This feature will allow you to set up automated email sequences, personalize emails, track the effectiveness of the sequence and follow up with prospects based on their behavior.

In this guide, we will talk about 

1. Who can access sales sequences
   
2. Limits and Scope
3. Types of sales sequences
4. Overall flow of a sales sequence
5. Execution of a sales sequence
6. Import your audience
7. Create your first sequence
   

   Profile icon > Sales Sequence > Name the Sequence > Define Audience > Choose Sequence > Add Sequence steps > Set Exit conditions

1. Who can access Sales Sequences?

Users with 'View' permissions enabled on their roles can access Sales Sequences. However, to create a sequence, the user should have 'Create' permission enabled for Sales sequence.
 

Recommended: Users should connect their emails to send emails using their custom SMTP for better deliverability. 

2. What are the limits and scope? 

Number of sequence limits - 

Email limits specific to sales sequence emails are given below -

Sales sequences have user scope. This means users will be able to view and edit only their sequences.

3. Type of sales sequence

There are two types of sequence - 

1. Classic Sequence: Classic sequence allows you to automatically run a sequence of actions for a set of audience on specific days. A typical example would be of a prospecting campaign for an outbound sales team wherein the sales agent sends a set of emails and adds follow-ups on specific days till the prospect responds. 
   
   
   
   
   

2. Smart Sequence: Smart sequence allows you to automatically run the most relevant steps at fixed intervals in the sequence based on the behavior of the audience. An example of Smart Sequence would be customer onboarding or retention sequence where the sales agent wants to send an email based on what the audience has done or not. This will send the relevant email at the right time.
   
   
   

4. Overall flow of Sales Sequence

1. Define Audience: Audience is the set of leads, contacts, or accounts who will enter the sequence. You can add filter conditions on the property of leads or contacts to add them as audience. When accounts are added, all related contacts whose primary sales account matches the conditions will be added to the sequence. Additionally, you can also add saved views to the sales sequence.
   
   

2. Choose sequence type: Choose a type between Classic sequence and Smart sequence depending on whether you want to run the sequence based on time or based on behaviour.

   
   

3. Add steps to be executed: Steps are the actions to be performed as part of the sequence. There are 5 types of actions that can be done - Add Email, Add Email reminder, Add Call Reminder, Add Follow up, and Add SMS. These actions will be executed when the conditions of the step match.
   

   
   

4. Define exit criteria: Exit criteria is the set of condition to match for leads, contacts, or accounts to exit the sequence at any point. 
   
   

5. Execution of sales sequence

• A sales sequence will run at specified time/interval at the given time and timezone. The entry conditions will be checked every time the sequence runs to add a new audience. The metrics will be updated at the same time.
  
  
• In classic sequence, if a step condition is not matched and the specific step is not executed, the lead will continue to run in the sequence by skipping the step and executing the next step at the next specified day.
  
  
• If an email template is modified in a step, the sequence will send the modified email the next time it runs. The same applies to modified step conditions or day.
  
  
• All sales sequence are independent. If sequence A is running on a specific lead, sequence B can also run on the same sequence unless specified explicitly. 
  
  

6. Import your sequence audience

You can either filter the leads, contacts, or accounts already present in Freshsales or import your audience list in Freshsales before creating a sequence.  Refer to our solution articles to import leads, contacts, and accounts

Recommended: Create a custom field such as ‘SDR sequence’ or ‘Import Name’ and populate a tag for every import you do. This will help you identify your records easily and add to audience criteria. You can also make use of the sequence default field.

7. Create your first sequence

Usecase - Run a sequence to qualify a lead in outbound sales. A set of emails sent and follow ups are done on specific days till the prospect responds back. 

This is a typical usecase of classic sequence. 

1. To create a new sequence, click the Quick Actions button > Create sales sequence
2. You can also access the sales sequences by clicking on the Profile icon > Sales sequences or CONVERSATIONS > Sales Sequences. This is the list view for all your sequences. Click on the Create Sales sequence button on the right. 
   
   
   
3. Give a name to your sales sequence. This name will be used in the filters to get the list of leads or contacts in a particular sequence. 
   
   
   
4. Next, define your audience. Choose the record (Lead, Contact or Account) on which you want to run the sequence. To add records to campaign, you can choose one of two ways.
   
   - Set filter conditions to detect and add records to a campaign

Enable the option Add leads (or contacts) to the sequence

In the dropdown, choose Add by conditions
You can add filter conditions to select the specific leads, contacts, or accounts for which you want to run the sequence.
You can add up to 8 filter conditions. 

- Choose filtered views to add to the campaign

Enable the option Add leads (or contacts) to the sequence

In the dropdown, you can preselect a list of views on which the campaign must run. 
 
Note: In the absence of entry conditions, the steps will be executed for only those Leads/Contacts/Accounts that are manually added to the sequence.

5. Choose the sequence type. The prospecting emails will go on specific days so it is best to choose Classic sequence. Select the time and timezone when the emails should go to the audience. This timing is used for all steps. 


You can also choose to exclude weekends from the campaign by selecting the checkbox.