B2B multichannel sequence: email, LinkedIn, SMS and WhatsApp, in what order?

A prospect does not read all their emails. They do not see all their LinkedIn invitations. More channels raise the odds of being seen, on one condition: every message needs a reason to exist. Here is the logic we chose for Phantera.

The role of each channel

• Email: the substance. It explains who you are and why you are writing. It is the only channel with room to go into detail.
• LinkedIn: the face. The prospect sees your profile, your background, your posts. A short invitation makes the first email more credible.
• SMS: the reminder. Two sentences that point back to the email. Useful when the email went unnoticed, never as a first contact.
• WhatsApp: the conversation. Keep it for prospects who wrote first or with whom an exchange already exists, because WhatsApp’s policy requires it.

The rules of the order

1. The first message is an email or a LinkedIn message: never a text or a WhatsApp to someone who does not know you yet.
2. Every following message refers to the previous one: the prospect must understand where you are coming from.
3. A reply stops everything, on every channel. So does a “no thanks” or a STOP.
4. At least two to three days between two messages: a follow-up the next day smells of automation.

A two-week example

• Day 0: a personalized email, a single question.
• Day 2: a LinkedIn invitation, with a short note that does not repeat the email.
• Day 5: a two-sentence text that introduces the sender and points back to the email.
• Day 9: a last email, shorter, that leaves the door open.

If the prospect opens the WhatsApp conversation from your signature, you are notified and you take over, from your phone.

What about phone numbers?

A database like Apollo can provide a prospect’s business phone number, but it costs money: its documentation states 8 credits when a mobile number is found. In Phantera, the phone lookup is an option, capped every month, and it only runs for leads whose sequence includes an SMS or WhatsApp step. Without a number, the step is simply skipped and the sequence goes on.