Why are prospects pending in a sequence?

In Outreach, a prospect shows as Pending in a sequence when they can’t start executing the first step immediately. Common reasons based on how Outreach is designed include:

1. Outside the sequence schedule / delivery window

   • If the sequence or step is only allowed to run during certain hours (e.g. 8am–5pm, Mon–Fri), and you add the prospect outside those hours, they’ll pend until the next allowed time.

   • You may see a message like: “The prospect will activate on the next delivery window.”

2. Sequence throttles / limits are hit

   • At the sequence level you can limit:

     • Max active prospects per sequence

     • Max prospects added in a 24‑hour period

   • Once those limits are reached, additional adds sit in Pending until capacity frees up.

3. Org‑level or user‑level email send limits

   • If daily send limits are reached, Outreach delays mailings.

   • The prospect can show as Pending until there’s send capacity again (the underlying emails are “delayed / queued” rather than sent immediately).

4. Bulk add processing / background jobs

   • When you add a lot of prospects at once, they briefly go into a Pending batch until Outreach finishes the background job that creates their sequence states.