How does a campaign work on Waalaxy?

When we started working on Waalaxy (which at the time was called âProspectin 2.0â and then âRevenantâ and then âIgwaanâ and finally adopted the sweet name Waalaxy but you probably donât care).
I remember the day we said with the developers: âEverything is campaignâ. đ Because this is actually, the basis of Waalaxy. The rocket engine.
And like an engine, there are different technical bricks and design choices that are madeâŚ
In short, not everything is necessarily obvious. đ
So welcome to this HUGE campaigns FAQ.
Ready to see whatâs under the hood? Then here we go. đ
What is a Waalaxy campaign?
On Waalaxy a campaign is one or more actions on a list of prospects. It works as follows:
- I import a list of prospects from LinkedIn or a CSV file (learn more about imports),
- I choose the sequence template that fits my needs and my subscription plan
- I configure the timeframes and content of the messages I want to send
- I start my campaign. đ
To learn more about launching a campaign, watch our demo. đ¨ Next, the actions will be queued (learn more about the queue), and run following delays and quotas. In this article, we differentiate between a sequence or template, which corresponds to the sequence of actions that will be executed, and a campaign, which corresponds to the execution of a sequence. In other words, the combination of leads and a sequence of actions.
What are the possible actions in a Waalaxy campaign?
To date, Waalaxy allows you to:
- To prospect on LinkedIn,
- find pro emails from your prospects (learn more about email search).
- export to your CRM or any other Zapier compatible tool (learn more about CRM integration with Waalaxy).
- send emails.
So here are the types of actions and their associated icon on Waalaxy in more detail:
Visit a profile on LinkedIn
Will simulate a visit to your prospectâs LinkedIn profile, automatically. Your prospect will be able to see your profile in the list of the last people who visited their profile. They will also sometimes be notified that you visited their profile. You can visit up to 110 profiles per day. đ
Follow a LinkedIn profile (or follow)
This action will automatically follow your prospect on LinkedIn . As a result, their content is likely to arrive in your news feed.
This step is generally used because most users are notified that you are following them. Being a fairly uncommon practice, especially if they donât post regularly on LinkedIn, they will often visit your profile themselves in return or follow you back. If your profile arouses their curiosity, they are likely to add you directly. As a result, between 5-10% of followed prospects send an invitation request in return. đ˝
Likewise, if your prospects follow you back, your content is likely to appear in their news feed. A good way to make yourself visible and âfeedâ your prospects. You can follow up to 100 profiles per day.
Send an invitation on Linkedin (or connection)
This step automatically sends an invitation to your prospect on LinkedIn. This is a required step if you want to send messages afterwards, as you cannot send a message to someone who you are not connected to on LinkedIn. This invitation may or may not be accompanied by a personalized note.
However, we have shown that an invitation without a note gets 10% more acceptance than an invitation with a note.
You can send up to 100 invitations per day. đ
Send a message on LinkedIn
This step allows you to send a message on LinkedIn to people you are connected with (and only to those people). You can send up to 120 messages per day. đ
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Find an email (or âemail finderâ , or âenrichmentâ)
Waalaxy allows you to automatically find up to 500 GPDR compliant pro emails at no extra cost (Business only), thanks to a DropContact integration. This step, called âemail finderâ, will send to the Dropcontact API the prospectâs information and they will return an email. About 1 in 2 emails are found. This can vary from one nationality to another and from one type of prospect to another.
In general, we get better rates with prospects working in medium to large companies than with prospects working in very small structures or that are self-employed.
đ Learn more about enrichment. đ
It is possible to find more than 500 emails per month by purchasing extra credits.
Send an email
This step allows you to send an email to the prospect. This step is only possible if your prospect has a known email. This can be an email retrieved from LinkedIn, in case you are connected with the person or an email found through the Email Finder step. In case both emails are in our possession, the sending on the professional email (email found by Dropcontact) will be preferred.
Here are the weekly email limits you can send based on your provider:
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Outlook: 100
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Office365: 10000
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AOL: 100
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GoDaddy: 250
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Rackspace: 10000
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Yandex: 500
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Others: 500
đ
CRM synchronization (or Zapier or âwebhookâ)
This step allows you to send a prospectâs data to an external tool, via Zapier or Integromat in order, for example, to feed a CRM. This step can be present in the sequences containing the word âZapier versionâ or on all sequences, by defining a âResponse objectiveâ.
This âresponse objectiveâ consists in sending data to a Zapier Webhook as soon as a prospect responds in the campaign.
