Outreach Sequence States Overview – Outreach Support

Objective

The purpose of this article is to provide information to Outreach Users regarding various sequence states.

Applies To

Outreach Users

Before you begin

Sequence states are different from the Sequence Stages a Prospect is associated with. While Sequence Stages can be updated manually, a Sequence State represents where a Prospect is in the Sequence.
Prospects are considered active in a Sequence unless in a Finished (Replied), Finished (No Reply), or Opted-Out state.
While we do not have a cut-off for maximum number of Sequence States on the Sequence States admin page, we estimate a theoretical maximum number of records at somewhere near 2 million. If you have more than 2 million Sequence States, we recommend setting filters on your default Smart Views.

Sequence States Overview

Outreach provides Users the ability to identify where Prospects are in a Sequence by classifying Prospects into a Sequence State.

Accessing Sequence States for Prospects in a Specific Sequence

Outreach provides Users multiple ways to access sequence states; however, for those Users wanting to take action across multiple sequences:

Access the Outreach Platform.
Click the Sequence icon (paper plane) in the navigation sidebar.
Sort, filter, or search to locate the applicable sequences.
Select a Sequence.
Click on the Prospects tab.

Alternatively, Users can access Sequence States in bulk by clicking the User's initials (avatar) in the navigation sidebar, and selecting Sequence States under the System Activity section of the Settings Panel.

Sequence States are classified as described in the table below:

Sequence State	Description
Pending	The sequence has not been enabled from the master toggle. It could also mean that the daily throttle limit has been reached or there is not an available delivery time in the assigned schedule.
Active	The sequence is enabled and the prospect is on a step ready to receive the email or task assigned to the particular step.
Paused	The user has manually paused the prospect within the sequence. Paused prospects remain paused in the sequence until the user resumes the prospect. A Paused state will also occur if there is no template on an email step.
Paused OOTO	The mailing was sent to a prospect and an Out of Office (OOO/OOTO) response was received. By default, prospects automatically resume unless otherwise configured, in which case prospects remain paused until manually resumed.
Disabled	The sequence as a whole has been disabled, a sequence step has been disabled, or a sequence setup does not have an assigned template.
Failed	The mailing failed to send. Hover over the failed label for more information.
Bounced	The email bounced. Access the applicable prospect's profile and click the bounced message in the activity feed for more information.
Finished (Replied)	The prospect replied to a mailing or answered a sequenced call and will no longer proceed through the sequence.
Finished (No Reply)	The prospect received all the steps in the sequence as configured, did not respond, and will no longer proceed.
Opted-Out	The prospect has selected the unsubscribe link to opt-out of communications in the future.

Each Sequence State is clickable, providing Users access to more information regarding the state.

Pending Prospects

When Prospects are added to a sequence, they may show as pending. The following table describes why a prospect is in a pending state:

Pending State	Description
Outside of Sequence Schedule	The Prospect is waiting for the next available time according to the sequence schedule. The Prospect will activate on the next delivery window.
Sequence Throttle Met - Daily Limit	The daily limit of Prospects allowed has been reached. The Prospect will activate on the next delivery window. For more information, refer to the Sequence Throttle article.
Sequence Throttle Met - Max Active Prospects	The total number of active Prospects allowed for this sequence has been reached. The Prospect will automatically activate once it is no longer at capacity. For more information, refer to the Sequence Throttle article.
Sequence Disabled	The sequence master toggle has been disabled. For more information, refer to the How To Create a Sequence article.
Pending Reason Unknown	The Prospect is pending for an unregistered reason. Contact your Outreach Admin for direction.
Auto Activate Disabled	Prospects must be manually activated through the sequence.

Sequence States List View

The sequence states list view allows 15 filters and 3 sorting options.

Filter Name	Description
Pause Reason Filter	Filter by Paused or specifically by Paused OOO (Out of Office).
State: Disabled	Filter prospects that are in a Disabled state.
Paused At	Filter based on the date a prospect entered a Paused state.
Failed At	Filter based on when a prospect moved to the Failed state.
Disabled At	Filter by the date a prospect was marked as Disabled.
Touched At	Filter by when a prospect was last engaged.
Locked At Date	Filter by when a sequence was locked.
Current Sequence Step Due Date	Filter by the due date of the prospect’s current sequence step.
Step Number (Current Sequence Step)	Filter by the current step number in a sequence.
Sequence Status	Filter by sequence state: Paused, Active, or Archived.
Sequenced by Locked Users	Filter sequences created by users who are currently locked.
Sequencer	Filter by the user who added the prospect to the sequence.
Tag (Does Not Contain)	Filter out prospects based on tags they do not have.
Account Owner	Filter by the Account Owner.
Account Assignee	Filter by the Account Assignee.
Team (existing filter updated)	Filter by Sequencer is team member.

Sorting Options

Name	Description
Last Contacted (Same as Touched At)	Sort prospects by the most recent engagement date.
Sequencer	Sort prospects based on the user who added them to the sequence.
Locked At	Sort sequences by the date they were locked.

Example Use Cases

The following use cases are provided as example workflows for sequence state filtering and sorting.

Inactive sequence clean up

Admins who want to clean up inactive sequences by identifying prospects can filtering for the following:

Have been disabled
Have been paused for too long
Have failed steps (e.g., bounces, opt-outs)
Have not been contacted despite being in a sequence

These filters help Admins bulk remove or reassign inactive prospects to ensure sales reps are engaging only with active and relevant prospects.

Reassign ownership

A sales rep leaves the company, and their sequences still contain active prospects. RevOps needs to reassign ownership to another rep. This can be achieved by filtering for the following:

- Owned by Locked Users
- Sequenced by Locked Users

This quickly identifies all sequences and prospects owned by locked users. An admin can bulk finish or mark complete sequences and reassign to new Sequencers, ensuring no prospect engagement is lost.

Identifying stuck prospects

RevOps teams and sellers need to quickly identify stuck prospects—those who are failing to move forward in the sequence, not engaging, or lingering too long in certain steps. Without granular filtering, this can be overwhelming when managing hundreds or thousands of prospects. Management can be done using the following filters:

Pause Reason Filter (Paused vs. Paused OOO)
Failed At
Current Sequence Step Due Date
Step Number (Current Step)
Sequencer

This allows an admin to spot prospects stuck in specific steps and adjust outreach strategies accordingly, and identify bottlenecks in sequences where engagement drops. This workflow can also be used for sequencer filtering to assess if specific reps’ sequences are underperforming and ensure that prospects don’t remain paused indefinitely and take corrective actions (e.g., move to another sequence or escalate outreach).