Overview

Sequences is a powerful tool that gives your team a centralized way to manage multi-step engagement. It allows you to build an automated customer interaction flow from start to finish. This flow can include automatic emails, manual emails, tasks, and phone calls.

When you designate any manual tasks (such as a phone call), you will be notified when they are due to be completed.

 

Open Sequences

You can access Sequences in two different places. Where you access Sequences will determine which sequences you see.

 

1. Account level. To view all Sequences on your CRM account, open Sequences from the left-hand navigation menu:

 

2. Board level. You can also view sequences on the board level through the Contacts and Leads boards.

If you are an individual team member who has a set list of clients or accounts, this is a great way to keep track of the Sequences that you are responsible for.

To view all Sequences related to a board, open the board and select Sequences at the top of the board:

 

Build a Sequence

Once you've opened Sequences, you can build a new sequence by clicking on the + New sequence button at the top left:

Begin by naming your Sequence. This is the name that your team will use to apply the Sequence. It's best to choose a name that is clear, concise, and unique.

Next, select the board you'd like to connect to the sequence. You can skip this step and complete it later.

Now it's time to build your sequence! Choose a building block from the menu. You have several options:

• Add wait time. You can delay steps in the sequence to control the timing between actions, ensuring that steps occur in the desired order and timeframe.
• Automatic emails. These are emails that are automatically sent based on the schedule and conditions defined in the sequence. These emails use dynamic fields to customize the content.
• Manual emails. Create an Emails & Activities task and get a reminder to send an email.
• General tasks. Create a custom Emails & Activities task and get a reminder notification at the designated time. These can include any non-email actions that need to be performed manually.
• Call tasks. Create an Emails & Activities task to make a call and get a reminder at the designated time in the sequence.

 

Order the steps

To change the order of your steps, you can use the handle on the right of each of your steps:

Additionally, you can choose to customize steps by clicking on the three-dot menu on the right side of the step and choosing one of the options from the drop-down menu:

 

Adding a delay

This feature allows you to define each group of steps and specify the delay (in days) between these groups. 

For example, you can have a sequence that follows the following structure:

1. Perform initial steps
2. Wait 2 days
3. Perform the next steps

You can add a delay in between steps by selecting the Add wait time option from the +Add button:

You can select how many days you want to wait in between steps:

 

Email threading

If you have more than one automatic email included in a sequence, the Email threading checkbox allows you to choose whether the following email will be sent as a reply to the previous automatic email sent (in the same conversation) or as a new email (a new conversation in the inbox).

 

Save your draft

Once you've built the steps, you can save a draft of your sequence. It will be inactive until you complete the Rules & notifications, which are discussed later in this article.

 

Composing emails

You can set up manual or automated emails within your sequence. Emails are composed and sent using Emails & Activities. You'll notice that the email composer is structured in the same way. You can compose text, edit text, format it, and include links.

 

Manual emails

When composing a manual email, keep in mind that it can be customized before it's sent. The subject line will appear on the left to help you keep track of the steps within your Sequence.

 

Automatic emails

You can customize the email as much as you want. Because the email will be sent automatically, it can be helpful to use dynamic fields to personalize the email. To insert dynamic fields into your email, use the { } Columns button. If you choose to use dynamic fields, you can pull in data from any column on your board.

Your email drafts will be saved automatically within the Sequence.

 

Create a signature

To create your signature, open your CRM settings from the overhead menu. Select Email signature from the menu on the left. Compose your signature and save:

From here, you can also turn on the setting to automatically include your signature when composing a new email.

Each user on your account can define only one email signature. Signatures can't be shared between users.

Add your email signature

If you don't automatically include signatures in new emails, you can add your signature manually. To add or remove an email signature in the email composer, use the Add signature button:

 

Rules & notifications

Open the Rules & notifications tab to finish setting up your sequence. There are several customization options for configuring your Sequence.

Sequence activation & sequence data

At the top, you will see:

• Sequence activation. When you're done completing the other configuration steps, toggle this on to activate your sequence. You can also use this to deactivate your sequence.

Next, you'll see the Sequence data section. You can make the following designations in this section:

• Send email as. This is where you designate which email address the emails in your sequence will be sent from.

• Board. Choose the board where this Sequence will pull data from. You'll likely want to choose the Contacts or Leads board. 
• Contact information. Choose which columns on your board to use for pulling in the email address and phone number.

 

Time zone and send window

The next section is where you will indicate the Time zone and send window for your automatic emails.

• Time zone. This is the time zone that the following day and time rules will align with.
• Send message on these days. You can choose to skip weekends or any other day of the week. When a day is highlighted in teal, it is selected.
• Send message at this time. You can choose a window of time during which your emails will be sent.

