In Sell, you can engage leads (prospects) or contacts by automatically sending them emails at intervals using an email sequence.
A sequence is a series of actions that specify how and when sales reps contact new leads. In other words, it is a series of contact attempts and the spacing of time between them. For example, you might send an introductory email on day one, a follow up email on day three, and an extra promotional email on day five. As soon as a lead or contacts answers one of the emails, or the lead is converted to a contact, the sequence ends and no further emails are sent.
After your Sell admin has set up a sequence in Sell, you can start enrolling leads or contacts into a sequence (see Setting up email and task sequences in Sell).
Before you add a lead or contact to a sequence, ensure that your leads and contacts have their full contact information recorded on their Leads or Contacts page, as this ensures the sequence can proceed using accurate information. You can use Sales Engagement Tools (Reach) to enrich your existing leads.
This article covers the following topics:
- Starting a sequence for a lead or contact
- Bulk starting a sequence for leads or contacts
- Viewing a sequence for a lead or contact
- Viewing sequences and scheduled emails in a leads or contacts smart list
- Identifying emails sent to a lead or contact using a sequence
- Stopping a sequence for a lead or contact
Related articles:
Starting a sequence for a lead or contact
You can select a sequence from the list, and add the current lead or contact to that sequence.
To add a lead or contact to a sequence
- On the sidebar in Sell, click Leads (
) or Contacts (
), and choose a specific lead or contact.
- On the Sequences widget, click Add (+).
If there are no sequences available, this means that your admin has not set up a sequence yet (see Setting up email and task sequences in Sell).
Tip: Sell admins can customize visible widgets and their order in Settings > Customize > Layouts. - Click to select one of the available sequences, or use the search to find the name of the sequence you want.
As you select a sequence, you'll see information about when the first task is created or automated email is due to be sent to the lead or contact.
If a lead or contact with the same email address is already active in this sequence, you'll see a notification, and will not be able to add the lead or contact again.
- Click Next to preview steps in the selected sequence.
- Click Start sequence. The lead or contact is now active in the sequence, and will receive emails or tasks according to that sequence. All emails to the lead or contact will be sent from you (the rep who added the lead to the sequence).
Note: If your lead or contact does not have the information required by the email template merge tags, you'll see it in the email preview. Make sure all of the contact information for the lead or contact is recorded on their Leads or Contacts page. This ensures the sequence proceeds using accurate information. If you don't add this information, your leads and contacts won't get emails from the sequence (see Using merge tags in your email messages).As soon as a lead or contact responds to an email, or a lead is converted to a contact, the sequence ends.
Bulk starting a sequence for leads or contacts
You can start a sequence for multiple leads or contact at once.
To add multiple leads or contact to a sequence at the same time
- On the sidebar, click Leads (
) or Contacts (
).
- Using either the Index or Table views on the Leads or Contacts page, select the checkbox next to the name of the lead or contact. If you want to select all items in a view, select the Select All checkbox at the top of the list.
- When you’ve selected all the leads or contacts you want to add to a sequence, click Sequence.
If there are no sequences available, this means that your admin has not yet set up a sequence (see Setting up email and task sequences in Sell).
- Select one of the available sequences, or use the search to find the name of the sequence you want.
As you select a sequence, you'll see information about when the first task will be created or automated email is due to be sent to the lead or contact.
- Click Start sequence. The selected leads or contacts are now active in the sequence, and will receive emails or have tasks created according to that sequence. All emails to the lead or contact will be sent from you (the rep who added the lead or contact to the email sequence).
Note: If your lead or contact does not have information required by the email template merge tags, you'll see it in the email preview. Make sure that your leads and contacts have full contact information recorded on their Leads or Contacts page, as this ensures the sequence can proceed using accurate information. If you don't add this information, your lead or contact won't get any emails from the sequence (see Using merge tags in your email sequences).
As soon as a lead or contact responds to an email, or a lead is converted to a contact, the sequence ends.
Viewing a sequence for a lead or contact
You can view the sequences for each lead or contact from the Sequences widget. This allows you to understand if a lead or contact is, or was, enrolled in a sequence, and the sequence progress for an active sequence.
To view a sequence for a lead or contact
- On the sidebar, click Leads (
) or Contacts (
), and choose a specific lead or contact.
- On the Sequences widget, click Add (+).
You'll see a summary of the number of active, blocked, and completed sequences for that lead or contact, and a list of all the sequences.
If there are more than five sequences available, you can scroll to see more sequences.
Each sequence provides the following information:- The sequence name.
- The sequence state (active, blocked, or completed).
- If the sequence is active: it will show the step that was last completed for the lead or contact, and when the next scheduled email will be sent.
- If the sequence is blocked: it shows the number of steps, and the reason the sequence is blocked. A sequence might be blocked if the email couldn't be delivered, because your email quota has been reached, or because there is a problem with your email settings.
- If the sequence is completed: it shows the date the sequence was completed for that lead or contact, and the number of steps that were completed
For active and blocked sequences, you can view which emails and tasks are still scheduled for the future by clicking on the sequence name in the widget.
