Steps and messages

Build a campaign’s steps: invites with or without a note, AI or your own text, follow-ups, waits, branches and what stops when someone replies.

The Steps tab decides what each person gets, in what order and how long to wait in between. Changes save on their own. Saving a step sends nothing.

Add a step

Click Add step at the end of the list, or Add a step after this on a step, and pick from the list. Options that can’t go at that point are greyed out.

The Add a step sheet on a draft. Only if… is greyed out because it can't go at this point.

Group	Step	What it does
On LinkedIn	Invite	A connection request, with or without a note
	Message	A message once you’re connected
	InMail	A message without connecting
	Like a post	A reaction on their latest post
	Comment on a post	A comment, and every comment waits for your OK
	View profile	They see you looked. Nothing to write.
	Follow	You follow them to see their posts. Nothing to write. Follow is still being tested.
	Email	Only for people we find an email for
Only some people go on	If they accept	Splits people on whether the invite was accepted
	If they replied	People who reply take one path. Everyone else goes on after the wait.
	If we found an email	People with an email go one way. Everyone else goes on with LinkedIn.
	Only if…	Splits on title, country or any field
Timing and checks	Wait	A pause between steps
	Check first	Holds the next step for your OK, even when the campaign runs on its own
	Stop	They leave the campaign here

Connection request: with or without a note

On an Invite step, choose No note or With a note.

• No note: the invite goes out bare, and there’s nothing to write.
• With a note: write it yourself or let AI write it. The step counts to 200 characters. A sender on a LinkedIn Premium, Sales Navigator or Recruiter account can send up to 300.

A sender’s monthly allowance for notes can run out. Later invites from that sender then go without a note until it resets, and the campaign shows a notice saying when.

If someone doesn’t accept, the step can withdraw the invite. Under More options, If not accepted sets Withdraw the invite after a number of days, from 1 to 60. The default is 14. This keeps your pending invites low.

AI or your own text

Each written step is one or the other.

Let AI write it

Answer “What should this message do?” The box suggests a starting point: “Mention why we are reaching out, from what we know about them. In one line, say what we help with. Under 60 words.” On a comment step it asks “What should the comment do?” AI writes each person’s message from their reason and your writing rules.

Text is written shortly before it’s due, not all at launch. If a person’s message hasn’t been written yet, Approvals and Upcoming sends say so.

Language defaults to Their language, chosen from their profile. You can set one for the step.

Autopilot can’t use this. Autopilot only sends text you wrote, so a step on Autopilot has Let AI write it turned off, and the campaign asks you to switch before launch.

Write it myself

Write what they should read. Insert adds their name and more. Your text goes out exactly as you wrote it.

An email step also needs a subject. A Write it myself step can’t be left empty, and the campaign won’t launch until it’s filled.

Use Preview as to read a step as a real person. A preview sends nothing.

Follow-ups and timing

Follow-ups are Message steps with a wait in front. When sets the timing.

Situation	Timing	Default or range
The first step	Right away, as soon as a person joins
A step that follows people who haven’t replied	A number of days after the last message	1 to 90 days
Any other step	A number of minutes, hours or days after the step before
Wait for them to accept	People who haven’t accepted by then take the “If they don’t accept” path	7 days, 1 to 90
Wait for a reply	People who haven’t replied by then go on to the next step	3 days

A Wait step can count Only during working hours. Every send also has to fit the schedule and the sender’s limits, so the real time can be later than the step says.

When someone replies

Stop when they reply is always on, and you can’t turn it off. The moment a person answers, nothing more goes out to them from the campaign, whichever step they were on. The reply shows in the Inbox.

If the reply shouldn’t count, open the conversation in the Inbox. Its ⋯ menu has Ignore this reply and Resume campaign for that person, when they apply.

Auto-reply with your check is a separate setting in Settings, under Replies. AI drafts an answer to simple replies, and you send it.

More options on a step

Open More options on a message step:

Option	What it does
Before sending	View their profile first or Like their latest post first
Backup message	Used when a field in your text is empty for someone, or when AI can’t write the message. It waits for your OK before it goes.
Skip this step for people missing a field	On your own text. Anyone whose text would have a blank goes on to the next step.
Approval	Same as campaign, Ask me for this step or Send this step without asking
Versions	Test different texts. See A/B tests.

If AI is unavailable sits in Settings, under More settings. Wait until AI is back holds messages. Draft a backup for me to approve writes backup text. Backup text never sends without a person approving it, even on Autopilot.

Show all options in My account opens options that otherwise appear after your first launched campaign, such as Canvas, Versions and per-step approval rules.

Edit a campaign that’s running

Steps are read only while a campaign runs. Click Pause & edit. A paused campaign sends nothing until you turn it back on.

• People who already got a step keep their message. The new text goes to the rest.
• The Canvas opens only while the campaign is paused.
• A change in Settings applies to messages that aren’t drafted yet.

An archived campaign has to be restored before you can change its steps. A campaign run for you automatically can’t have its steps changed here.

Related

Approvals

Check and edit messages before they go out.

A/B tests

Test two versions of a message.

Senders and limits

Why a step can go out later than it says.

Inbox

Where replies land.