Email, SMS and WhatsApp from one pipeline: multichannel outreach with approvals

South African prospects answer WhatsApp. They skim email. They notice an SMS. A sales team that works one channel is leaving replies on the table, and a team that works three channels in three separate tools is losing the thread. Naya CRM puts email, SMS and WhatsApp in the pipeline itself, with a sequence that moves between them and a person approving what goes out.

One lead, one thread

Every lead on the board has one timeline. Emails sent and received, SMS, WhatsApp messages, calls and voice notes sit on it in order. When a prospect replies on any channel, the reply lands in Triage and the whole conversation is on the lead, not spread across a mail client, a phone and a WhatsApp Web tab.

WhatsApp runs on Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform and SMS on WinSMS. A rep can also connect a Microsoft 365, Outlook.com or Gmail mailbox so that emails to or from a lead are filed read-only on the timeline. Naya never sends from that mailbox; outreach goes out through the campaign's own sending setup.

The brand writes once

Each campaign has a Conversation DNA: a master prompt, proof points, the brand's voice and reference sequences. Naya writes every message in that voice, in the same shape. One specific hook. A short body. One ask.

The ask is one button, never three: book a call, start a trial, or receive a call. The email carries the logo, the hook set large, the body, the button, the signature, a support line, the legal footer and a working unsubscribe link.

Because the draft is written from the DNA and the lead's own research, it is specific to the company without a rep writing a word.

Approval before anything leaves

Naya drafts. A person approves. The first-touch email waits in the Action Required column. The rep opens the side drawer, reads the research beside the draft, edits if needed, and sends. Naya never sends alone.

For the research itself, every proposed value carries a confidence score and a source link. Approve writes it to the lead. Reject asks why. A wrong Google match, once flagged, is blocked for that lead forever. The multichannel sequence only runs on leads whose research and first touch a person has signed off.

The sequence across channels

Switch the drip on per campaign and press Start in the Send tab. The default pattern is Day 1 email, Day 2 WhatsApp, Day 4 email, continuing through Day 8, inside working hours. Each touch is written fresh from the DNA and the research. Naya knows what was already sent, so nothing repeats.

The sequence stops the moment any of these happen:

• They reply on any channel.
• They book a call.
• They ask for a call.
• They unsubscribe.

The reply lands in Action Required with the full thread on the lead, and the rep takes it from there. Every touch stays on the timeline.

When the ask is a call

If the button is "book a call", the prospect lands on your branded booking page showing real slots from the team's calendar. Picking one creates the Zoom meeting, the calendar invite and the confirmation. A booked call is the strongest signal there is, so the lead jumps to the top of Triage with a task due at call time.

If the ask is "receive a call", Naya's voice agent can ring the prospect back when they click, and hand the live call to the right rep with a one-line heads-up. Naya says it is the AI assistant whenever anyone asks. The transcript and write-up go on the lead. Automated marketing calls are regulated in most countries, so the advice is to start with follow-ups and inbound.

Heat, not guesswork

Every open, click, reply and meeting feeds a decaying heat score. A WhatsApp reply or a booked call pushes a lead to the top of the board with a red flame. Silence lets it cool. Reps work Triage top-down, so the channel that got the response is the channel that gets the attention.

What it costs to send

Usage is billed per unit in rand on a monthly usage invoice, and the rate card is visible inside the product: SMS at R0.45 per 160-character message part, WhatsApp at R1.20 per marketing message and R0.20 per other message, voice calls at R3.50 per minute. Email, SMS and WhatsApp outreach are included as channels from the Pro plan at R699 per user per month. A campaign that sends nothing on WhatsApp this month pays nothing for WhatsApp.

The manager's view

The dashboard by campaign shows calls, connected conversations, contact-score moves and stage moves, and the report builder can group activities by rep, campaign, month or outcome and deliver the result by email or to a Slack channel on a schedule. Reports use the workspace's own stage and score names and never include email addresses or phone numbers.

If your team is already working more than one channel and losing the thread between them, this is worth seeing against your own campaign. Tell us about your team and pick a time at https://nayacrm.co.za/enquire for a 30-minute Zoom walkthrough, a seat-for-seat pricing comparison and 14 days of demo logins. Smaller teams can start free at https://nayacrm.co.za.