By the end of this guide, you'll know what each lead status means, when leads move between statuses, and how to use status information to track campaign performance and manage leads effectively.

Lead statuses are your real-time dashboard for campaign health. Each status tells you exactly where a lead is in your outreach journey—from enriching their data to getting their reply. Understanding statuses helps you identify bottlenecks (too many bounced?), spot opportunities (who clicked but didn't reply?), and take action (pause leads getting out-of-office responses). Without status knowledge, you're flying blind through campaign management.

Before you start:

Lemlist tracks distinct lead statuses. Here are the statuses and what they mean:

Pre-Campaign Statuses

Enriching

Lead is currently undergoing data enrichment (Email Finder, LinkedIn Enrichment, Phone Finder, or Email Verification).

What happens: System searches for missing data like emails, phone numbers, or LinkedIn information.

What to do: Wait for enrichment to complete (typically seconds, occasionally longer). Once complete, status changes to To launch.

💡 Duration: Usually seconds to minutes depending on batch size and enrichment type.

To launch

Lead is in the review stage, ready for you to evaluate before launching into the campaign. You’ll see this in the Status column of the campaign’s Lead list.

What happens: Lead is waiting for manual review and launch action.

What to do: Review the lead (data quality, email validity, personalization). Then launch them into the campaign, or skip them if you don’t want to contact them.

💡 Why review exists: Gives you quality control before sending. Catch bad data, wrong targets, or leads you shouldn't contact.

Skipped

Lead was deliberately excluded from the campaign during the review process.

What happens: Lead remains in the campaign but won’t receive any steps. Marked as skipped unless you un-skip them.

What to do: Skipped leads stay in campaign records but inactive. To reactivate: select the lead → click Un-skip → lead returns to To launch for review.

💡 Skip vs. Delete: Skip preserves the lead record (you can un-skip later). Delete removes them permanently.

Paused

Lead's campaign progress is temporarily halted, either manually paused by you or automatically paused by a CRM integration. You’ll see Paused in the Status column.

What happens: Lead stops at their current position in the sequence. No further steps send until unpaused.

What to do: To resume: select the lead → click Un-pause → campaign continues from where it stopped.

💡 Common reasons to pause: Out-of-office replies, leads who need follow-up timing, waiting on additional information before continuing the sequence.

Active Campaign Statuses

Ready to send

Lead has been launched and entered the campaign, but hasn’t yet reached the first step.

What happens: Lead is scheduled based on your campaign schedule (sending times, speed limits). Waiting for the first step’s send time.

What to do: Nothing required. Lead will automatically progress according to schedule.

💡 Why this status exists: There can be a gap between launch and the first send due to schedule settings.

In progress

Lead has started the campaign and is actively moving through the sequence. In the Lead list, you’ll see leads with In progress in the Status column.

What happens: Lead progresses through your sequence steps with delays between each step.

What to do: Monitor progress. Lead continues automatically until completion, reply, bounce, or manual intervention (pause/stop).

💡 This is the “active outreach” status—most leads should be here during an active campaign.

Engagement Statuses

Sent

Lead has received at least one step of the campaign (email, LinkedIn message, or manual action).

What happens: At least one action is completed successfully.

What to do: Monitor for engagement (opens, clicks, replies). Sent indicates sending happened—not necessarily engagement.

💡 Sent ≠ Delivered: “Sent” means lemlist attempted sending. Check for Bounced or Failed if you suspect delivery issues.

Opened

Lead has opened at least one email in your campaign.

What happens: Email tracking pixel loaded, indicating the email was viewed.

What to do: Consider these leads “warm.” If multiple opens without reply, they may need different messaging or timing.

💡 Tracking limitation: Opens require images to load. Some clients block tracking pixels.

Clicked

Lead has clicked a link in at least one email, OR accepted your LinkedIn invitation (for multichannel campaigns).

What happens: Lead engaged beyond just reading.

What to do: High engagement signal. Prioritize for follow-up.

💡 Clicked = strong intent: Much higher engagement than “Opened.”

Replied

Lead has responded to your email or LinkedIn message.

What happens: Lead replied to any step in your campaign. Campaign typically stops automatically on reply (depending on settings).

What to do: Review and respond personally. Then mark as Interested or Not interested based on the reply content.

💡 Auto-stop on reply: Most campaigns stop sending follow-ups when someone replies. Check settings if this isn’t happening.

Problem Statuses

Bounced

Email sent to the lead bounced (couldn’t be delivered).

What happens: Recipient’s email server rejected the email. Campaign stops for this lead.

What to do: Check the lead’s activity for the bounce reason (invalid address, full mailbox, blocked domain). Fix the email if possible or remove the lead. Multiple bounces can damage sender reputation.

