Sequences 101

The goal of this article is to give users a complete walkthrough of the Sequences page in the new Topo interface so they can easily navigate, create, and manage their outreach sequences.

The Sequences overview page

When you open the Sequences page, you'll see a table of every sequence created by people in your organisation. Each row displays:

• Sequence name

• Mode — Co-pilot or Auto-pilot

• Status

• Leads Contacted — number of leads contacted so far

• Messages sent

• Opens

• Replies

• Positive replies

• Creation date

Use the status filter at the top of the page to narrow the list by sequence status.

To create a new sequence, click the New Sequence button in the top right corner.

Inside a sequence

Click on any sequence name to open it. You'll find three tabs:

Overview

A snapshot of how the sequence is performing. You'll see key metrics including new leads, leads contacted, messages sent, and hot leads — giving you a quick read on the health of your outreach.

Note that approved leads are contacted gradually based on the daily cap you've configured in Settings → General, so it's normal to see more approved leads than contacted leads at any given time.

Use the channel filter at the top (All / Email / LinkedIn) to view performance for a single channel or both combined, alongside the time-range selector (30 days / 3 months / 1 year / custom dates).

Step breakdown in the top-right is on by default, it shows a per-step table at the bottom of the Overview. For each step of the sequence (email, LinkedIn invitation, LinkedIn message) it shows Messages Sent, Leads Reached, Opens, Open Rate, Invitations, Accepted, Acceptance Rate, Replies, and Reply / Positive — so you can see which step is driving opens, acceptances, and replies.

Sequence Steps

Build the structure of your sequence and write the messaging for each step. A recommended interval between steps is 1-3 days to keep outreach active without being too pushy. To edit messages in a live sequence, click Edit Sequence, update the email steps, and save.

Important: Changes to a sequence only apply to leads enrolled after the update. Leads already enrolled will continue to receive the original messaging they were enrolled with. This is a technical limitation—once a lead is enrolled, their sequence steps are fixed and cannot be modified.

Leads

This is where you can see the contacts assigned to the sequence. Leads display a few key pieces of information:

• Name, Job Title, Account

• List they're coming from

• Last contacted date

• Status (i.e. where they're at the sequence)

You can customize the view by applying filters and selecting columns. To perform actions on leads, click on a lead's name to open the lead drawer, or go to the list they belong to.

Settings

This is where you configure the sequence. The settings are organised into several sections:

1. Sending

   1. Assign a Sender Identity to the sequence. When you assign multiple sender identities, sends are automatically distributed using round robin logic—2 identities split sends 50/50, 4 identities split 25/25/25/25, etc.

   2. Volume ("How many new leads should enter this sequence per day?"): set the number of leads you want to reach out to per day based based on the available capacity.

2. Schedule: select the time zone and the days on which messages should be sent. The time range you configure (e.g., 08:00-19:15) defines a window during which messages can be sent. Actual send times are randomized within this window rather than sent at specific scheduled times.

   1. How sending windows work with prospect time zones: Topo uses a two-step check to determine when to send messages. For a message to be sent, it must be within your configured sending window AND within the prospect's local working hours (9:00-19:00 in their time zone). For example, if you configure 9:00-19:00 Paris time and have contacts in India, the system: (1) checks if it's currently 9:00-19:00 Paris time, (2) then checks if it's currently 9:00-19:00 in the contact's local time (India), and (3) only sends when both conditions are true—meaning messages are sent only when 9:00-19:00 Paris overlaps with 9:00-19:00 India.

   2. 'Sequence Has No Sending Window' alert: This alert fires when the sending hours configured for a sequence never overlap with the local working hours of the people in that list, preventing any messages from being sent. To resolve this alert, adjust the sequence's Sending settings to create some overlap by: verifying the sequence time zone is correct, widening the sending hours window, or adding more active days or earlier/later hours to catch each contact's local time.

3. Task Owner — decide how new leads are assigned an owner across your sequences. Split tasks between all your team members (round robin), only one (or more) selected sender, or assign all sequence tasks to the sender who contacts them.

4. Advanced settings — edit the sequence name, choose the lead approval mode and whether you want to track email opens.

Mode

Every sequence runs in one of two modes. You choose the mode when setting up the sequence and can change it later in Settings.

Your workspace has a default Lead Approval Mode set under Settings → Engage → Lead approval; the per-sequence setting overrides it for that sequence.

Co-pilot

In Co-pilot mode, every lead requires your explicit approval before any outreach begins. No message will be sent to a lead until you approve it. If you refuse a lead, it is excluded from the sequence entirely.

This mode is ideal when you want full control over who gets contacted.

Auto-pilot

In Auto-pilot mode, every lead is automatically approved and enrolled in the sequence as soon as it is assigned. You don't need to review leads before outreach starts.

You still have the ability to refuse a lead or stop the sequence for a specific contact at any time.

This mode is ideal when you trust your targeting and want to move fast.

Sequence stati (statuses)

A sequence in Topo can have one of five stati:

1. Pending setup — the sequence is not ready to be activated because one or more required settings still need to be configured.

2. Active — the sequence is fully running. New leads are added on an ongoing basis and enrolled leads are contacted according to the sequence structure.

3. Finishing — no new leads will be added, but leads already enrolled will continue to receive messages according to the sequence steps.

4. Inactive — all outreach activity is paused. No new leads are added and no messages are sent to existing leads.

5. Archived — same as Inactive, but the sequence is also hidden from the Sequences overview page.