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An email series (Hiveku calls it a sequence) sends a planned set of emails to each person on their own timetable, starting when you add them. A welcome series is the classic one: a hello the moment someone joins, then brewing tips a few days later. This guide builds a two-email welcome series on Northwind, adds the Docs test list, and watches both emails go out. To finish quickly, Northwind’s second email waits 5 minutes instead of a few days.
Northwind’s Docs test list is made of test addresses that accept email but never open it, so opens and clicks stay at 0.

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Create the series

1

Open Sequences

Click Marketing in the left rail, then the Email Marketing card, then the Sequences tab.
2

Name it and choose how people join

Under Create a new sequence, type a Name your team will recognize and, if you like, a Description.How people join decides who gets the series. I will add people myself means you add them from an audience. The other choices add people When a tag is added to a contact, When someone submits a form, or From a workflow; those need a workflow set up after you save.Click Create sequence. A new sequence starts off, so nothing is sent while you write it.
Create a new sequence: Name, New subscriber welcome, outlined; Description, Two emails a few minutes apart. Test series: enrolls only the Docs test list; How people join, I will add people myself, outlined; and Create sequence, outlined, with A new sequence starts off. Add its steps, then Activate it before you enroll anyone.

A welcome series, added by hand

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Write the emails

1

Add the first email

The sequence’s page opens. Under Add step, click + Send email. Email 1 appears under Steps, marked Cannot send yet until you write it. Click Edit to open it.
2

Write it

The first email goes as soon as someone is added, usually within a minute. Pick a saved email under Template (optional), or write it here: a Subject and a Plain-text version (an HTML version too, if you have one).A new email starts with a greeting, a line to replace, and two lines at the end: the unsubscribe link and your mailing address. Replace Write your message here. with your message and keep the last two lines. Every marketing email needs both. Click Save step.
Email 1: Welcome to Northwind: brewing your first bag, Sends right away. This is the first step, so it runs as soon as someone is enrolled, usually within a minute. The Subject is outlined; the Plain-text version greets the reader and gives a brewing tip, and its last two lines are outlined: You received this email because you subscribed. Unsubscribe: unsubscribe_link, then the company name, address, city, state and zip. Save step is outlined

The first email, with the unsubscribe and address lines kept

If something is missing, such as the subject, a box under the email says This email cannot go out yet and lists what to fix.
3

Add the next email and its wait

Click + Send email again for each email in the series. Every email after the first has Wait before sending: a number and minutes, hours or days, counted from the email before. A new one starts at 1 day.Northwind’s second email, “Three ways to brew Northwind at home”, waits 5 minutes. For a real welcome series, 2 days suits it better.
Email 2: Three ways to brew Northwind at home, with Then 5 minutes later outlined. Wait before sending: 5, minutes, outlined, after the step before. 0 means right after it. Below, Template (optional) and the Subject

Email 2 waits 5 minutes after Email 1

+ Wait, + Branch on engagement (do one thing if they opened or clicked the last email, another if not) and + Tag action (add or remove a contact tag) are there for longer series.

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Switch it on and add people

1

Click Activate

Close the open email. Steps lists the emails in order, each with when it goes. Check them, then click Activate. The sequence changes from inactive to active.
Steps, with Activate outlined at the top right, and the two emails outlined: Email 1: Welcome to Northwind: brewing your first bag, Sends right away; Email 2: Three ways to brew Northwind at home, Then 5 minutes later. Below, Add step: + Send email, + Send SMS, + Wait, + Branch on engagement, + Tag action

Two emails, then Activate

Activate the series before you add anyone. People added while it is off are taken straight back out and sent nothing.
2

Enroll an audience

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 line under the box confirms how many joined: Enrolled 7 people here.
Enroll contacts: Add an audience's contacts to this sequence. People who unsubscribed, are marked Do Not Contact, bounced, reported spam or have no email address are skipped. The first step goes out within about a minute of enrolling, to at most about 100 people a minute. The audience box, Docs test list (~7), and the Enroll button are outlined

Adding the Docs test list

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Watch it run

The first email goes out within about a minute of enrolling, to about 100 people a minute, so a list of 1,000 takes 10 minutes or more. Two minutes after Northwind enrolled the list, all 7 people had the first email. They show as Active until the series ends, and the table lists each email’s numbers.
New subscriber welcome, active, How people join: I will add people myself, 2 steps, 7 total enrolled. Active 7, outlined; Completed 0; Exited 0; Email results Sent 7, Delivered 7; and the step table, outlined: step 1, 7 sent, 7 delivered; step 2, 0 sent

The first email has gone to all 7

About five minutes later the second email went out, and everyone moved to Completed.
Active 0, Completed 7, outlined, Exited 0; Email results Sent 14, Delivered 14, Opened 0, Clicked 0, Bounced 0, Complained 0; and the step table, outlined: step 1, 7 sent, 7 delivered; step 2, 7 sent, 7 delivered

Both emails sent, and the series complete for all 7

Northwind then clicked Deactivate to switch its test series off.

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Good to know

  • Switching a series off. Deactivate stops it: anyone still in it leaves at their next email and shows under Exited. People who finished stay under Completed.
  • People who unsubscribe leave the series at their next email, and they’re skipped from your campaigns too.
  • Adding people automatically. To add everyone who fills in a form or gets a tag, choose that under How people join, or add an Email Marketing: Enroll in Sequence step to a workflow. See Workflows.
  • More: Sequences covers every step type and setting.