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Check for replies

Alexey Krotov
Updated

Main info

"Check for replies" is the Action for monitoring replies to the messages sent via any Action of the campaign. If no reply from the profile is found within the indicated time period, then the profile is moved to the next Action in the Workflow. This Action helps sellers and marketers detect answers from leads and reply in timely manner.

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By default, only a couple of options are available yet it is possible to add extra functionality any time via plugin installation:

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General tab

In the "General" tab you can set a timeout between checks for replies:

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Message analyzer

Here you can set the delay (indicate the number of days and hours or make the delay infinite by choosing the "never" option) for the profiles, i.e. how much time each profile will be sitting in the Action Queue before it will be moved to the next action in case a reply is not found:

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Enhance this action with:point_right::

 

How it works

Important:

  • Check for replies can detect a reply if the messaging thread was archived.
  • Check for replies automatically disables 'Other' section in your LinkedIn Messaging inbox in order for the tool to find replies quicker;
  • Check for replies action works in cycles: it only checks who replied to your previous message every X hours (3 by default).
  • Check for replies action, unlike Invite 2nd and 3rd level contacts or Endorse my contacts actions, does not visit each profile separately, it checks all the profiles from the Queue at once, yet triggering this Action very often may attract LinkedIn attention, that's why it's not possible to set the timeout between checks to be less than 1 hour.
  • Check for replies action searches for replies from the profile only in one platform where the previous message was sent; it does not check messaging history in several platforms.
  • Those who replied are moved to the "Replied" sub-list and this is the end-point for them in the campaign even if there are other actions below. If you'd like to continue processing profiles in the workflow despite their replies, you need to select profiles and click 'Ignore reply and move further' button as it is shown here: How to send a follow-up message to the profile even if he or she replied;
  • If no reply found within a specified period of time, a profile is moved to the "Successful" list and further down in the workflow, and his replies to the previously sent message won't be checked anymore.
  • The time period Action waits for reply starts when the previous message was sent, not when a profile was added to the Queue.

The Action checks profiles in its "Queue" every "X" hours (3 by default) for replies to the previously sent message in the current campaign, moving those who replied to the "Replied" sub-list and leaving the rest in the "Queue" until the next check.

Depending on the settings, the Action either moves the profile further in the funnel if no reply was found within a specified period of time (countdown starts from the time when the previous message was sent), or it leaves the profile in the "Queue" until a reply is found, no matter how much time passed since the message.

As you may know, the "Message to 1st Connections " action already has settings for reply detection, which can:

  • Stop profiles from being processed further in the funnel if they replied to the previous message of your campaign
  • Stop profiles from being processed further in the funnel if you or Linked Helper messaged profiles after the connection date (manually or automatically via another campaign).

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The main problem here is that with the "Message to 1st Connections" action, Linked Helper can detect such replies only at the moment of sending the message with this certain "Message to 1st Connections" action, so it may not work for your specific needs, because it checks for reply only once, when trying to send the message. 

"Check for replies" action can look at your message inbox every set amount of time (3 hours by default) during a certain time period, delaying profiles from being processed by the next action in your workflow, so it may help to gather daily statistics or to make a delay between your messages in the workflow or just to detect the reply in the period between sending the messages.

 

Best practices

Here are some examples of when "Check for replies" can be used:

 

Between the messages in your campaign

Let's imagine you have a message sequence of two messages. You want to send the second message in 2 days after the first one if there was no reply, so your campaign looks like this:

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Technically, both "Delay between actions" and "Check for replies" can  both do the two days delay, but there are some differences:

  • "Check for replies" can detect a reply earlier because it checks your inbox for a reply every "X" hours (3 by default). So that means if the profile replies in three hours after the first message, it will appear in the "Replied" sub-list of "Check for replies" in 3 hours or less (remember that the default timeout between checks is 3 hours, but you can decrease it). If you use "Delay between actions" instead, Linked Helper will check for reply only at the moment of sending the second message, which will be only in 2 days. In other words, "Check for replies" allows you to know about the reply earlier.
  • Since "Check for replies" can detect a reply earlier, it can be useful if your goal is to detect and then send replied profiles to your CRM or any other app via Zapier / Webhook integration as soon as they reply. Using "Delay between actions" as "4th Action" in the same message chain will lead to the detection of the reply by "5th Action - Message to 1st connections" only in 2 days while sending the second message, even if the profile replied much earlier.

After the last or the only message of your campaign

If your campaign has only one message, the only way to automatically detect reply for it is by adding the "Check for replies" action after your message. The same applies to the last message of your message chain. Here is when the "never" option of the "If no replies are found, move the contacts to Successful list" setting can be used.

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This option disables the transfer of profiles to the "Successful" list of this Action, and by enabling it, you basically create a dead-end for profiles in this action since "Check for replies" will not anymore transfer profiles to the end of your campaign. Instead, it will be checking for replies to your previous message in a loop, moving replied profiles to the "Replied" sub-list and leaving the rest in the "Queue" until the next check.

This is a useful way to detect replies to the last or the only message of your campaign because some profiles can reply in 1 day and some in 1 week and making "Check for replies" work in a loop for those profiles pretty much solves this issue.

 

Thank you very much for your attention. We hope that these tips helped you! Here are some more useful articles from our blog:

 

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