Definition
A cadence is the structured sequence of outreach touchpoints — emails, calls, LinkedIn messages — sent to a prospect over a defined period, with timing, channel mix, and content variation deliberately designed to maximise response without burning the relationship.
Cadence is what separates professional outbound from spam. A single cold email gets a 1-3% reply rate; a well-designed 8-touch cadence over 3-4 weeks can hit 15-25%. The structure handles the reality that most prospects don't reply on the first touch — and most never reply at all, so you need enough touches to surface the ones who will.
The shape matters as much as the count. Front-loaded (3 touches week 1, 2 touches week 2, 1 touch week 3) feels engaged without nagging. Even-spaced (1 touch per week for 8 weeks) feels indifferent. Channel-mixed (email + LinkedIn + call) outperforms single-channel by a wide margin — different prospects respond to different channels.
Origin
Sales cadence is an old practice; the formalised, multi-channel cadence design emerged through the late 2000s and early 2010s with sales-engagement platforms like Outreach (founded 2014), Salesloft (2011), and Yesware (2010) operationalising the discipline.
How it works
- Define the goal: book a meeting, qualify a lead, or test interest.
- Choose channel mix: email, LinkedIn, phone, video — based on ICP behaviour.
- Map 6–10 touches over 2–4 weeks.
- Vary content per touch — different angle, different value prop, different ask.
- Add 'breakup' touch at the end — explicit close with a low-friction reply option.
- Test cadence shapes — front-loaded vs even, 6-touch vs 10-touch.
- Monitor reply rate and meeting rate; iterate.
When to use it
Use when
- On any outbound program — cold email, LinkedIn outreach, account-based.
- When single-touch outreach plateaus.
- When testing channel mix for a new ICP.
Skip when
- On inbound leads — they respond to a different cadence (faster, simpler).
- Without ICP work first. Cadence on the wrong audience just amplifies the mismatch.
Key metrics
- Reply rate (% of prospects who reply).
- Positive reply rate (replies that lead to a meeting).
- Meeting rate (% of contacted prospects who book).
- Unsubscribe rate (sanity check that the cadence isn't too aggressive).
Examples
- We tested 6-touch vs 9-touch cadence; 9-touch lifted meetings 30% with no increase in unsubscribes.
- Switching from email-only to email+LinkedIn doubled reply rate.
- A bad cadence is not 'too few touches'; it's 'too many of the same thing'.
In practice at Makreate
Makreate's outreach work always ships with a designed cadence — never one-off blasts. A recent B2B client was sending one email and giving up. We built an 8-touch cadence over 24 days: email, LinkedIn connection, LinkedIn message, email, LinkedIn voice note, email, LinkedIn comment on a post, breakup email. Reply rate climbed from 2.1% to 11.4% — same audience, same offer, just with a real cadence behind it.
LinkedIn Outreach Automation →Common mistakes
- Repeating the same content across touches. Each touch needs a different angle.
- Single-channel cadences. Email + LinkedIn outperforms either alone.
- Too long without a breakup. Most prospects either reply by touch 6 or never; carrying past 10 touches usually wastes time.
- Not varying timing. Sending all touches at 9am Tuesday concentrates on one slot of inboxes.
Frequently asked
How many touches in a cadence?
6–10 is the operational sweet spot. Below 6 and you miss the prospects who needed more nudges; above 10 and you're nagging.
Email-only or multi-channel?
Multi-channel almost always outperforms — particularly email + LinkedIn for B2B. Phone helps in specific verticals.
How long should a cadence run?
2–4 weeks. Shorter than 2 weeks doesn't have time to land; longer than 4 weeks usually means you've already lost the prospect.