Best Practices for Structuring Campaign Sequences
Last updated: September 23, 2026
When setting up campaigns, the steps you choose (and how you arrange them) can significantly impact your results. Below are some common questions and best practice insights to help you optimize your sequences effectively.
✅ Can Buzz Check Whether a Profile is Open Without Relying on the Perform Action Step?
Yes. If you're using Sales Navigator search (excluding Sales Navigator lists), the system automatically checks whether a profile is open or not at the moment it’s added to the campaign. This means you don’t need a separate Perform Action step just to check profile availability — the filtering happens automatically upfront.
Tip: If you’re not sure whether profiles are being filtered this way, confirm that you’re using a Sales Navigator search, not a list.
🤝 When Should “Send Connection Request” Be the First Step?
It depends on your campaign goals. Consider starting with a connection request when:
You’re aiming to grow your network first and engage later (e.g., with follow-ups, InMails, or emails).
You want to build trust before sending longer or more promotional messages.
Pro Tip: Make sure your Social Profile is polished and recently active. A strong, up-to-date profile with relevant content improves your chances of connection requests being accepted.
Important: If you're using an If Connected conditional step after your connection request, do not enable Wait for connection request to be accepted in the Send Connection step settings. Enabling this option will block the If Connected step from executing, preventing messages from being sent to prospects who accept your connection request. Only use Wait for connection request to be accepted when you don't have conditional branching based on connection status in your sequence.
Important: If your campaign includes an If Connected conditional step after sending connection requests, add a delay of at least 24–48 hours before the If Connected check. This gives LinkedIn time to register accepted connections before the system checks the connection status. The conditional check may take additional time to execute after the specified delay, depending on system load and task processing. Without sufficient delay, contacts may get stuck in the campaign even after accepting your request.
🚫 When Can You Skip the “Send Connection Request” Step?
You can skip the connection step in these common scenarios:
You’re targeting 1st-degree connections (they’re already in your network). If existing connections appear in your search results, they will still be included in the campaign unless there’s been prior outreach to them through Buzz. The system only excludes prospects with previous Buzz conversations, not all existing connections. When importing mixed lists via CSV, use Smart Campaigns with connection status conditions to properly filter already-connected prospects.
Create a campaign and use a search that returns only your 1st-degree connections.
Add a single Social step: Send Message (skip any Send Connection Request step).
Write your message, add placeholders if needed, and launch.
Note: Messaging steps only send to profiles that are already connected, so no connection requests will be sent.
Important: In Smart campaigns, use the If connected condition at the beginning of your sequence to prevent existing connections from receiving subsequent messages. Without this condition, the Send Connection Request step will be skipped, but the campaign will continue to message steps, sending messages to your existing connections.
You’re sending InMails to people who aren’t your connections.
You’re launching an Email campaign using contacts with known email addresses. Email steps execute independently of LinkedIn connection status—being connected on LinkedIn does not affect email delivery, and email steps are not skipped based on LinkedIn connection checks in later steps.
You’re messaging people through Social groups; you can send up to 15 messages/month to fellow members without needing to connect.
You’re using the campaign for non-messaging actions like profile visits or other warm-up steps.
Important: Prospects who are already Connected will be treated as 1st-degree connections regardless of the degree filters used when building your list. If you’re targeting 2nd- or 3rd-degree connections but some prospects are already in your network, the system will recognize them as 1st-degree. To avoid sending to these prospects, filter your campaign’s Prospects view by Status = Connected and either remove them from the campaign or exclude them before launching.
When importing contacts via CSV that may include existing connections, use Smart Campaigns instead of Simple Campaigns. Only Smart Campaigns allow you to add conditions to check whether a prospect is already connected without relying on the Send Connection Request step. In Simple Campaigns, if a contact is already connected, the connection request step will be skipped but subsequent messages will continue to be sent, which may result in unwanted follow-ups to existing connections.
If prospects aren’t being added to your campaign even though they meet your targeting criteria, check whether they already exist in other active campaigns. By default, prospects can only be in one campaign at a time. To allow prospects to be added from existing campaigns, enable the Add Prospects from Existing Campaigns feature in your campaign settings. When enabled, prospects will automatically be pulled into the most recently created campaign.
Final Tips for Campaign Design
