Sequences are started one contact at a time, by a rep, from the contact's profile in a tribe. Every step is shown, filled in for that person, before anything is sent.

Starting one

1. Open the contact and select Start sequence at the top of the profile. The same button is on the Sequences card of the Automations tab, and on the lead pane of a call list.
2. Choose a sequence. Each shows its steps, personalisation mode and whether it is a marketing stream. If a sequence cannot be used for this contact - for example they were in it recently, or they have unsubscribed - the reason is shown in its place.
3. Work through the steps in the left column. Select a step to read it, edit the subject or message, change the delay, pick a copy variant, or switch the step off with Included so it is skipped for this contact.
4. Fill in every highlighted prompt. A step that still has one is marked Needs filling in and the sequence cannot start.
5. If the sequence is set to review every step, tick I have read this and it is ready to go on each one.
6. Choose the mailbox under Send as. It lists the connected mailboxes on this tribe; if yours is not there, connect it first (see Connecting your mailbox to the CRM).
7. For a marketing stream, confirm the contact has consented to marketing email. The unsubscribe link is always included on those.
8. Select Start sequence.

The unsubscribe link

Sequence emails are personal, one-to-one messages from a rep, so by default they carry no unsubscribe footer. Your organisation can allow reps to leave the footer off under CRM Settings, Email; when that is on, the start dialog shows an Include unsubscribe link switch. Sequences marked as a marketing stream always carry the link whatever the switch says, as does any sequence started automatically rather than by a rep.

What happens once it starts

• The first step is scheduled straight away, within the sequence's send window. Sequences are checked every minute, so a step due now goes within a minute or two.
• Emails are sent from the chosen mailbox and threaded so the contact sees one conversation. Each is recorded on the contact's Communications tab.
• Texts are sent from the tribe's number. Call, LinkedIn and to-do steps create a task for the rep and wait for it; see Call and LinkedIn steps.
• Each following step is scheduled from the moment the previous one happened, honouring the daily send limit and the recent-contact hold set on the sequence.
• A strip under the contact's name shows the sequence, where it is up to and what comes next, with Edit, Pause and Stop; see When a contact replies, and stopping a sequence.