 

Removal rules

In the next section, you will see Removal rules. This is where you designate which conditions must be met in order for a contact or lead to be removed from the Sequence. You can apply as many rules as you want. Toggle the rule on to apply it to your Sequence.

The options are:

• Remove contact if they reply to an email in this sequence
• Remove contact if they open an email in this sequence
• Remove contact if their email bounces
• Remove contact if they clicked a link in an email from this sequence
• Remove contact if an email in this sequence gets an auto-reply (this setting is in Beta)

When you choose any of these options, you will also have the option to select a Status column on the board indicated in Sequence data and change that status to a specific label.

 

Notifications

In the last section, you can choose your Notifications settings. You have the following options:

• Notify me when it's time to make a call / send an email. By default, this option will be toggled on.
• Notify me when a sequence ended due to engagement. This refers back to the rule in the Removal rules section. If you indicate that you'd like someone to be removed if they reply or open an email, you can toggle on this notification rule so that you're notified when this occurs.
• Notification recipient. If you toggle on notifications in this section, this allows you to choose who will be notified. If notifications are toggled on, you must choose a People column from the board designated in the Sequence data section.
  • If someone isn't assigned in the People column, the Sequence creator will receive the notification for that individual contact or lead.
  • If the notifications are toggled off in this section, no People column needs to be selected. 

 

Activate a sequence

When you're done building your sequence and customizing the Rules & notifications, click Save sequence at the top right. You will be redirected to the Sequences manager.

There, you can open a sequence by hovering over the Sequence name and clicking Open:

Click Edit sequence in the top right corner to make changes:

Open the Rules & Notifications tab and toggle the sequence on in the Sequence activation section:

 

Enroll a lead in a sequence

Once the sequence is active, you can manually enroll contacts and leads. You can also set up an automation to automatically enroll incoming leads or newly created contacts.

Manual enrollment

Method #1:

To enroll a lead in a sequence, open your Sequence and then open the Enrollments tab.

Using the button at the bottom of the screen or the button at the top left, click to enroll a lead in your sequence:

Follow the prompts to enroll your lead.

 

Method #2:

You can also enroll a lead or a contact directly from your boards. To do this, go to your board and check the box to the left of the item that represents the lead or the contact that you want to enroll. You can select multiple items. This is called Batch Actions. Check out the "Batch Actions" article to learn more about this.

In the pop-up at the bottom of the screen, select Add to sequence:

Then, you will see a list of sequences available to you. When using manual enrollment, you will see:

• sequences that you own
• sequences that your email address is connected to
• and sequences that are connected to an email address that has been shared with you or with the entire account

Choose a sequence to apply it:

 

Automatic enrollment

To automatically enroll incoming leads and newly created contacts, you can create an automation with the Sequences app. Click Integrations at the top right of your board, and then click more Integrations:

Search "sequence" to quickly locate the app:

Use the "When status changes to something, Enroll item in Sequence" template to automatically enroll leads or contacts in a specific Sequence.

For example, you might use "When status changes to Interested" as the trigger. Every time a lead is marked as "Interested" on your board, they'll be enrolled in your designated sequence.

When choosing a sequence for your automation, you will see:

• sequences that you own
• sequences that your email address is connected to
• and sequences that are connected to an email address that has been shared with the entire account

Complete the automation setup and save to apply it going forward.

 

Sequences and monday automations

There are several dedicated automation templates available to use with Sequences. To access them, open the board Automation center. Search for "sequences" and click on the app icon to view the available templates:

There are several recipes available to choose from. You can automatically enroll or unenroll an item in a Sequence based on a variety of triggers like status changes, when a button is clicked, when an item moves, when an item is created, or when a person is assigned to an item.

More options coming soon

Don't see the automation you need? No problem! We're working diligently to expand our automation offerings for Sequences based on your feedback. To let us know your needs, please fill out this form. We look forward to hearing from you! 

To learn more about monday automations, take a look at our "Get started with monday automations" article.

 

Sequences and monday workflows

Now that you've set up a Sequence, you can use it in monday workflows. monday workflows incorporates automation, integration, delayed starts, and an intuitive interface to help you create the harmony your work needs. You can use drag-and-drop blocks to build a workflow to reach customers in a whole new way and revolutionize the way you work.

Triggers

There are four Sequences blocks available to use as a trigger in monday workflows:

• When sequence run is completed
• When sequence failed or stopped
• When item is enrolled in sequence
• When sequence email opened
• When sequence email link is clicked
• When new reply to sequence email
• When sequence email is auto replied

Actions

There are three Sequences blocks available to use as actions in monday workflows:

• Enroll item to sequence
• Unenroll item from sequence
• Unenroll item from all sequences

Given the right workflow, you can send follow up information to a lead who responds to an email in your sequence, assign a rep based on availability and potential, add the lead to a new pipeline, and begin to realize the potential of your lead!

