Manage Apollo Sequences

/sales-cadence

Step 1 — Gather context

1. What do you need help with?
   • A) Create a new sequence from scratch
   • B) Fix deliverability issues (emails going to spam, low open rates)
   • C) Set up A/B testing in a sequence
   • D) Analyze sequence performance and optimize
   • E) Configure mailboxes and sending settings
   • F) Troubleshoot a sequence that's not sending
   • G) Import a sequence from another tool
   • H) Other — describe it
2. What's your current setup?
   • How many mailboxes/email accounts are connected?
   • What's your daily sending volume per mailbox?
   • How long have the mailboxes been active?
   • Are SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configured for your sending domain?
3. What Apollo plan are you on?
   • Free (2 active sequences, limited features)
   • Basic (unlimited sequences, no A/B testing)
   • Professional (A/B testing, dialer, workflows)
   • Organization (advanced analytics, custom reports)

Step 2 — Sequence setup in Apollo

Creating a sequence

1. Navigate: Engage > Sequences > Create Sequence
2. Name: Use a descriptive name:

   [Persona] - [Campaign type] - [Date]

   (e.g., "VP Eng - Cold Outbound - Mar 2026")
3. Settings to configure:

• Stop on reply: Always enable. Auto-pause the sequence when a prospect replies. There is zero reason to keep emailing someone who responded — it damages trust and wastes sends.
• Stop on meeting booked: Always enable. Once the goal is achieved, stop the sequence.
• Business hours sending: Always enable. Send during the recipient's business hours (typically 8am-6pm in their timezone). Emails arriving at 2am look automated and get buried.
• Daily send limits: Start conservative — 50-100 emails/day per mailbox for warm, established mailboxes. For new mailboxes, start at 20-30/day and ramp up over 2-3 weeks. Exceeding safe limits tanks sender reputation fast.
• Delay between steps: Use 2-3 business days between email steps. Shorter gaps feel aggressive; longer gaps lose momentum. Increase to 4-5 days after 3+ unreplied emails to avoid fatigue.
• Sequence type: Use Automatic for email-only sequences (hands-off, sends on schedule). Use Manual for multi-channel sequences that include calls or LinkedIn steps — Auto mode skips non-email steps entirely.

Recommended settings by sequence type

Adding steps

Step timing

/sales-cadence

Step 3 — Deliverability management

Domain authentication (required before sending)

dig TXT yourdomain.com

include:_spf.apollo.io

p=none

p=quarantine

Mailbox warmup checklist

1. Week 1: Send 10-20 emails/day — personal, conversational emails to real contacts (colleagues, partners, existing customers). Use a warmup tool (Lemwarm, Warmbox, or Apollo's built-in warmup if available on your plan) to generate positive engagement signals automatically.
2. Week 2: Increase to 20-40 emails/day. Continue warmup tool usage. Monitor inbox placement rate — aim for >95% inbox (not spam). Monitor bounce rate and keep it under 3%. Track spam complaints — any spike means pause and investigate.
3. Week 3: Increase to 40-60 emails/day. Begin adding the mailbox to low-volume sequences (re-engagement or warm follow-up). Only proceed if warmup metrics remain healthy.
4. Week 4: If inbox placement is consistently >95%, ramp to full sending volume (50-75/day). Add to cold outbound sequences. Do not start cold outbound sequences until warmup shows >95% inbox placement — launching too early will burn the mailbox.

• Warm up new mailboxes for a minimum of 2-4 weeks before any cold outbound; 3-4 weeks is safer for brand-new domains
• Start with 10-20 emails/day, increase by 10-20/day each week
• Use a warmup tool (Lemwarm, Warmbox, or Apollo's built-in warmup) — manual warmup alone is not sufficient for cold outbound volumes
• Keep the warmup tool running even after you start sequencing — it maintains positive engagement signals
• Monitor bounce rate throughout warmup (keep under 3%) and watch for spam complaints — these are early warning signs
• If deliverability drops at any point, pause outbound and return to warmup-only for 1 week
• Never skip warmup for a mailbox on a new sending domain — domain age and reputation start at zero
• Don't start sequences until warmup shows >95% inbox placement consistently
• Enable Apollo's Inbox Ramp Up feature (Settings > Email > Inbox Ramp Up) as an additional safeguard

Mailbox management

outreach.yourcompany.com

Deliverability checklist

• SPF, DKIM, DMARC all configured and passing
• Sending domain reputation is clean (check via Google Postmaster Tools, MXToolbox)
• Mailboxes warmed up (active for 2+ weeks with gradual volume increase)
• Daily send limits set conservatively (start low, ramp up)
• Inbox Ramp Up enabled for new mailboxes
• Email content avoids spam triggers (no all-caps subjects, minimal links, no attachments in cold emails)
• Unsubscribe link included (CAN-SPAM compliance)
• Bounce rate under 3% (clean list before sending)
• Monitor Apollo's Deliverability Command Center weekly

