Best practices: build a list worth automating

A campaign is only as good as the list behind it. Here's how to choose the source, keep the list clean and size it, so a sequence works for you rather than against your LinkedIn account.

Know how a campaign reads a list

In the Audience step, List is optional, but without a list all your contacts enter the campaign. Always pick one.
Enrollment is continuous: anyone who joins the list later, by hand, by an import or by a recurring import, is enrolled automatically.
Only new arrivals (in the Campaign step) enrolls only people added to the list after the campaign was created. It is off by default.
ICP match with a Match strength floor decides who gets in. Tag and headline filters narrow the audience further.
Archived contacts are never enrolled, and a contact is never enrolled twice in the same campaign. The same person can, however, be in several campaigns at once.

Choose the source for the conversation you want

People Search: a precise role you want to approach cold. You review before importing, so this is the cleanest source for an invitation sequence.
Thematic Posts and commenters of a competitor's posts: people already interested in a subject. Open on that subject, not on your product.
Auto Profile Visitors: people who looked at you. A short, direct first message fits.
Auto Profile Engagement: people who comment on your own posts. They already know you; thank them and continue the conversation.
Auto Suggested Contacts: broad and unfiltered. Always pair it with a High match or better floor.
CSV Import: your existing lists from events or other tools. Enrich before automating.

One list, one intention

Keep one source and one message angle per list. A campaign's first message can't suit both a cold search result and someone who just commented on your post. One-off imports already create a list per run; rename lists so you can tell them apart later.

Clean before you automate

Open the list and use the filters: Relation / Conversation to spot people you're already connected with, Job title, Company name or Has a tag to find the wrong profiles.
Select the people you'll never contact and Archive them. They stay in your CRM but never enter a campaign.
Select contacts with an empty headline or job title and use Enrich with LinkedIn (one daily profile sync each, up to 80 a day). It matters twice: a Connection Request step skips contacts whose connection degree is unknown, which is common after CSV and post imports, and ICP fit needs profile text to read.

Size the list for your daily limits

Swimlane sends at most 20 invitations a day by default (up to 200 if you raise the limit) and refuses to go beyond. A list of 500 people behind a Connection Request step therefore takes about 25 days of sending at the default pace. Size lists to what you can actually follow up: the replies land in your inbox, and a sequence doesn't stop by itself when someone answers.

Build an evergreen campaign, safely

A recurring import feeding the source list of a campaign gives you a campaign that never runs dry. For example, Auto Profile Engagement plus a campaign on that list: each new commenter on your posts enters the sequence. That import doesn't record whether commenters are connected to you, so either start the flow with If connected and a message, or enrich new arrivals before they reach a Connection Request step.

Before switching it on:

Set an ICP floor, because everyone who lands in the list will be considered.
Branch on Replied to message so people who answer don't keep receiving the next steps.
Remember that pausing a campaign stops new enrollments, but messages and invitations already scheduled are still sent.

Checklist before launching

A list is selected, with a single intention and a clear name.
Irrelevant contacts are archived.
Contacts are enriched, so connection degree and job title are known.
ICP match is on, with a floor, for every source you didn't review.
Only new arrivals is on if the people already in the list were contacted another way.
The list size fits your daily invitation and message limits.