a set number of days that you configure. For example, you might set it to 15 days – so any invite not accepted in 15 days will be pulled back automatically. This helps keep your LinkedIn account within limits and your pending invites list clean.
Withdraw invites manually: You can also manually select specific pending invitations to withdraw. In the Withdrawals tab, you’ll see a list of your outstanding connection requests. Use the checkboxes next to the contacts’ names to select the invites you want to cancel. Once you’ve selected the ones you want to remove, confirm the action (there will be a Withdraw button or similar). Genesy will then withdraw those invitations on LinkedIn for you.
Confirmation: After confirming, those selected connection requests will be withdrawn/removed. They will disappear from your pending list.
Note: Once you withdraw an invitation, you cannot send a new connection request to that same person for 3 weeks (this is a LinkedIn rule). So use withdrawals judiciously – don’t withdraw an invite today and expect to resend it tomorrow. You’ll have to wait 3 weeks before you can attempt to connect with that person again. Also, LinkedIn does not notify the person that you withdrew the invite, so it’s a silent removal on your end.
Regularly withdrawing stale invites is a good practice to stay within LinkedIn’s invitation limits. Genesy’s automatic withdrawal feature can handle it for you, or you can do it manually in bulk as described above.
Email Campaigns
What are the recommended email sending limits?
To maintain a good sender reputation and avoid email provider restrictions, we recommend keeping your campaign sending limits conservative:
Daily limit: Approximately 30 emails per day per email address (inbox). This is a safe volume that helps prevent your domain from looking “spammy.” It’s significantly lower than some hard limits, but it ensures you’re not approaching thresholds that trigger spam filters. In fact, Genesy’s best practice is to stick around 30/day for each domain or inbox to keep deliverability high.
Hourly limit: It’s best to space out your emails rather than sending them all at once. As a guideline, aim for no more than 5–10 emails per hour. This pacing mimics natural human sending behavior. For example, instead of sending 30 emails in one burst, you might send roughly 5 emails per hour over a typical workday. Genesy automatically throttles email send-outs to help distribute sends over time (e.g., it won’t fire off 30 emails in the same minute).
These values are recommended to protect your domain’s reputation and avoid hitting provider-enforced limits. Some email providers have default limits (for instance, Gmail’s consumer accounts often cap around 500/day, G Suite around 2000/day, etc.), but sending at those maximums is not advisable for cold outreach. Our 30/day per inbox recommendation is well under such caps, giving you a wide safety margin.
Tip: If you need to reach a higher total volume of emails, consider connecting multiple sender addresses or domains (see the question on multiple email addresses below) rather than raising the send rate of a single inbox.
(For advanced senders: Even for well-warmed domains, we suggest never exceeding about 80 emails/day from one domain as an absolute upper limit. Beyond that, you risk serious reputation damage. Staying at ~30 ensures you’re operating with plenty of room.)
What happens if I exceed the sending limits?
Exceeding the safe sending limits can lead to a few negative consequences:
Account suspension or rate limiting: Your email service provider might temporarily suspend your account, block outgoing messages, or otherwise restrict your ability to send emails if you blast out too many emails in a short time. This is especially true for services like Gmail, which monitor unusual sending spikes.
Damage to your domain reputation: Sending volumes above what your domain’s history supports can get your domain flagged by spam filters. ISPs track sender reputation; if you suddenly send way more email and recipients mark some as spam, your domain reputation drops. This can lead to more of your future emails being automatically filtered to spam, even for people who might have been interested.
Increased spam reports and bounces: A high volume send, particularly to colder contacts, often yields more bounces (invalid emails) and spam complaints. A surge in spam reports can trigger email providers to intervene or throttle your emails. It also means fewer of your emails will land in inboxes going forward (low deliverability).
Genesy is designed to help you avoid these scenarios. The platform will automatically pace your campaign and enforce the sending limits configured. If you set a daily cap (say 30/day) and an hourly cap, Genesy will queue and stagger the emails. In fact, if you somehow reach the daily cap, Genesy pauses the campaign’s sending for that day and resumes the next day once the limit resets. This way, you’re technically prevented from exceeding the safe limit in the first place. The system’s goal is to protect you from yourself (and from hurting your sender reputation).
In summary, going past the recommended limits is risky for your email health. It’s much better to grow your sending volume gradually and use multiple accounts/domains for higher volume, rather than pushing one account too hard. Genesy’s limits and safeguards exist to keep your outreach sustainable and effective.
Can I adjust the daily and hourly limits?
Yes, Genesy allows you to adjust your sending limits in the settings if necessary. For example, under your email identity settings, you might find fields to set a custom daily send cap or hourly send cap for that inbox. This can be useful if you need to temporarily lower the volume (e.g., if you notice some deliverability issues, you might dial down to 15/day for a while) or raise it slightly after a successful warm-up period.
However, we strongly advise sticking to the recommended values (or even lower) unless you have a specific reason to change them. The default limits (like ~30/day) are there based on best practices. Increasing them significantly (for instance, upping to 50 or 80+ emails/day for one inbox) can put your domain at risk. Only experienced senders with properly warmed domains and multiple safeguards should even consider higher limits, and even then with caution.
In short: the limits are configurable, but proceed with care. It’s usually better to add another sending identity or spread out your sends than to raise the limit on a single account.
Why is it important to connect multiple email addresses?
