Cold Email 3-Step Sequence

Send a personalized cold email, wait 3 days, check if the prospect replied, then follow up or stop. Built-in rate limiting prevents deliverability issues.

http_requestdelayrouterrate_limitloop

What this workflow does

Send initial email — HTTP POST to your email provider (SendGrid, Resend, Postmark) with personalized content from context. Rate-limited to respect provider quotas and protect deliverability.

Wait 3 days — Delay step pauses the sequence for 3 business days. The engine sleeps with zero resource consumption — no threads held, no connections open.

Check for reply — HTTP GET to your email provider or CRM API to check if the prospect replied. Maps reply status to context.

Branch on reply — Router checks if a reply was received. If yes, the sequence ends — no follow-up needed. If no, continues to follow-up.

Send follow-up — Second email with a different subject line and angle. Rate-limited. After the follow-up, waits 3 more days and checks again. If still no reply after the third touch, the sequence ends gracefully.

Workflow definition

Copy this JSON and POST it to /sequences.

1{
2  "id": "cold_email_3_step_v1",
3  "context_schema": {
4    "prospect_email": "string",
5    "prospect_name": "string",
6    "prospect_company": "string",
7    "sender_name": "string",
8    "sender_email": "string",
9    "email_provider_url": "string",
10    "reply_check_url": "string"
11  },
12  "blocks": [
13    {
14      "id": "send_initial",
15      "type": "step",
16      "handler": "http_request",
17      "params": {
18        "method": "POST",
19        "url": "{{context.data.email_provider_url}}",
20        "headers": {
21          "Authorization": "Bearer credentials://email-api-key",
22          "Content-Type": "application/json"
23        },
24        "body": {
25          "from": "{{context.data.sender_email}}",
26          "to": "{{context.data.prospect_email}}",
27          "subject": "Quick question for {{context.data.prospect_company}}",
28          "html": "<p>Hi {{context.data.prospect_name}},</p><p>I noticed {{context.data.prospect_company}} is scaling — curious if you've looked at automating your internal workflows.</p><p>We built Orch8, a workflow engine that handles the durability, retries, and scheduling so your team doesn't have to.</p><p>Worth a 15-minute call?</p><p>{{context.data.sender_name}}</p>"
29        }
30      },
31      "rate_limit_key": "email:outbound",
32      "retry": { "max_attempts": 2, "backoff": "30s" }
33    },
34    {
35      "id": "wait_3_days",
36      "type": "step",
37      "handler": "builtin.noop",
38      "delay": { "duration": 259200000 }
39    },
40    {
41      "id": "check_reply_1",
42      "type": "step",
43      "handler": "http_request",
44      "params": {
45        "method": "GET",
46        "url": "{{context.data.reply_check_url}}?email={{context.data.prospect_email}}",
47        "headers": {
48          "Authorization": "Bearer credentials://email-api-key"
49        }
50      }
51    },
52    {
53      "id": "reply_gate_1",
54      "type": "router",
55      "routes": [
56        {
57          "condition": "steps.check_reply_1.output.replied == true",
58          "blocks": [
59            {
60              "id": "log_replied",
61              "type": "step",
62              "handler": "log",
63              "params": {
64                "level": "info",
65                "message": "Prospect {{context.data.prospect_email}} replied — sequence complete"
66              }
67            }
68          ]
69        }
70      ],
71      "default": [
72        {
73          "id": "send_followup",
74          "type": "step",
75          "handler": "http_request",
76          "params": {
77            "method": "POST",
78            "url": "{{context.data.email_provider_url}}",
79            "headers": {
80              "Authorization": "Bearer credentials://email-api-key",
81              "Content-Type": "application/json"
82            },
83            "body": {
84              "from": "{{context.data.sender_email}}",
85              "to": "{{context.data.prospect_email}}",
86              "subject": "Re: Quick question for {{context.data.prospect_company}}",
87              "html": "<p>Hi {{context.data.prospect_name}},</p><p>Following up — I know inboxes get busy.</p><p>Teams using Orch8 typically replace 2-3 internal tools (cron jobs, retry scripts, approval queues) with a single engine. Self-hosted, PostgreSQL-backed, runs anywhere.</p><p>Happy to show a quick demo if useful.</p><p>{{context.data.sender_name}}</p>"
88            }
89          },
90          "rate_limit_key": "email:outbound",
91          "retry": { "max_attempts": 2, "backoff": "30s" }
92        },
93        {
94          "id": "wait_3_days_2",
95          "type": "step",
96          "handler": "builtin.noop",
97          "delay": { "duration": 259200000 }
98        },
99        {
100          "id": "check_reply_2",
101          "type": "step",
102          "handler": "http_request",
103          "params": {
104            "method": "GET",
105            "url": "{{context.data.reply_check_url}}?email={{context.data.prospect_email}}",
106            "headers": {
107              "Authorization": "Bearer credentials://email-api-key"
108            }
109          }
110        },
111        {
112          "id": "reply_gate_2",
113          "type": "router",
114          "routes": [
115            {
116              "condition": "steps.check_reply_2.output.replied == true",
117              "blocks": [
118                {
119                  "id": "log_replied_2",
120                  "type": "step",
121                  "handler": "log",
122                  "params": {
123                    "level": "info",
124                    "message": "Prospect {{context.data.prospect_email}} replied after follow-up"
125                  }
126                }
127              ]
128            }
129          ],
130          "default": [
131            {
132              "id": "send_final",
133              "type": "step",
134              "handler": "http_request",
135              "params": {
136                "method": "POST",
137                "url": "{{context.data.email_provider_url}}",
138                "headers": {
139                  "Authorization": "Bearer credentials://email-api-key",
140                  "Content-Type": "application/json"
141                },
142                "body": {
143                  "from": "{{context.data.sender_email}}",
144                  "to": "{{context.data.prospect_email}}",
145                  "subject": "Last note — {{context.data.prospect_company}}",
146                  "html": "<p>Hi {{context.data.prospect_name}},</p><p>Last touch — no hard feelings if the timing's off.</p><p>If workflow automation is ever on the roadmap, here's where to find us: <a href='https://orch8.io'>orch8.io</a></p><p>All the best,<br/>{{context.data.sender_name}}</p>"
147                }
148              },
149              "rate_limit_key": "email:outbound"
150            },
151            {
152              "id": "log_sequence_end",
153              "type": "step",
154              "handler": "log",
155              "params": {
156                "level": "info",
157                "message": "3-step sequence completed for {{context.data.prospect_email}} — no reply"
158              }
159            }
160          ]
161        }
162      ]
163    }
164  ]
165}

