Recruiters often choose an outreach channel out of habit. Yet the same message can get very different responses depending on where it lands. The right channel depends less on the message than on how the person you are contacting spends their working day.
Match the channel to how people work
Office-based professionals, such as engineers, marketers and finance staff, spend the day in their inbox and on LinkedIn. Email remains the most accepted channel for a first approach. Frontline and hourly workers in logistics, retail, hospitality, care and security are often away from a desk all day. A short WhatsApp message they can answer on a break usually works far better than an email they will see at night, if at all.
Respect each channel's norms
- Email can carry more detail, but should still be short
- WhatsApp messages should be brief, friendly and clearly from a named person at a named company
- Only use WhatsApp when you have a lawful basis to contact someone on that number, for example a candidate who applied or opted in
- Never send the same message on three channels at once
Test, don't guess
Reply rates depend on your market, your employer brand and the roles you hire for. The only reliable benchmark is your own data. Send the same message on two channels to comparable candidates, measure replies over a fixed period and compare per role family.
Cruit tracks these numbers for every sequence and suggests the channel that has worked best for similar roles on your team. You choose the channel before anything is sent.