đ˝ Learn more about how to implement a Zapier integration đ˝
The so-called ânativeâ integration with a CRM, which consists of avoiding going through a third-party tool such as Zapier or Integromat, is scheduled for 2022 for the most popular tools (Hubspot, SalesForce, Zoho, PipeDriveâŚ).
Do you plan to integrate other channels?
Just as you need to master each channel independently before doing multi-channel prospecting, we are making the choice to develop the best tool on the market to prospect on LinkedIn and by email before attacking any other channel. So the answer is yes, but not straight away. We are waiting to take a step back from our users, in order to fully understand the needs and implications of multi-channel prospecting.
The different conditions and final steps in a sequence đ
In order to ensure that prospects fulfill the conditions necessary for the execution of a given step, or simply to check their progress in the campaign, there are different âconditionsâ steps.
Delay
The delay is a time to wait, either between two steps or before validating a condition. It can therefore appear as a separate âDelayâ step or in association with another condition such as âNot connected & Delay 15 daysâ. In the first case, the prospect will go to the next step as soon as the deadline has passed. In the second case, they will go to the next step as soon as the delay is exceeded IF the condition has been fulfilled. đ
Connected or Not Connected
Means that you are or are not connected with the prospect on LinkedIn. You cannot send an invitation to a prospect you are connected with or pending, or send a message to someone you are not connected with on LinkedIn.
Has an email or does not have an email
This condition is always present before sending an email. âHas an emailâ means either a LinkedIn email (if you are connected with the person) or a professional email (found with an Email finder step for example).
Has seen/has not seen
This step is only available after a message on LinkedIn. If the prospect has seen the previous message, then they will go into the âSeenâ stage and vice versa.
If all of your prospects seem to be moving to the âNot Seenâ stage, check that you have enabled this setting on LinkedIn
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Have not seen
This step consists of verifying that the prospect has not seen your message before moving on to the next step. It makes the reading of the sequences easier, knowing that a prospect who responds, regardless of the step, is automatically taken out of the campaign and considered as a âSuccessâ.
End steps: Success, Failure & End đ˝
These steps automatically exit the prospect. Failure is often there to signal that the prospect got to the end of the campaign without responding, or their email wasnât received before an email step, or they didnât accept the invitation request.
The success step is rarely stipulated in the sequences, but any prospect who responds is considered a success. This difference between success and failure is intended to improve campaign statistics in the long run.
The âEndâ step is usually used to remove a lead that does not meet the campaign entry criteria. For example, in a campaign that starts with an invite, all the leads already connected will go directly to the End step. đŠđ
When more advanced analytics become available, these leads will not be considered as either Failed or Successful, so as not to bias the analysis.
What is the significance of the different prospect statuses in the campaign?
In campaigns, your prospects can be in different statuses depending on their progress in the campaign:
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Entry: you have just launched your campaign, the actions are queuing, the action should be created soon
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Running: the prospect did not finish the campaign. He can be in the queue or waiting for a condition. You have to check the step to understand where it is exactly.
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Paused: you have paused the prospect, no action will be sent and he will not go to the next step until you relaunch him
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Exited: the prospect responded to your invitation, your message, or your email or you exited him manually
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Finished: the prospect has reached an âendpointâ step or a âfailedâ step in the sequence
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Error: There are several possibilities for prospects to go to error status:
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The prospect no longer exists on LinkedIn or has blocked you
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The invitation note exceeds 300 characters after integration of the variable
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Too many prospects sent to the campaign at once creating server latency
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Double click on the launch in the campaign
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Other various and varied error
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How does the sequence of actions in a Waalaxy campaign work?
Elementary question my dear Watson. đ¤ The value proposition behind the systematic use of âcampaignsâ is to automatic link two actions performed on a prospect.
(So you can ping-pong while showing your boss amazing results)
If you donât have a ping pong table, show your boss incredible results from your campaigns first, then ask for a ping pong table đ
So, reading a sequence is going to be from left to right. Actions are executed on the prospects if they meet the condition(s).
â ď¸â ď¸A delay is not an exact time between two actions, but the time between the execution of the first action and the queuing of the other. Thus, the delay can vary widely depending on the number of actions in your queue and your quotas.â ď¸â ď¸
Example of how it works
Letâs take an example to illustrate how a campaign with the Wall-E template works: The prospect enters the campaign and will be visited. Then weâll wait a day. Once the delay is over, weâll see if heâs already connected with us. If not, an âInvitationâ action will be queued. If yes, a âMessageâ action will be queued.
