Plan the follow-up.
Keep the stopping rule.

The last entry day
leaves work behind.

Assume 50 new prospects on each of 20 Monday-to-Friday workdays, starting October 19, 2026. Use offsets 0, 3 and 7 from each cohort's first touch. Let 100%, 80% and 40% of the original cohort reach those steps. Holidays are not excluded in this example.

Total scheduled actions

2,200

Within the entry window

1,940

After the entry window

260

Peak on one workday

110

Days over an entered capacity of 100

13

New entries stop

November 13, 2026

Final scheduled action

November 24, 2026

These figures describe workload. They do not predict delivery, replies or meetings. A capacity of 100 is your planning input, not a permissible or safe sending limit. Set aside reply-handling time separately; the example reserves 30 minutes per workday without subtracting minutes from actions.

Download the full worked calendar and assumptions (CSV). The file includes every date and sequence step, including the tail. Read the calculation conventions.

How long should you wait?

Choose a delay that fits the recipient's context and your ability to handle the next conversation. This guide uses three workdays before the first follow-up and four more before the second as a planning example. It does not establish a best-performing delay.

Offsets are measured from the first touch. In an offset 0/3/7 sequence, the second follow-up is seven workdays after the opener, not seven workdays after the first follow-up. With Monday-to-Friday availability and no excluded dates, an October 19 opener leads to October 22 and October 28. Add holidays, absences and agreed return dates to your actual plan.

The number of touches is also a choice. This example ends after two follow-ups. Extending it needs an explicit reason and a new capacity check. Silence alone does not establish permission or justify an indefinite sequence.

When should a follow-up stop?

Set the removal rule before queueing the next message. A response needs a person to decide what happens next; a suppression request needs the remaining sequence removed.

The 80% and 40% shares in the worked case summarize hypothetical exits before later steps. An 80% share does not mean a 20% reply rate. Replies, bounces, opt-outs and manual removals can all change the group. The planner does not execute any of these stopping rules for you.

What can you say after no response?

Use a concrete observation and one question the recipient can answer. The three messages below are original drafting examples for a hypothetical intake-workflow service. Replace every bracket with something true. Their body copy is not a complete sending-ready message.

First touch: explain the actual relevance

Subject: [Specific intake step] at [Company]

Hi [First name],

On [public page], I noticed [specific, verified intake step].
I work on [service you actually provide] for [relevant audience].

Would a short checklist for reviewing [that step] be useful?

First follow-up: add the promised substance

Continue the genuine thread.

Hi [First name],

One item on that checklist is [specific check you can explain].
It helps identify [concrete workflow issue, without an invented result].

Is [that workflow] something you handle, or have I reached the wrong role?

Final follow-up: close this sequence

Continue the genuine thread.

Hi [First name],

I'll close this sequence here.
If you want to review [specific workflow] later, you can reply to this thread.

Thanks for your time.

Add the sender's real business identity, required footer and an effective opt-out mechanism after the applicable review below. Do not invent a customer result to strengthen the message. If you mention a resource, make sure it exists and you can provide it. Keep a subject accurate; a genuine reply thread supplies context without pretending a conversation already happened.

Download the editable sequence brief (text) to record relevance, resources, owners, stops and dates before adapting the examples.

What happens when new entries end?

Keep the remaining follow-ups on the calendar. The final cohort entering on November 13 has follow-ups on November 18 and November 24 under this example's workday rules. Ending acquisition does not erase that queue.

The final seven modeled workdays have 60, 60, 60, 20, 20, 20 and 20 actions. They sum to 260. Hiding those days would make the launch look easier to staff than the declared sequence actually is.

If the 110-action peak exceeds your entered capacity of 100, the planner flags the excess and leaves the schedule intact. Change entry volume, dates or sequence assumptions, then recalculate. It does not silently move overdue actions into a new backlog.

Software and mailbox payments are a separate question. Use the stack-cost budget to distinguish cash due, service consumed and time. The credit budget handles declared credit weights and expiry; a verified address does not establish permission or receipt.

What must you review before sending?

Check the rules for your sender, recipients and provider before using a sequence. The FTC says CAN-SPAM covers commercial B2B email as well as bulk commercial messages. Its guidance covers accurate sender information and subjects, advertisement identification, a valid postal address and a clear way to opt out. Read the FTC business compliance guide for the full requirements and handling deadlines.

Mailbox-provider requirements are separate. Review Gmail's sender guidelines for authentication and the unsubscribe requirements that apply to the messages you send. Other laws and platform terms can also apply. This planning example is not a determination that a particular campaign is lawful, permitted or deliverable.

How can you reproduce the calendar?

In the workload planner, enter October 19, 2026; 20 entry workdays; 50 new prospects per workday; weekdays Monday through Friday; no excluded dates; steps 0,1 / 3,0.8 / 7,0.4; capacity 100; reply reserve 30 minutes. Calculate and compare its full CSV with the worked file above.

The same tested sequence engine generates the downloadable example and its daily table. Dates use UTC date arithmetic without time-of-day assumptions. Shares are exact decimals applied to the original daily cohort. A zero share creates no actions. The entry horizon and final action date are separate.

All counts and sample messages are hypothetical. No prospect list was contacted, address checked, vendor sequence sent or response rate measured for this guide. The guide and planner calculate locally without an account. A download keeps a copy on your device; ordinary page and asset requests still reach the preview server.