> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.hiveku.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Sequences (Drip Campaigns)
> Multi-step automated email flows with trigger-based enrollment
A sequence is a multi-step email flow that fires automatically based on a trigger. Welcome series, post-purchase follow-ups, lead nurture, course drips — anything that should send to a contact across days or weeks without you launching a new campaign each time.
Find sequences at `/dashboard/marketing/email/sequences`.
## Sequences vs campaigns vs Outbound
* **Campaign** — one email, one moment, sent to many people at once.
* **Sequence** *(this page)* — many emails, one per contact, spread across time. Each contact moves through on their own schedule from the moment they enroll.
* **Outbound** — multi-step *cold* outreach for sales prospecting. See [Outbound](/marketing/outbound-email). Sequences here are for opted-in audiences.
## Triggers
A trigger decides who gets enrolled and when. Pick one when you create the sequence:
* **Manual** — you enroll contacts explicitly, one at a time or in bulk.
* **Tag added** — fires when a tag like `newsletter-subscriber` is added to a contact.
* **Form submit** — fires when a contact submits a Hiveku form (or any connected form via webhook).
* **Workflow** — wired into a [Workflow](/automations/workflows) so any node can enroll.
A contact who already has an active enrollment in the same sequence isn't re-enrolled by default — see "Don't enroll twice" below.
## Sequence steps
Each step is a delay + an email:
* **Delay** — measured in days from the previous step (or from enrollment for step 1).
* **Email** — pick a [template](/email-marketing/templates) or write inline. Personalization variables work the same way as campaigns.
* **Send window** — optional. Constrain to business hours and/or specific weekdays.
Example welcome series:
| Step | Delay | Subject |
| ---- | ------- | -------------------------------- |
| 1 | 0 days | Welcome to Acme |
| 2 | 2 days | Three things to try first |
| 3 | 5 days | The product short tour |
| 4 | 9 days | What our customers say |
| 5 | 14 days | A small offer to get you started |
## Enrolling contacts
Three patterns:
From a contact's CRM record, click **Enroll in sequence** and pick the sequence.
From an [audience](/email-marketing/audiences), click **Enroll all in sequence**. Hiveku enrolls every sendable contact (skipping suppressions and existing enrollments).
Configure the sequence's trigger (tag, form, workflow) and enrollments happen on their own. The CRM and forms emit events into a queue; the sequence runner picks them up and creates enrollments.
Active enrollments live in `marketing_sequence_enrollment`. Each row tracks the current step, the next-due timestamp, and whether the contact has stopped (unsubscribed, replied, etc.).
## Stopping enrollment
A contact can drop out of a sequence in several ways:
* **Unsubscribe** — instant. The unsubscribe is honored across every sequence and campaign.
* **Reply** — optional. Toggle "stop on reply" if the sequence is conversational and you don't want a robotic follow-up after a real reply.
* **Tag added/removed** — set a stop condition like "stop if tag `customer` is added" so a converted lead doesn't keep getting nurture mail.
* **Manual** — you can pull a contact out of a sequence from their CRM record at any time.
Stopped enrollments stay in the database (with a status of `stopped` and a reason) so the sequence report stays honest.
## Per-sequence metrics
The sequence report rolls up across every enrollment:
* **Active** — currently enrolled, awaiting a future step.
* **Completed** — finished every step.
* **Stopped** — dropped out before completion.
* **Per-step delivery, open, click rates** — see whether step 3 is where engagement falls off.
* **Median time-to-conversion** — if the sequence has a defined goal tag (e.g. `customer`), how long it takes from enrollment to that tag.
Drill into any cohort to see the contacts behind the number.
## Best practices
A few guardrails the coach (and the rules) enforce:
* **Don't enroll the same contact twice.** Re-enrollment is opt-in per sequence — leave it off unless you're explicitly running a re-engagement loop.
* **Respect unsubscribes.** Hiveku does this for you; the `email-respect-unsubscribes` rule blocks any attempt to bypass.
* **End with a clear next step.** A good sequence drives to a conversion, a meeting, or a content deep-dive — not a vague "let us know if you have questions".
* **Keep the cadence light.** More than two emails per week to the same contact is usually too much. The coach warns when overlapping sequences would deliver three or more emails in a 7-day window.
* **Verify your domain before launching.** The `email-verified-domain-required` rule blocks the first send if DKIM, SPF, or DMARC aren't passing.
## Pausing and editing
You can **pause** a sequence at any time. Active enrollments stop advancing until you resume; new triggers don't enroll anyone while paused.
Editing rules:
* Adding a new step or changing a future step's content is fine — enrollments not yet at that step pick up the change.
* Editing a step in the past doesn't retroactively send. Anyone who already received an old version of step 2 keeps that version in their report.
* Renaming the sequence preserves history.
## Troubleshooting
Check the trigger's event log under the sequence's **Activity** tab. Common causes:
* Contact already had an active enrollment (re-enrollment off).
* Contact is on the suppression list.
* Contact's email address failed format validation.
Delay is in days from the *previous step's send*. If you set step 1 delay to 0 and step 2 delay to 0, both go out the same day. Bump step 2 to 1+ days.
Hiveku auto-pauses a sequence if your account hits a deliverability threshold (high bounce or complaint rate). Resolve the underlying issue on the [Deliverability](/email-marketing/deliverability) dashboard, then resume.
Yes — enrollments are per-sequence, not global. Just keep an eye on cumulative cadence so you don't overwhelm anyone.
## Related
Welcome series walkthrough end to end.
Reusable email designs for sequence steps.