You can learn more about monday workflows in our "Get started with monday workflows" article.

 

Tracking Sequences

Once a Sequence is active and contacts or leads have been enrolled, you can track the Sequence in four places--

• the Sequences manager
• the Enrollment tab
• the Emails & Activities timeline
• and the Activities board

You also have the option to add an additional method to track sequences by adding the Enrolled sequences column.

You can read more about the column in the Enrolled sequences column section of this article. The other options will be covered in this section. Read on to learn more.

 

Sequences manager & analytics

Here users can see key stats about a sequence's overall performance:

On this tab, you will see the name of the lead on the left, followed by 12 columns. The columns give you the following information for the lead:

• Created by. In this column you can see which member of your team created the sequence.
• Board. This shows you the board connected to the sequence.
• Steps. This shows you the number of steps in the sequence.
• Days. This shows you the number of days that it takes for a full run of the sequence to complete.
• Active enrollment. In this column you can see how many people are currently actively participating in the sequence.
• Total enrollment. This shows you how many people are enrolled in the sequence.
• Open rate. This is the open rate for the sequence.
• Reply rate. This is the reply rate for the sequence.
• Click through rate. This is the click through rate for the sequence.
• Modified. This shows you the date that the sequence was last modified.
• Status. This shows you the current status of the sequence.
• Details. In this column you'll see any relevant details about the status of the run.

By clicking on the three-dot menu at the end of the row, you can view the sequence, duplicate the sequence, end current runs, deactivate the sequence, and delete the sequence.

 

Enrollment tab

You can keep track of the status of each sequence under the Enrollments tab. 

Under Status, you can see if the sequence is running or not, and under Steps you can track exactly which step is happening in real time.

If you want to see enrollments from previous versions of the sequence, you can click Previous versions.

On this tab, you will see the name of the lead on the left, followed by several columns. The columns give you the following information for the lead:

• Name
• Status. If there's an issue with this run of the sequence, you'll see it here.
• Steps. Track exactly which step is happening in real time. If you hover over this section, a tooltip will pop up which details exactly what's happening now in your sequence.
• Details. In this column you'll see any relevant details about the status of the run. 
• Enrolled on. This shows you the date that the lead was enrolled in the sequence.
• Enrolled by. Here you will see the avatar of the team member who added the lead to the sequence.

You can remove a person from the sequence by clicking on the three-dot menu on the right.

 

Emails & Activities timeline

Once a contact is enrolled in a Sequence, their progress can be tracked on the Emails & Activities timeline:

 

Emails & Activities: Activities board

Once Sequences are published and in use, all tasks and activities generated by a Sequence are automatically synced with the Activities board. This allows you to filter and view specific tasks, such as calls that need to be made.

 

Enrolled sequences column

To help you keep track of sequences on your boards, you can use the Enrolled Sequences column. This column can be added to your Contacts board (or any board of your choosing) to visualize which sequences each contact is enrolled in.

To add the column to your board, click the + sign on your board, click More columns, and search for "Enrolled sequences":

The column will update when an item is:

• enrolled in a sequence
• removed from a sequence
• or when all steps of the sequence run are complete

 

Editing Sequences

If you edit an active Sequence, all current runs of the Sequence and all enrollments in the Sequence will be terminated. For this reason, we recommend only editing active Sequences if absolutely necessary to avoid disrupting the customer journey.

 

Best practices

With that in mind, we recommend the following best practices:

• Make sure that all teammates who have edit access to your Sequence are aware of this.
• If you must edit a Sequence, check which steps are in progress and either allow the step to complete or move the contact or lead to a new Sequence before making changes.
  • In this case, you might also consider terminating the runs for the new contacts and letting the contacts who have already begun the Sequence to complete it. After they complete the sequence, edit the sequence.

 

How to edit

To edit a Sequence, open Sequences:

There, you can open a sequence by hovering over the Sequence name and clicking Open:

Click Edit sequence in the top right corner to make changes:

When you're done making changes, click Save sequence in the top right corner.

 

Permissions

Currently, permissions are based on your role in the account. If you are--

• admin, you can access and edit all sequences.
• the sequence creator and owner, you can access and edit your sequences only.
• an account member or viewer, you can view all sequences. You can't edit.

While there are no role-based restriction for viewing sequences, users will only be able to access and view sequences on the board-level if they have access to the board. Otherwise, they can view all sequences via the navigation on the left.

 

Automation actions

Email sequences uses some of your account's allotted automation actions. Each step in a sequence counts as an automation action.

For instance, if a sequence has five (5) steps, it will use five (5) automation actions plus one (1) additional action for completion.