Credentials to configure

email-api-keyapi_keyAPI key for your email provider (SendGrid, Resend, Postmark)

How to trigger

1// POST /sequences/cold_email_3_step_v1/instances
2{
3  "context": {
4    "data": {
5      "prospect_email": "jane@example.com",
6      "prospect_name": "Jane",
7      "prospect_company": "Acme Corp",
8      "sender_name": "Alex",
9      "sender_email": "alex@yourcompany.com",
10      "email_provider_url": "https://api.resend.com/emails",
11      "reply_check_url": "https://api.yourapp.com/replies"
12    }
13  }
14}

Start the sequence by creating an instance with prospect and sender details. Works with any email provider that exposes a REST API.

Customize it

Swap email provider — change the HTTP endpoint and body format for SendGrid, Postmark, or your custom SMTP relay.

Add LLM personalization — insert an llm_call step before each email that generates a personalized opening line based on the prospect's LinkedIn or company data.

CRM integration — add steps to update your CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce) with sequence status after each touch.

Business-hour send windows — add send_window to each email step to only send during 9 AM-5 PM in the prospect's timezone.

More templates

Upgrade from calendar touches to behavior

Use this sequence when a simple follow-up cadence is enough. When replies, page visits, CRM status, or product activity should change the next action, move to the event-driven template. In both cases, cancel pending messages before assigning a human owner.

Event-driven outreach→Human handoff after reply→