How connection requests, acceptance and message steps work
What happens when a Connect step runs, how MailFleet sees that the invite was accepted, and how a Message step waits for it.
Where: LinkedIn campaign page (Engage → LinkedIn → campaign) → Overview cards Invites Sent and Accepted, the "Couldn't send" strip, the Leads tab (Invite Pending, Connected, Can't Invite) and the Steps tab; Multi Channel campaign page → Overview and Leads
How to do it
- A lead reaches a LinkedIn · Connect step: MailFleet queues the invite inside the sending window, paced about 5 minutes apart per account. It goes from the account that already worked this lead in this campaign when that account is still picked, Active and has room today; otherwise from the picked Active account with the most room left.
- The account opens the profile and sends the invite with your note (activity: "LinkedIn connection request sent"). If you are already connected or an invite is already pending, nothing new is sent and the lead moves on ("LinkedIn: already connected, or a request is pending") — on a LinkedIn campaign an invite that was already pending counts as the lead's invite (Invite Pending), and its acceptance is watched like any other.
- MailFleet reads each account's own connections list every few hours for 21 days after an invite. When the lead appears there they get the activity "Accepted the LinkedIn connection request", the Connected state on a LinkedIn campaign's Leads tab, and count toward Accepted.
- On a LinkedIn campaign, a Message step whose nearest earlier LinkedIn step is a Connect waits for the acceptance — earlier Messages and Conditions in between don't count, so in Connect → Message → Message both Messages wait, while a View Profile in between breaks the pairing. Nothing loads their profile in the meantime (activity: "Waiting for them to accept the connection request — the message goes out after they do"). The first Message after the Connect counts its wait from the moment the acceptance is seen ("Wait after they accept" in the editor); a later one — with another Message between it and the Connect — counts from the previous step ("Wait after previous step — goes only once they've accepted"), since the Message before it already went out after the acceptance. The message goes from the account the lead accepted.
- If 21 days pass without an acceptance, MailFleet checks once more on the profile; the message goes only if they are connected by then. Otherwise it is skipped ("LinkedIn message skipped — no answer to the connection request after 21 days") and the lead moves on to the next step.
Good to know
- A Message step with no Connect before it (for existing connections) sends straight away to people who are already connected. If they aren't, it waits and is retried daily ("Waiting for them to accept the connection — the message retries daily") for up to 21 days, then skipped. Multi Channel campaigns treat every Message step this way.
- To end the sequence for people who don't accept, add a Condition "Accepted within N days?" after the Connect (LinkedIn campaigns): accepted leads continue, the rest leave the sequence with the invite still pending. MailFleet never withdraws an invite.
- Acceptance checks are invisible to the prospect (MailFleet reads the account's own connections page rather than revisiting their profile) and never use up a daily cap. An acceptance is dated when MailFleet noticed it, not when they clicked.
- A request that LinkedIn refuses for good — the profile offers this account no Connect button (follow-only), or LinkedIn insists on the person's email address and rejects the one on file — counts in the "Couldn't send" strip on a LinkedIn campaign's Overview with the reason (the lead reads Can't Invite on the Leads tab), and the lead moves on. MailFleet does try the lead's own email address when LinkedIn asks for one.
- A transient failure (profile did not load, momentary block) is tried up to 3 times in total, about 5 minutes apart; after the third failure the lead moves on to the next step rather than staying stuck.
- A note or message with a variable that is empty for this lead and has no fallback never sends a gap: the invite goes without its note (activity: "LinkedIn connection request queued without its note — missing <field>"), and a message is skipped for that lead ("Skipped step N — missing <field>"), as an email step is. Write {{first_name|there}} to send anyway.
- On a LinkedIn campaign's Steps tab a Connect shows how many it sent and "N% accepted", and a Message how many it sent and "N% replied" (each reply is matched to the latest message the lead got).
- Editing the sequence updates the wording of connection requests and messages that are still queued; anything already sent keeps what went out.
- Pausing a campaign cancels its queued LinkedIn actions (they are queued again when you resume); one the account is already running still finishes.
Questions people ask
Can I make the sequence wait until the person accepts?
Yes, on a LinkedIn campaign: a Message after a Connect waits for the acceptance, and its wait counts from then. Each later Message also goes only once they've accepted (unless a View Profile comes between), its wait counted from the previous step. To stop chasing people who don't accept, add a Condition "Accepted within N days?" (up to 21 days). On a Multi Channel campaign the Message step retries daily for up to 21 days until they accept.