As soon as the invitation is detected as accepted (we check every 120 minutes), the 1 day delay is started. Once the delay is over, the Message action will be queued. đ
As soon as this action has been executed, the prospect will remain in the campaign for another 5 days. If after 5 days they havenât responded, they will be marked as failed and removed from the campaign.
If they respond within 5 days, they will exit the campaign and be considered a success. A prospect who responds after 5 days will not be updated because they have already exited the campaign. As a result they will be marked as a Failure.
How to start a Waalaxy campaign?
A campaign consists of 3 things:
- Leads,
- Sequence,
- The content of messages and emails (if the sequence contains these steps).
To start a Waalaxy campaign, you can start from a list of prospects directly, by selecting the prospects in question, or directly from the Campaigns page.
Option 1: Start a campaign from the prospect list.
â ď¸ You cannot import leads from two different lists into a campaign. You need to select a list, then select the leads, in order to import them into a campaign afterwards.
Option 2: Create a new campaign from the campaign page and import the leads afterwards
What is auto-import and how does it work?
There are 3 ways to import leads into Waalaxy:
- an import from LinkedIn (profile page, search, list of your connections, group, eventâŚ).
- a CSV file containing LinkedIn URLs.
- automatic imports.
The principle of âauto-importsâ is to automatically populate a campaign over time. Formerly called âtriggersâ on ProspectIn, this feature also allows you to make more original and particularly efficient segmentations. Thus, every 60 minutes (if your computer is on and one LinkedIn tab is open), Waalaxy will fetch the new prospects corresponding to the chosen auto-import. đ
To learn more about auto-imports, read our article on this topic. đ¨
Does a prospect walk out of the campaign when they have responded?
Waalaxy aims to help you get in touch with your prospect, so as to spark interest. So, as soon as a prospect responds, they exit the campaign.
No one wants to respond and get a second unrelated bot message in the process, right? đ
If you want to save time in managing your leadsâ responses, use Piwaa instead.
What is Zapier sync and how does it work?
Zapier synchronization allows you to send a prospectâs data to an external tool, via Zapier or Integromat, in order to feed a CRM for example.
This step can be present in the sequences containing the word âZapier versionâ or on all sequences, by defining a âResponse Objectiveâ. This âresponse objectiveâ consists in sending data to a Zapier Webhook as soon as a prospect responds in a campaign.
đ¨ Learn more about how to implement a Zapier integration đ¨
The so-called ânativeâ integration with a CRM, which consists of avoiding going through a third-party tool such as Zapier or Integromat, is planned for 2022 for the most popular tools (Hubspot, SalesForce, Zoho, PipeDriveâŚ).
How to pause a Waalaxy campaign?
To pause a campaign, just go to the campaign page and click on the âPauseâ button.
You will have to reload the page so that the status of the leads is updated in the interface. When a campaign is paused, all actions are removed from the queue and no leads move to a next step.
If the campaign is linked to an auto-import, this too continues to import leads into the campaign, but they remain at the front end.
They will only move forward when they are re-launched. đ
On replay, if a lead was waiting for a deadline and/or condition and that deadline and/or condition is met, their action will be queued.
The other prospects will have their actions queued again, at the same place in the campaign (although the order of the queues may change slightly).
Pausing is not a trivial action, especially if it is done on hundreds of prospects. Abusing this button can lead to bugs. đ
How do I pause, re-pause or output only certain leads?
If you want to pause, retry or exit only certain leads from the campaign, just select them and choose the desired option.
A lead in an âErrorâ or âExitâ state will not be resurrected. If you try to resurrect them, nothing will just happen đ To put a âExitâ or âErrorâ state lead back in a campaign, just follow the same procedure as adding leads to a current campaign.
How do I import leads into a campaign already in progress?
It is totally possible to add leads to a campaign already in progress. To do this, you just have to select a campaign, start from the list of prospects, select them and then click âAdd to a campaignâ
or click âModify my campaignâ => âAdd prospectsâ
Why donât my leads appear when I try to import them from my list into the campaign?
When you choose to add leads to a campaign from the âAdd Leadsâ in the sequence viewer, it may happen that after you choose the list, your leads do not appear. This means they are already in another campaign. đ˝
Can I have a lead in two campaigns?
A lead can only be in one campaign at a time. A lead in Pause is considered to still be in a campaign. Only a lead in âExitedâ or âExitedâ status is considered no longer in the campaign.
How can I see the performance of my campaign?
You can see the performance of your campaigns from the Dashboard page or in the âDashboardâ tab on each campaign.
Why does my lead appear twice in my campaign?
