How to create a new sequence
Overview
Front allows you to mail merge and send automated sequences to a list of email addresses. Read Understanding sequences to learn more about how they work and how to use the feature.
Instructions
Step 1
Click the three dots at the top of Front, and select Sequences.
Step 2
Decide whether you want to create an Individual or Team sequence. Front will select Team by default. You can switch it to Individual in the left panel.
Step 3
Select New Sequence.
Step 4
Give it a name, choose the From inbox (email inboxes only), add a CC or BCC if desired, provide a Sender name, and click Create.
Note: You can only add one CC address and one BCC address to each sequence.
Step 5
Click Upload .csv file to import contacts or manually enter email addresses (enter/return will add another line). The first column must be email. Check out Understanding sequences for more information about the CSV file.
Step 6
Click Next: Stage 1 to start building your sequence.
Step 7
Choose a date and time to send Stage 1, and draft your email. The top line will be the subject. Below is the body. To automatically insert names and other information from the fields in your CSV file (like a mail merge), type {{ to trigger a variable dropdown (check out Understanding sequences for more information about variables in sequences). Important note: To pull from CSV-uploaded contacts, use the variables starting with {{sequence...}} and not {{recipient...}}.
Don’t forget to add a signature, because your signatures saved in Front are not yet supported in sequences.
If the time you select passes by the time Stage 1 is sent, then it will be sent immediately.
Step 8
To test this email, click Send a test email. To add another stage to this sequence, click Add stage. If you only want this sequence to consist of Stage 1, click Start sequence to send. You will need to confirm one more time before sending.
Step 9
For this example, let’s add another stage. Click Add stage, and choose when you want Stage 2 to send. Then, draft Stage 2 of the sequence.
Step 10
Click Start sequence, and double confirm by clicking Start sequence again.
Stage 11
Once it’s sent, you will start to see which recipients have opened which stage, and if and at what stage they replied.
At this point, you can also edit a sequence by adding recipients or editing the existing stage. To do that, go into the sequence, and select Add recipients or click a stage to Edit Stage. You cannot add another stage after the sequence has been started.
FAQs
How do I delete a stage in a sequence that has already been started?
You cannot delete a stage in a sequence on that sequence has started; you will need to stop the sequence and recreate the sequence without the stage.
How do I remove recipients from a sequence in progress?
Step 1
Once the sequence has begun, click the Edit recipients button.
Step 2
Check the box next to the name of the recipient you'd like to remove from the sequence.
Step 3
Click the Stop sequence for 1 recipient button that appears just under the Upload .csv file button as shown below.
Step 4
A Delete recipients window will pop up. Confirm the deletion of this recipient from the sequence.
Step 5
Click the Send to new recipients button to save your changes
Step 6
Another window will appear that confirms you want to send the sequence to 0 new recipients. Click the Add recipients button to confirm.
Step 7
Your sequence should be updated and will no longer show the deleted recipient on the recipients list.
Sending multiple sequences at once
We advise against sending more than one sequence at a time using a single email channel. If you need to send to more than 200 recipients, please start the second sequence after the first has finished, or consider using a dedicated bulk-mailing tool like Hubspot, Mailchimp or Marketo, and handling the responses to your mail in Front.
Can I reuse the same sequence more than once?
Sequences have a sending limit of 200 recipients. As long as you have not hit the limit of 200 recipients on a given sequence, you can continue to add recipients to that sequence. Once you click Send to new recipients, it will process them anew, running them through each stage as though the sequence was just created.
If the sequence has already sent to 200 recipients, you will need to create a new sequence.
Pricing
This feature is available on the Growth plan or above. Some legacy plans with different names may also have this feature.
16 replies
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Wow, this is awesome! 🙌
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This looks great though why are we required to import a CSV file? I'd love to be able to select an existing contact in front and apply a sequence.
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Hi Guys, love this new feature. Agree with Bryan though that it would be great to enroll individual contacts rather than having to create a separate list and have to do it in bulk.
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Hi hello.. can i send a sequence to a group? thanks
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Rafael Zarro Yes, you can! Just type in the contact group.
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Cori Morris Yes.. i got it!! thanks :)
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Cori Morris Last question :) can i send a email and sms in the same time in Sequnce? thanks
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Rafael Zarro Currently it's not possible to send SMS messages via Sequences.
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Cori Morris ok no problem.. any suggestion how i can send a email and sms together? 🙂
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Sequence is great but...
It would be great if the conditions for a stage could be other than 'no reply'. I would be happy if we had these options to play with :
- 'opened' /'not opened'
- 'replied' (and catch potential variables in the reply)
Jerome
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Jerome Chouraqui Thanks for this feedback. I have shared it with our product team.
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I like the option of a sequence, I do have two questions.
1) I thinks that there a lot of possibilities with the csv for adding personalized variables. Is it possible that by adding extra columns you could add specific variables to your sequence. That way the code for the variable will be in the same format as normal variables but for example {{color}} and the csv will be like:
Name, Email, Color
Abel, A@mail.nl, Red
This way you can sent multiple people the same email but really personalize the mails.
2) Is there some way to add a specific appendix to the sequence? (it would be most useful when you could also personalize the appendix)
Thanks,
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Hi !
I see 2 features that could be great to add to the roadmap :
- HTML support (to use our custom layout)
- API support (to automatically add a customer to a sequence)
Thanks !
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Angelo Blot Hey Angelo, thanks for sharing your feedback! We've added a +1 vote for these existing feature requests in our product backlog.
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Hi ! I can't find the save button after removing a contact from a Sequence, any help ?
Thx
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Hi Angelo Blot! After you remove the contact from a sequence, you'll click the Send to new recipients button on the top right, then confirm the popup and click Add recipients. The UI is understandably confusing since you are removing and not adding, but the popup should confirm that you are sending to 0 new recipients since you removed. Hope that helps!