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A sequence is a series of emails that goes out by itself to each person you add, each email a set time after the one before. Welcome series, post-purchase follow-ups, lead nurture, course drips: anything that should reach a contact across days or weeks without you launching a new campaign each time. Find sequences under Marketing > Email Marketing > Sequences. For a walkthrough with screenshots, see Set Up an Automatic Email Series.

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Sequences vs campaigns vs Outbound

  • Campaign: one email, one moment, sent to many people at once.
  • Sequence (this page): many emails, one person at a time, spread across time. Each contact moves through on their own schedule from the moment they join.
  • Outbound: multi-step cold outreach for sales prospecting. See Outbound. Sequences here are for people who asked to hear from you.

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How people join

Pick one when you create the sequence:
  • I will add people myself: you add an audience from the Enroll contacts box on the sequence’s page.
  • When a tag is added to a contact: for example, a newsletter-subscriber tag.
  • When someone submits a form: a Hiveku form on your site.
  • From a workflow: an Email Marketing: Enroll in Sequence step in a workflow.
The tag, form and workflow choices need a workflow set up after you save. You can always add an audience by hand as well.

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Steps

Click a button under Add step to add one:
  • + Send email: an email. Pick a saved template or write a subject and a plain-text version (an HTML version too, if you have one). Personalization variables work the same way as in campaigns.
  • + Send SMS: a text message.
  • + Wait: a pause before the next step.
  • + Branch on engagement: do one thing if they opened or clicked the last email, another if not.
  • + Tag action: add or remove a contact tag.
The first email goes out as soon as someone joins, usually within a minute. Every email after it has Wait before sending: a number of minutes, hours or days, counted from the step before. 0 sends it right after. Every email needs your unsubscribe link ({{unsubscribe_link}}) and your mailing address. A new email ends with both; keep them when you write yours. An email that is missing something, such as its subject, is marked Cannot send yet, and its editor lists what to fix. Example welcome series:

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Switching it on and adding people

A new sequence starts off. Add its steps, then click Activate before you add anyone: people added while it is off are taken straight back out and sent nothing. Under Enroll contacts, pick an audience and click Enroll. People who unsubscribed, are marked Do Not Contact, bounced, reported spam or have no email address are skipped. The first email goes out within about a minute, to at most about 100 people a minute, so 1,000 people take 10 minutes or more.

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Who leaves early

  • Unsubscribes: someone who unsubscribes leaves the sequence at their next email, and is skipped from your campaigns too.
  • Deactivate: switching a sequence off takes everyone still in it out at their next email.

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Results

The sequence’s page counts the people in it and the emails it sent:
  • Active: in the sequence, waiting for a later email.
  • Completed: had every email.
  • Exited: left before the end, for example after unsubscribing or because the sequence was switched off.
  • Email results: emails sent, delivered, opened and clicked, bounces and spam complaints, plus a row per email so you can see where engagement drops off.

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Good practice

  • End with a clear next step. A good sequence leads to an order, a meeting or a useful read, not a vague “let us know if you have questions”.
  • Keep the pace light. More than two emails a week to the same person is usually too many. Watch for people who are in two sequences at once.
  • Set up sending first. Sequences send from the same sending setup as your campaigns. See Get Set Up to Send Marketing Email.

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Editing a running sequence

  • Changing an email that people haven’t reached yet is fine: they get the new version.
  • Changing an email doesn’t send it again to anyone who already had it.
  • Renaming the sequence keeps its history.

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Troubleshooting

The sequence was probably off. People added while it is off are taken straight back out. Click Activate, then enroll them again.
Click Edit on it. The box under the email lists what is missing, such as a subject, or the starting line “Write your message here.” still in the text.
They were skipped because they unsubscribed, are marked Do Not Contact, bounced, reported spam or have no email address.
Yes. Just keep an eye on how many emails they get in a week.

Set Up an Automatic Email Series

Welcome series walkthrough end to end, with screenshots.

Templates

Reusable email designs for sequence steps.