Connecting multiple email addresses (sender accounts) to Genesy – and using them under a single identity or across your campaigns – is a smart strategy for several reasons:
Distribute the sending load: By having, say, 2–5 email addresses sending messages in your campaign, you spread out the volume across multiple accounts. Each inbox only sends a portion of the total emails. This means no single email account is doing all the heavy lifting (and thereby stays well within safe sending limits).
Minimize spam/blacklist risk: If one address or domain were to run into deliverability issues, having others means your whole outreach doesn’t come to a halt. Also, sending smaller volumes per address (instead of one address sending a huge volume) reduces the chance of being flagged as spam on any given account. It’s like not putting all your eggs in one basket.
Maintain consistent performance: Multiple senders can improve overall campaign performance. Each email account can build its own reputation, and you’ll see more consistent results, as you’re not overloading one domain. If one domain hits a deliverability snag, the others can still perform, and you can troubleshoot without everything grinding to a stop.
Higher combined sending capacity: Practically speaking, if one inbox is recommended to send ~30 emails/day, then 3 inboxes could send ~90 emails/day collectively while each still stays at a safe 30/day level. This is how you scale up outreach safely – by adding identities, not by increasing one identity’s volume.
Genesy allows you to connect multiple email accounts under one identity or team. You can then configure your campaign so that it rotates between those addresses when sending emails, or assign different campaigns to different addresses. This rotation is seamless and helps in keeping your sender reputation high across the board.
What does “Warm-up” mean in the context of email campaigns?
“Warm-up” refers to the process of gradually building up the sending reputation of a new email account or domain before you start sending large campaign volumes. When you have a fresh email address or domain (or one that hasn’t been used for cold outreach in a while), email providers are wary of it suddenly sending hundreds of emails. Warm-up addresses that.
Here’s how warm-up works: Over a period of a couple of weeks, you send a small number of emails each day, then slowly increase that number. For example, in week 1 you might send only 5 emails per day, week 2 maybe 10 per day, then 20 per day, and so on until you reach your target volume. During this time, you ideally send to high-quality contacts (or even to colleagues or specialized warm-up services) who will open and perhaps reply, signaling positive engagement. This process typically takes 2–3 weeks of ramp-up before the email is “trusted” enough for full campaigns.
The goal is to build the domain’s reputation gradually. Think of it like warming up a new phone line: at first, you’re an unknown sender, but by sending a few messages that get good engagement and no spam complaints, your domain/IP gains credibility. Email providers (like Gmail, Outlook, etc.) then see your address as a legitimate sender of wanted emails.
In Genesy, if you have the Email Warming feature enabled, the platform can automate this process for you, sending out warming emails on your behalf. Otherwise, you might do a manual warm-up (sending personal emails, or using third-party warm-up tools). Either way, warm-up is a critical step for any new sender identity before you unleash your big campaigns.
What happens if I skip the “Warm-up” process?
If you start sending large volumes of cold emails without warming up the domain or address, you’re likely to run into problems:
Emails flagged as suspicious: Email providers have algorithms that notice sudden high-volume sending from a new source. Without warm-up, your emails may be flagged as spam or suspicious right from the outset. For example, sending 500 emails from a brand new Gmail on day 1 will almost certainly land most of them in Spam folders.
Sending limits or blocks: Providers often impose sending limits on new accounts. If you try to exceed those (or even approach them too fast), they might block your emails or temporarily restrict your account. You could get bounce-back errors, or your account could be suspended for what looks like spam activity.
Poor deliverability: Even if your account isn’t outright blocked, skipping warm-up means your first campaign will likely have a very low deliverability rate. Many of your emails could go to spam or get bounced. Additionally, recipients might mark unfamiliar large-volume emails as spam, which then hurts your sender reputation even more.
In short, not warming up is risky; it’s like cold-starting an engine and immediately flooring the gas pedal. The results won’t be smooth. It’s highly recommended to warm up for a couple of weeks before any big outreach (and Genesy’s tools and best practices are there to help you do so).
How long should a domain be warmed up before launching large campaigns?
We recommend warming up a new email domain (or address) for about 2–3 weeks before you start sending out large-scale campaigns. This timeframe is typically enough to establish a baseline reputation. During these 2–3 weeks, gradually increase your daily email volume as described above, and monitor how many emails are being delivered versus filtered to spam.
For example, a possible warm-up schedule for a brand new domain might look like:
Week 1: Send 5 emails/day. Ensure emails are properly formatted, personalized, and ideally get some responses (or at least opens). This might involve sending to contacts likely to engage (friends, colleagues, or using a warm-up service network).
Week 2: Increase to 10–15 emails/day, in small increments. If all looks good (no ISP warnings or high bounce rates), continue engaging normally.
Week 3: Increase to 20–30 emails/day by the end of the week. By now you’ve sent perhaps a couple hundred emails in total over the warm-up period.
After ~3 weeks of this process, your domain will have a track record with the email providers. If you maintained good engagement (few bounces, few/no spam reports, some replies), your sender reputation should be in a healthy state. Only then should you ramp up to your full campaign volume – which might be, say, 30 emails/day from that inbox or possibly a bit higher if absolutely needed (but as discussed, 30 is a good ongoing number).
Launching a big campaign without those 2–3 weeks of groundwork is not advised, as explained earlier. Patience during warm-up pays off with much better deliverability when your real campaigns start.
Keep in mind that even after the warm-up period, you should continually monitor your email performance. If you plan to further increase volume down the line, do it in small steps and watch the results. And remember, for scaling to very high volumes, it’s better to add more domains or addresses and warm them up too, rather than pushing one domain to its limit.