Sequences
A sequence is an ordered list of steps you put a contact through over days: an email, a wait, another email, a call task. Sequences live under Marketing, Sequences. Each contact runs the list on their own clock, starting the day they are enrolled.
Steps and delays
A sequence has two kinds of step.
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Writes a message to the contact. Depending on the sequence's send mode it is drafted for review or sent on schedule. | |
| Task | Creates a task on the contact, for example Call {{firstName}} about the fleece. |
Every step has a delay in days, counted from the step before it, not from the day the contact was enrolled. Step 1 with a delay of 0 goes out the moment someone is enrolled. So a three step sequence of 0, 2 and 3 days reaches the contact on day 0, day 2 and day 5.
A contact with no email address is never enrolled, and an email step whose contact has no address is skipped rather than failing the whole sequence.
Variables
Email subjects and bodies, and task titles, accept the same merge variables as the rest of the app. Type them in double braces, or use Personalize in the editor to insert one.
| Variable | Value |
|---|---|
{{firstName}} | The contact's first name |
{{name}} | The contact's full name |
{{email}} | The contact's email address |
{{company}} | The contact's company |
The values come from the contact who is enrolled, filled in per person when the step runs. A variable the system cannot fill renders blank rather than stopping the step, so check a draft before you switch a sequence to sending automatically.
Send mode
Send mode is set on the sequence and applies to every email step in it.
- Draft for review is the default. Each email step writes a draft under Emails, Drafts and tells the sender that one is waiting. Nothing reaches the contact until a person approves it.
- Send automatically emails the contact on schedule, with no review.
Draft for review is the safe way to run a new sequence: read the first few drafts, fix the copy, then switch it over once you trust what it writes.
Business hours
Business hours are on by default. A step that comes due outside Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm in your workspace timezone waits for the next weekday at 9am.
This matters because a delay is measured from when the contact was enrolled. Enroll someone at 3pm on a Friday with a two day delay and, without business hours, step 2 would land at 3pm on Sunday. Turn business hours off if you want every step to run the moment it is due.
Exits
An exit stops the rest of the sequence for one contact. The others carry on.
| Exit | Default | Fires when |
|---|---|---|
| Replied | On | The contact answers. Nobody is chased after they have already responded. |
| Deal created | Off | A deal is created for the contact. |
| Status changed | Off | The contact's status changes. |
Two more happen whatever you set. An address that bounces is removed from the sequence automatically, and a contact who is suppressed or unsubscribed is never enrolled in the first place.
The enrollment table on the sequence page shows how each contact left, for example Replied or Bounced, and the date.
Enrollment
There are three ways in.
- On the sequence page. Pick the contacts you want and enroll them.
- From an automation. Add the Enroll in sequence action to a rule, for example when a lead's status changes to Qualified. See the Automations guide.
- From Claude or ChatGPT. The connector's enroll tool adds contacts to a sequence by name.
All three skip the same people: a contact already actively enrolled in that sequence is not enrolled twice, and contacts with no email, or who are suppressed or unsubscribed, are left out.
The promoted offering
A sequence can promote one offering from your catalog. Every email the sequence writes is stamped with that offering, so the offering's page lists the sequences promoting it and shows their emails in its activity, next to the campaigns, deals and quotes for the same product.
Archiving
Archiving stops a sequence. No further steps run for anyone already enrolled, and you cannot enroll more contacts. Unarchive it and the sequence starts running again. (Before this release, archiving only hid a sequence from the list while its steps kept going.)
Archive a sequence you are done with rather than deleting it, and the enrollment history stays readable.
Why is my sequence not sending?
Work down this list.
- The sequence is archived. Archived sequences run no steps at all. Unarchive it.
- The email is a draft waiting for approval. In Draft for review mode, nothing leaves until someone approves it. Check Emails, Drafts.
- The contact is suppressed or unsubscribed. They are skipped at enrollment, and a suppressed address is not emailed at approval either.
- The contact already exited. Look at the enrollment row: Replied, Bounced or another exit means the rest of the sequence was cancelled on purpose.
- The step is due outside business hours. It is waiting for the next weekday at 9am in your workspace timezone.
- The contact has no email address. Email steps are skipped for them; task steps still run.
Automations
Run actions when records are created, change, reply or go quiet. Triggers, conditions, actions, the variables you can use, and how to read a rule's runs.
Quotes
Build line-item quotes from your catalog, tie each one to the deal, contact and company it is for, and track it from draft to accepted, in the app or through the AI connector.