Multichannel cadences: when to call, when to email, and when to stop
Adding channels does not automatically add replies. How to sequence email, phone and LinkedIn so each touch earns the next — and why the last step of every cadence should be a clean exit.
A cadence with eleven steps across four channels looks thorough on a whiteboard. To a buyer it looks like being followed around. Multichannel works when each channel does a job the others cannot.
What each channel is for
- Email carries detail: the reason, the evidence, the ask. It is read on the buyer's schedule.
- Phone creates urgency and catches the buyers who never read cold email. It works best after an email gave the call a reason.
- LinkedIn builds familiarity. A connection request with no pitch makes your name recognisable when the email arrives.
A cadence that respects the buyer
| Day | Touch | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LinkedIn view and connect | Familiarity, no ask |
| 2 | Email 1 | The reason and the evidence |
| 4 | Call | "I sent you a note about…" |
| 7 | Email 2 | A new angle, not "bumping this" |
| 11 | Call and voicemail | Short, specific, references the email |
| 16 | Email 3 | The clean exit |
The clean exit
The last email should make it easy to say no: "If this isn't a priority this year, reply 'not now' and I'll close the loop." Exit emails regularly get the highest reply rate in the sequence, because they ask for the smallest commitment.
When to stop early
Stop a cadence immediately when the buyer replies — positively or negatively — when they visit your pricing page (a rep should take over personally), or when your data says they have changed jobs. Automation that keeps emailing someone who already answered is the fastest way to turn a prospect into a complaint.
Measuring it
Measure replies per contact, not per step. A step with a low reply rate might still be doing its job — a call that makes the next email land — and removing it can lower the total.