Introduction

Email Sequences is an outbound sales campaign tool that enables you to send a predefined sequence of emails to a prospect. These emails are triggered automatically, based on the previous email interactions with a prospect.

Follow-up emails are triggered in an automated sequence based on the rules you create. You can easily nurture contacts using these emails.

Feature Availability 
This feature is available in One Professional and One Enterprise editions of Vtiger CRM

Creating an Email Sequence

Accessing Email Sequences

Follow these steps to go to the Email Sequences module:

1. Log in to your CRM account.
2. Click the Main Menu.
3. Go to Sales.
4. Select Email Sequences.

The List View of Email Sequences is displayed. 

Here, click the +New Sequence button to start creating an email sequence.

You must first provide a name to the email sequence in the Sequence Name field. Next, you must go through these three phases of creating an email sequence:

1. Configure Stages

   Adding Stages to the sequence is the primary feature in an Email Sequence. You can do this by clicking the +Add another stage button.
    

   Note: Every sequence contains a minimum of one stage and a maximum of five stages.

   
   Every stage will contain the following:
   1. Subject - You can provide a subject that describes what the email contains.
   2. Insert Links - You can attach appointment links, survey links, or document links by clicking the Insert Links drop-down.
   3. Select Email Template - You can select an existing template and embed it into your sequence by clicking on Select Email Template. 
   4. Body - The field in which the actual content is written.
   5. Schedule - You can send email sequences at the time of creation or schedule it for later. This can be done by clicking the Schedule drop-down. You can select any of these timings:
      1. Now
      2. Later Today 9AM
      3. Tomorrow 9AM
      4. 2 days later 9AM
      5. 3 days later 9AM
   6. Preview - By clicking on Preview, you can view the email as a recipient and check if it is delivered properly to the contacts.
   7. Send test mail - You can send a test mail to yourself by clicking on Send test mail to check if the email template is rendered correctly.
   8. Stage conditions - Stage 1 in an email sequence is mandatory and executed without any conditions. In contrast, Stage 2 to Stage 5 in the sequence will be triggered based on the previous mail status.
      1. Setting up the conditions: If the previous stage email is/is not, replied/opened in number of hours/days/weeks
      2. Setting up the actions: Then Send Email/Create task

2. Adding the Recipients

   You can add up to 150 recipients in each sequence. You can search your contacts and add them as recipients.

3. Other Settings

Other Settings is the page where you can view the people associated with the sequence.

Other Settings has two fields:

• Assigned to - This is a mandatory field that displays the user to whom the sequence is assigned to. The default value of this field is the creator of the sequence.
• Shared Users - This is an optional field that will be empty by default. You can add other users, roles, and groups and share with them.

Once you fill in all the necessary information, you can do the following:

• Click on Save and save the email sequence as a draft, or
• Click on Confirm and Activate to start the email sequence at the scheduled time.

Emails Sent using Email Sequence

• Emails will be assigned to the email sequence owner.
• When you create an email sequence and assign it to a user, the emails sent will be assigned to the user who triggers the sequence. Previously, emails were assigned to the account owner.
• For Example, you create an email sequence and assign it to a CRM user. The emails sent will be listed under that user's name in the contact record when triggered.

List View in Email Sequences

List View is the screen that is visible when you click on the Email Sequences module. This view sorts and lists all email sequences based on the last modified Email Sequence. 

• Columns in List View

  The columns that are visible by default in the List View are:
  • Name - Displays the name of the sequence.
  • Status - Displays 
    • Active - The sequence is running, and the recipients will receive the emails.
    • Inactive - The sequence is stopped temporarily. It also displays the time at which the record was created.
  • Assigned to - Displays the user who created the sequence.
  • Shared Users - Displays the users with whom the email sequence is shared.
  • No of Stages - Displays the number of stages that a particular sequence is made of.
  • Total Enrolled - Displays the number of recipients to whom the email sequence is sent.

• List View actions

  You can perform many quick actions such as Edit, Delete, Add Tags and Start or Stop Sequence, etc., on the email sequences in the List View.
  To learn more about List View actions in Vtiger CRM, click here.
   

  Did you know? You can create lists to sort and store the records displayed in your List View and save them for future reference. This feature enables you to create different lists for multiple purposes.  To know more about creating a list, click here.

  
  Searching for Email Sequences
  The search bar in the List View is a unique feature on its own. It is one of a kind because it filters, searches, and delivers the result brilliantly.
  The search bar helps you search for a record as well as filter the rest of the records using field names that you specify. This feature comes in very handy if you have a large number of records in the CRM.
  To know more about the search bar in List View, click here.

Summary View of an Email Sequence

Summary View is the view that appears when you click a particular record from the List View. The Summary View displays the key information of a record.

The Summary View of an Email Sequence is unique and different from other modules. In Email Sequences, the Summary View can be divided into five sections. Each section has a particular functionality.

• Summary View actions

  • Tags - You can add tags to the record to identify the record quickly.
  • Open in new tab - You can open the email sequence on a new tab in your browser.
  • Link - You can copy the URL of the record directly.

• Sequence metrics

  Sequence performance can be tracked via the sequence’s Summary View so that the sales team can nurture the prospect further. 
  Sequence initiator can track the following metrics:
  • Scheduled - Displays the number of emails that are scheduled in the sequence.
  • Queued - Displays the number of emails that are ready to be sent to the recipient.
  • Sent - Displays the number of emails sent to the recipients.
  • Replies - Displays the number of replies by the recipients.
  • Opens - Displays the number of emails that are opened by the recipients.
  • Clicks - Displays the number of clicks done on the email by the recipients.

• Other icons

  If your sequence is in Active status, then you can see these two icons on the top right of the record:
  • Stop Sequence - Stop Sequence will stop an active sequence, and emails will not be sent out to the recipients. The sequence’s status will change to Inactive. 

• Clicking the Stop icon in the List View
• Clicking the Stop Sequence button in the Summary View

• More

  You can do the following from the More icon:
  • Duplicate - You can duplicate the current email sequence and have all the details reflected in a new email sequence.
  • Delete - You can altogether remove the sequence and will not store any previously executed sequence data. You can delete an email sequence by any of these two methods: 
    • Click the Delete icon in the List View.
    • Click the More icon in the Summary View and click the Delete icon.

• Widgets

  • Recipients - It is the list of contacts to whom the email sequence is targeted. The metrics used to track the recipient status are:
    • Enrolled - Displays the number of recipients who are registered for the sequence. 
    • Completed - Displays the number of recipients to whom the sequence is sent successfully.
    • Stopped - Displays the number of recipients to whom the sequence will not be sent anymore.
  • Emails - You can see the emails delivered and the recipients, stage-wise. 
  • Stage Details - You can see the status of each stage’s email, recipient-wise. You can also apply Filters and change the view.
  • Details - Displays all the details related to the email sequence.