In the sequence preview, you can retry steps that could not be completed.
Viewing sequences and scheduled emails in a leads or contacts smart list
You can view the sequences for multiple leads or contacts.
- In the Leads or Contacts smart list, refer to the Ongoing Sequences and Completed Sequences columns.
This shows you the leads or contact that are, or were, enrolled in a sequence, as well as the leads or contacts that have not been added to any sequence.
- (Alternatively) You can use the Next Email column to view the next scheduled email for any lead or contact in your Leads or Contacts smart list (see Creating and using smart lists).
Identifying emails sent to a lead or contact using a sequence
When an email is sent to a lead or contact using a sequence, you can see this correspondence type in the activity feed of the lead or contact.
To view an email sent using a sequence
- On the sidebar, click Leads (
) or Contacts (
), and choose a specific lead.
- Go the Activity feed section.
Any emails sent using a sequence are identified with a Sequence icon (
).
- Click the email to see the content of the email that was sent to the lead or contact.
Stopping a sequence for a lead or contact
All sequences are automatically stopped for a lead or contact if any of the following events occur:
- The lead or contact emails you in response to an email sent by the sequence
- The lead is converted to a contact in Sell
- The lead or contact is deleted in Sell
To stop a sequence for a lead or contact
- On the sidebar, click Leads (
) or Contacts (
), and choose a specific lead or contact.
- On the Sequences widget, hover over the sequence that you want to stop. If there are more than five sequences available, you can scroll to see more sequences.
- Click X to stop the sequence.
The sequence is stopped immediately, and the lead or contact will not receive any scheduled or future emails from the email sequence, and any subsequent tasks in the sequence will not be created.
15 comments
Zak Wilkowski
Hi, is it possible to send an automated email when a Lead is converted to a Contact?
0
Katie Dougherty
Hi @...,
Currently, it is not possible to send automated emails from within Sell. That being said, please feel free to post this feedback in the Zendesk Sell Community Feedback section!
A common workflow is to create a smart list of newly converted Leads in the Contact section of your account. You can use the field "added on" and "status" to filter for new contacts added on a specific date. Send a bulk email to these individuals who were recently converted.
For more information on automated options, see the articles: Using Mailchimp in Sell and Using Zapier with Sell.
0
Brendan Lane
Hi, as far as I can tell there is no ability to cc someone on a sequence. Is that correct?
I see that I can do this on one-off emails and on templates, but not when using those same templates in an email sequence.
Is there a workaround? My specific use-case is that I want to cc the same person every time a sequence is used. Heck, I'll even cc the same person on all outgoing emails if there is a way to do that.
Please help.
0
Katie Dougherty
Hi @...,
You are correct that you cannot CC someone on an email sequence in Sell. You are also correct that you can CC someone in one-off emails to your leads and contacts.
However, you cannot add someone as a CC to saved email templates or in a bulk email. Would you mind expanding on your process and who would be added to every outgoing email? Would an option be to add that specific person on your account as a collaborator on all these records so they can get regular updates?
I am not aware of a workaround from within the product, but you can explore other email integration options via Zapier and our Apps Marketplace.
Lastly, I would encourage you to post this feedback in our Sell Feedback section in the Community where our Product Managers can review your suggestion and others can upvote your post!
0
Jakub Konik
Hi @... and @.... Just wanted to let you know that it's now possible to add contacts to sequences : )
0
Ryo Ogochi
@... great to hear. I don't see a sequence widget in contacts though so can't enroll any contacts into sequence. I checked the Layout settings page as well but dont see the Sequence widget.
0
Ryo Ogochi
Jakub Konik what happens to sequences when the lead owner is changed mid-sequence?
0
Dion
The lead owner should not matter. The sequence will continue to be sent from whoever added the lead to the sequence.
Regards,
Dion
0
Jena Keuler
0
Jakub Konik
Hi Jena Keuler, this is per active recipients at any given time, pooled across all the users on your account. Example:
If you have 10 users, then you have a total of 500 recipients available (10 users x 50 recipients) and any given user can use this limit. So one user could add 100 recipients to a sequence, another 200 and another 200.
Once you have 500 recipients added to sequences you can't add more unless some of them complete their sequences or are manually taken out of a sequence by your users.
0
John Boyes
Is it possible to send an automated email to a Lead when it is created?
0
Jupete Manitas
You will see more about them here:
Setting up notifications in Sell
Can I send an automated email in Zendesk Sell?
However, you can post this as product feedback for Sell. You can submit one here: Feedback - Sales CRM (Sell)
Thank you!
0
Clayton Mackintosh
Hey Jupete Manitas,
Is it possible to send an automatic email for new leads using Zaiper?
0
Jupete Manitas
Hi Clayton, that could be possible by 3rd party integrations and you have to reach out to Zapier. Thank you!
0
Pertti Lounamaa
Can I remove several leads in bulk from an ongoing sequence campaign?
0