Drip sequences
A sequence is an ordered set of email and SMS steps that go out to a lead on a schedule after they are enrolled. Enroll a lead by hand from the sequence, or automatically with the “Enroll the lead in a sequence” automation action. Step 1 fires when the lead is enrolled, after its own wait; each later step waits the time you set after the previous one. SMS steps need Messaging configured and respect opt-outs.
- 1
Write a step
Pick the channel, set the wait, and write the subject and message. Use “Insert field” to drop merge fields like {{first_name}}, {{company_name}} or {{amount}}: they are filled in per recipient, from the lead the message is going to, at the moment it is sent.
- 2
What happens to a field nothing can fill
The message is not sent. It is created and held, and the reason names the field, so you can see it and fix it rather than finding it in a customer’s reply. The editor warns you while you are writing, so it rarely gets that far. Two fields can never be filled automatically at all - the job title and the compensation on an offer letter, because no record in the product holds them - and the editor hides those from the picker on a sequence step for that reason.
- 3
Enroll a lead
Open the sequence and pick a lead, or let an automation do it. A lead already enrolled is not enrolled twice.
Every screen that offers merge fields offers the same list, and that list comes from the product rather than from a note on the page. A template written on Message Templates can be pasted into a sequence step and its fields keep working. Previews are capped at 20,000 characters and 120 renders a minute per person, more than any editor session uses, so a runaway tab cannot slow the platform. Sends are not capped.