A lead placed in a campaign becomes a traveler. If they go to an Error state or are manually removed from the campaign and then reimported, they will make a second trip. It is then possible that this prospect appears twice in your campaign. But normally, on at least one of the two lines, you will see an âErrorâ or âExitedâ (otherwise it is a bug). đ
How do I know where my prospect is in the campaign?
At the moment, itâs not possible to filter or search for a lead in a campaign. (Promise we are working on a nicer visualization of the campaigns đ˝). So as it stands, itâs difficult (but not impossible) to visualize the status of a lead in a campaign.
Their status will be indicated by the type of stage they are in and may be accompanied by an âhourglassâ icon, indicating that they are waiting for a deadline or a condition to move forward.
What does âWaiting for a deadlineâ mean?
Waiting for a deadline means that the prospect has received the action and is waiting to move to the next step.
Why donât my prospects take the next step?
There are several reasons why a prospect does not seem to be moving to the next step:
- They do not meet the necessary requirements (for example, they did not accept your invitation yet,
- They are waiting for a deadline,
- They have responded (Successful), reached the end (Failed) or has been manually removed (Exited),
- the action is queued but not yet executed.
Waalaxy Sequence Selection & Editing
What is the best sequence for prospecting?
Currently there are more than 70 sequence templates. If there was one sequence that was better than the others, do you think weâd bother creating templates over and over? đ
Obviously, each sequence depends on what you want to do, what you sell (or if you donât sell anything, your use case), what channels you want to useâŚ
In short, there isnât a best sequence. If you donât want to get too caught up in choosing your sequence, stick to the âRecommendedâ category which contains our selection of the 10 most useful templates. đŞ
You can also use the sequence filters to bring out a specific sequence that you have in mind (and if this one does not exist yet, we can create it very quickly, just contact us via the chat indicating the sequence that you are looking to do)
Here is a small video that goes into detail on how the sequence filters work.
Can I create or edit a Waalaxy sequence?
At the moment, it is not possible to create a sequence from scratch or even to remove/add steps. It is only possible to edit time frames and message contents. For some, itâs frustrating. Yes, I understand.
But our goal with Waalaxy is to make multi-channel automated prospecting accessible to everyone. But creating your own sequence requires an underlying understanding of how the different channels work.
Because, obviously, you donât want to create a sequence that doesnât work or sends anything to your prospects.
So every time we add a feature, we have to ask ourselves: âHow many users is this feature going to serve and how often is it going to create bugs?â. As a reminder, Waalaxy was only released in May 2021. So weâre waiting to have some hindsight to fully understand the needs and issues, and develop a sequence editor that is simple and effective. Quite a challenge I assure you!
What if the sequence I want does not exist?
You can contact us at support to request your sequence. Please note that we receive a lot of requests and always with the aim of not serving too many users (by making it too difficult for our new customers to find a sequence), we select once a week the sequences that we consider the most useful and add them to the list. Bonus: you get to suggest the name of your sequence, if it is related to space. đą
How do I edit the content of the notes, messages or emails of my campaign, after launching it?
To edit your content, go to the âMessagesâ tab
All future actions will be affected by the content modification.
How to add message content when creating my campaign?
If the step is marked with a red dot (message or email), it means that you have not yet added the content of the message or email you are going to send to the prospect. You can do it by clicking on it. If the dot is orange (invitation note), it means that you have not added any content but it is not mandatory. (As a reminder, an invitation without a note is 10% more likely to be accepted).
Waalaxy Subscriptions & Sequences
What sequences can I use during the trial period?
The trial period gives you access to the Business Plan, which includes all sequences. At the end of the trial period, your campaigns will be paused until you choose the right plan.
How do I know if a sequence is accessible with my subscription?
In the choice of sequences, there are 3 categories corresponding to the plans: PRO plan, ADVANCED plan, BUSINESS plan. The ADVANCED plan also allows you to access the PRO sequences. The BUSINESS plan allows you to access the ADVANCE and PRO sequences. đ¨ Learn more about subscriptions đ¨
What is the âresponse goalâ?
This feature allows you to export to your CRM via Zapier a prospectâs data as soon as they respond to your sequence. In the future, it will be possible to define other actions (like tagging a lead for example).
What is the complexity of a sequence?
We have given a complexity score for each sequence from 1 to 3, allowing you to more easily find the sequence that corresponds to your level of mastery of the tool and of multi-channel prospecting.
Conclusion
If you did not find the answer to your question, feel free to contact us viathe chat. Weâll be sure to respond as soon as possible (and with a smile đ). Donât hesitate to ask us, if you have a question, others are probably asking it too! đ˝