Step 4 — A/B testing (Professional+ plan)

What to test

Setting up A/B tests in Apollo

1. In your sequence, click the email step you want to test
2. Click "Add Variant" to create Variant B
3. Change one variable only (subject line OR body OR send time — not multiple)
4. Set the split percentage (50/50 for balanced testing)
5. Apollo automatically distributes and tracks per variant
6. Wait for at least 100 sends per variant before evaluating
7. Apollo will show open rate, reply rate, and click rate per variant

Testing rules

• Test one variable at a time — multi-variable tests give muddy results
• Let tests run for at least 5 business days before drawing conclusions
• Primary metric: positive reply rate (not just opens — opens can be inflated by tracking pixels)
• Roll the winner into the sequence and start the next test
• Always be testing — messaging decays as prospects see similar patterns from other sellers
• For deeper A/B testing frameworks, email copy strategy, and multi-channel cadence design beyond Apollo's built-in testing, use

  /sales-cadence

Step 5 — Sequence analytics

Key metrics to monitor

/sales-enrich

Analyzing in Apollo

1. Sequence dashboard: Engage > Sequences > select sequence > Analytics tab
2. Step-by-step analysis: See which steps have the highest drop-off — this tells you where the sequence is losing people
3. Compare sequences: Look at your top-performing vs. worst-performing sequences. What's different? (Targeting, messaging, timing)
4. Rep-level analytics: If multiple reps use the same sequence, compare performance to identify coaching opportunities

Optimization cadence

• Week 1-2: Let the sequence run, gather baseline data
• Week 3-4: Analyze first A/B test results, implement winners
• Monthly: Review full-funnel metrics, retire underperforming steps
• Quarterly: Major refresh — new messaging, updated case studies, seasonal angles

Gotchas

• Don't launch sequences without verifying domain authentication. Claude often generates sequence setup guides without checking SPF/DKIM/DMARC. Missing domain auth is the #1 cause of emails landing in spam. Check it before anything else.
• Don't set high daily sending limits on new mailboxes. New mailboxes must be ramped up gradually (20-30/day → 50-75/day over 2-3 weeks). Claude defaults to recommending 100+ sends/day, which will tank deliverability on a fresh mailbox.
• Don't use Apollo's "Auto" sequence type for multi-channel cadences. Auto sequences only work for email steps. If the cadence includes calls or LinkedIn touches, use "Manual" sequence type — otherwise those steps are skipped entirely.
• Don't evaluate A/B tests too early. Claude will analyze test results after 30-40 sends. You need at least 100 sends per variant for statistically meaningful results. Premature conclusions lead to wrong optimizations.
• Don't ignore the Deliverability Command Center. Apollo has a built-in deliverability monitoring dashboard that most users never check. It shows domain health, bounce rates, spam complaints, and sending patterns. Review it weekly.

Related skills

• /sales-cadence

  — Handoff: for email copy strategy, A/B testing frameworks, and multi-channel cadence design beyond Apollo. Once your Apollo sequence is configured, use

  /sales-cadence

  to write the actual email copy, design the messaging arc across steps, plan multi-channel touch patterns, and build A/B testing strategies for content. This skill handles Apollo execution;

  /sales-cadence

  handles the content and strategy layer.

• /sales-apollo

  — General Apollo platform help (CRM sync, credits, admin)

• /sales-prospect-list

  — Build the prospect list to add to your sequences

• /sales-enrich

  — Verify and enrich contact data before sequencing

• /sales-salesloft

  — If using Salesloft for sequences instead of Apollo

• /sales-do

  — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install:

  npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skills sales-do

Examples

Example 1: Setting up a new sequence

1. Configures sequence settings (auto type, business hours, stop on reply)
2. Sets up 5 steps with recommended timing gaps
3. Configures mailbox rotation across 3 connected email accounts
4. Walks through the deliverability checklist Result: Sequence configured and ready for contacts — user runs

   /sales-cadence

   to write the actual email copy

Example 2: Fixing deliverability

1. Checks domain authentication (SPF/DKIM/DMARC) status
2. Reviews sending volume and mailbox health in Deliverability Command Center
3. Identifies likely cause (sending volume spike, domain reputation issue, or content triggering spam filters)
4. Recommends remediation steps (reduce volume, warm up new mailbox, adjust content) Result: Deliverability diagnosis with a recovery plan

Example 3: A/B test setup

1. Verifies the user is on Professional+ plan (A/B testing not available on Basic)
2. Walks through creating Variant B in the sequence editor
3. Sets 50/50 split and defines success metric (open rate for subject line tests)
4. Recommends waiting for 100+ sends per variant before evaluating Result: A/B test configured with clear evaluation criteria

Troubleshooting

Sequence not sending

Emails going to spam

High bounce rate

/sales-enrich