Common bounce reasons:

💡 Prevent bounces: Use Email Verification enrichment before sending to catch invalid addresses.

Failed

The email or LinkedIn step was not successfully sent or completed.

What happens: Lemlist couldn’t execute the step due to missing requirements or connection issues.

What to do: Check why it failed. Common causes: no email for an email step, not connected on LinkedIn for a LinkedIn message step, or the sender's email is disconnected.

Common failure reasons:

💡 Failed vs. Bounced: Failed = lemlist couldn’t attempt sending. Bounced = email was sent but recipient rejected it.

Completion Statuses

Completed

The campaign has finished for this lead, they’ve reached the end of the sequence, or the campaign stopped for other reasons.

What happens: Lead completed all steps OR campaign ended early (marked interested/not interested, bounced, failed).

What to do: Review why they completed. If they completed without reply, consider re-engagement, marking as not interested, or leaving for later follow-up.

💡 Completion doesn’t mean success: Check other statuses (Opened, Clicked, Replied) to assess engagement.

Interested

Lead has been manually marked as interested by you. You’ll see Interested in the Status column.

What happens: You identified this lead as an opportunity. The campaign typically stops when the user is marked as interested.

What to do: Move them to your sales process (handoff, schedule a call, proposal, etc.).

💡 Manual marking: You control this status.

Not interested

Lead has been manually marked as not interested. You’ll see Not interested in the Status column.

What happens: Lead is not a fit or explicitly declined. Campaign stops.

What to do: Remove from active outreach. Consider exporting for future re-engagement (6–12 months) or analyzing objections to improve targeting.

💡 Respect the signal: Continued outreach after a clear “not interested” can damage reputation.

Unsubscribed

Lead has unsubscribed from your emails, either automatically (clicked unsubscribe link) or manually (you marked them).

What happens: Lead is excluded from future email outreach in lemlist.

What to do: Respect the unsubscribe and review patterns if rates are high.

Unsubscribe triggers:

💡 Legal requirement: Unsubscribes must be honored.

Typical successful progression:

Unsuccessful progressions:

💡 Status reflects latest activity: A lead marked “Replied” has also been Sent, In progress, and possibly Opened/Clicked—but “Replied” is the most relevant status shown.

Filter by status to take action:

In the campaign Lead list, click the filter icon, choose Status, select the status(es) you want to view, then click Apply.

Examples:

View all “Opened” but not “Replied” → These leads are reading but not responding. Consider different messaging or direct outreach.

View all “Clicked” → High-intent leads. Priority for personal follow-up.

View all “Bounced” → Invalid emails. Export, fix/remove addresses to protect sender reputation.

View all “Paused” → Leads waiting for action. Review why paused and un-pause when ready.

View all “Completed” without reply → Add to re-engagement campaign or mark “Not interested.”

Issue: Lead stuck in “To launch”

Root cause: Lead wasn’t launched from the review stage

Fix: Review the lead and launch them (or bulk launch if you’re confident in your data).

Issue: Lead shows “Failed” repeatedly

Root cause: Missing required data for steps (no email for email steps, not connected for LinkedIn steps)

Fix: Check the lead’s data and step requirements. Add missing data, fix connectivity, or skip the step.

Issue: Lead marked “Sent” but never “Opened”

Root cause: Email delivered but not opened, OR tracking pixel blocked

Fix: Consider deliverability and tracking limits. If many leads show this pattern, investigate broader deliverability issues.

Issue: Many leads showing “Bounced”

Root cause: Poor data quality or deliverability issues

Fix: Run Email Verification before sending, clean your source list, and remove hard bounces quickly.

Issue: Lead marked “Replied” but no reply visible

Root cause: Sync delay, inbox connection, or reply happened on LinkedIn

Fix: Check the lead’s activity, refresh, and verify the connected inbox (or LinkedIn) directly.

Monitor completion rates - Track what percentage of leads reach “Completed” vs. “Replied” vs. “Bounced.” High completion without replies suggests messaging issues. High bounces suggest data quality problems.

Focus on clicked leads - “Clicked” indicates strong engagement. Prioritize these for personal outreach before they go cold.

Pause strategically - When you see out-of-office replies or “not right now” responses, pause those leads and set reminders to un-pause later.

Clean bounced leads immediately - Export and remove bounced leads. Repeated sending to invalid addresses can damage sender reputation.

Mark interested/not interested consistently - Review replies daily and mark status appropriately to keep reporting accurate.

Use status filters for reporting - Export leads by status to calculate key metrics (reply rate, engagement rate, click-through rate).

Review “Completed” regularly - Leads that completed without engagement can be good candidates for a re-engagement campaign.

Track “Failed” patterns - If many leads fail at the same step, there’s likely a systemic issue (missing data field, disconnected account, etc.).