Sequences

A sequence sends scheduled email steps to enrolled contacts. It is separate from one-to-one Gmail messages and from workflow execution. Prepare the sending setup before enrolling people, then use the recipient journey to check what actually happened.

Prepare domain and sender#

An owner or admin sets up the domain in Settings → Sending domain; Sending domain covers adding it, publishing its SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records, and choosing the default and Send as address. The sending domain must be both Verified and the workspace default; a pending domain is not enough.

Connect the intended sender’s Google mailbox under Email and calendar accounts, then choose that member in Replies go to on the sequence’s Settings tab. Sequence mail leaves from your workspace domain, while replies go to the connected mailbox. It never falls back to Ariyel’s sending address or an unconnected profile email. The list only offers members with a connected mailbox, and stays unavailable until the workspace has a verified default domain.

Write and publish the sequence#

1. Open Sequences, choose New sequence, name it (up to 120 characters, with an optional description of up to 400), and open it from the list.
2. Add email steps with subjects, bodies, and delays. Use supported email variables rather than internal record mentions.
3. In the panel beside the steps, review the Sending window, timezone, Business days only, email options, and Exit criteria. Choose the sender in Replies go to on the Settings tab.
4. Have an owner or admin publish the sequence, then turn on Enable sequence when ready to send.

Publishing requires at least one step and a verified default domain. If subjects, bodies, or the unsubscribe phrase contain internal record mentions, publishing is refused with Replace internal mentions in subjects, bodies, and the unsubscribe phrase with plain text or email variables, then publish again. Any sequence already live with internal mentions is held at send time. Day delays are calendar-day delays adjusted into the allowed sending window, not a promise of that many business days.

New sequences start with sending switched off, and publishing never switches it on; Enable sequence stays unavailable until the first publish, and any member can use it after that. Members can build and edit a sequence, but only an owner or admin can choose Publish sequence or, after later edits to the steps or the delivery, email, or exit settings, Publish changes. In the Sequences list view, Status reads Draft until the first publish, then Live or Paused depending on the switch.

A new sequence sends between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM on weekdays in your browser’s timezone until you change it. Its unsubscribe link reads “Stop hearing from me”, and Thread emails and Include sender signature are on.

The Sequences list has search (by name or description), a sort menu (Newest first, Oldest first, Name A–Z), and grid or list layouts; sort and layout are remembered in this browser. From a sequence’s actions menu in the list, Edit changes its name and description. Duplicate copies the steps and settings into a new draft ending in “(copy)”, without recipients, attachments, or publish history. Delete removes the sequence with its recipients and their journeys for everyone and cannot be undone.

Write the emails#

Each step is an Automated email. Choose Add step to sequence to add one, and drag a step’s handle to reorder. To remove one, open the step’s actions menu and choose Delete step; it can’t be undone. The first step can Start immediately after enrollment or wait; each later step waits the hours or days you set after the previous email is sent. A subject can be up to 200 characters and a body up to 20,000.

• Variables. In a subject or body, type { (or, in a body, choose Use a variable) to insert First name, Last name, Name, Email, Company, Deal name, or a custom contact or deal field. Lookup fields are not offered. Select and multi-select fields fill in their option labels, and a Person field the member’s name. Values fill in when each email sends; an empty first name or name reads “there”, and deal values come from the contact’s most recently updated deal.
• Images and files. Add image places a PNG, JPEG, GIF, or WebP image of up to 5 MB in the body. Add file attaches files, up to 10 MB in total per step, of the same types as contact Files (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, text, CSV, images, and ZIP).
• Thread emails. Later steps are sent as replies in the first email’s thread and reuse its subject, so their subject can’t be edited.
• Include sender signature. Adds the signature the Replies go to member saved under Settings → Email and calendar accounts. Only that member sees it previewed in the editor. If that signature contains an internal mention, every email is held as Replace internal mentions until the sender replaces it with plain text; the editor tells the sender Replace internal mentions in your signature with plain text in Settings → Email before sending. Publishing doesn’t check the signature. The Ariyel watermark is never added to sequence email.
• Unsubscribe link. Every email ends with one; this setting only chooses its wording.

Choose when recipients exit#

Under Exit criteria, Unsubscribed and Email bounced always apply. Use the add button beside the heading for more:

• Reply received exits someone who replied to a sequence email. New sequences don’t include it until you add it. The reply has to reach a Google mailbox connected to Ariyel—normally the Replies go to mailbox—and is checked just before the next email is due, so the recipient can still look active until then. Only a message from the enrolled contact’s own address counts: your own follow-up or a colleague on Cc does not. Out-of-office auto-replies are not filtered out, so they also count as a reply.
• When a record matches these conditions exits someone when your conditions match. After adding it, pick Contact or Deal in its object menu (Choose an object), then add conditions; the row then reads When a contact matches these conditions or When a deal matches these conditions. Removing a criterion that has conditions asks Remove this criterion? With Contact chosen, it judges the enrolled person’s fields. With Deal chosen, it exits as soon as any one linked deal matches all the conditions—checked just before each email. Because one deal is enough, a condition like “Stage is not Closed lost” exits the contact if any other linked deal is in another stage. With no linked deal, the contact is judged as one empty deal, so “Stage is not Closed lost” exits and “Stage is Closed won” does not. Deal template variables in emails continue to use the contact’s most recently updated deal.

Enroll and follow contacts#

Open Recipients and choose Enroll recipients. Select an existing contact; someone already active in this sequence is excluded. Enrollment needs a published version and sender, and suppression or blocklist rules can prevent it. A visible contact is not a guarantee that mail can be sent.

• Publish this sequence first. The sequence has no published version yet.
• This sequence has no sender. No member is chosen in Replies go to.
• That address is suppressed and cannot be enrolled. The address has any suppression, including a past unsubscribe, bounce, or complaint, so an unsubscribed contact can’t be enrolled again until an owner or admin removes the suppression.
• That address is on the blocklist and cannot be enrolled.
• That sender is not in this workspace. The member chosen in Replies go to has been removed from the workspace; choose another sender on the Settings tab.
• Enrollment could not be confirmed. Refresh recipients before trying again. (or Exit could not be confirmed…) The answer was lost on the way back; refresh Recipients to see whether it went through before trying again.

Search by name, email, or company; each choice enrolls one contact. People who finished or exited can be enrolled again, starting from the first step of the latest published version. You can enroll while Enable sequence is off; emails that come due wait, then go out soon after it is switched on without waiting for the sending window. Workflows can also enroll and exit contacts with the Enroll in sequence and Exit from sequence actions—see Workflows.

Select a recipient to inspect confirmed sends, future steps, hold or exit reasons, and the version they follow. Use Exit to stop an active recipient. Insights summarize active, finished, and exited enrollments.

Projected dates follow the sending window; actual sends can be later. Exit takes effect straight away and shows as Removed by hand. Filter narrows the list by status, exit reason, hold reason, sender, who enrolled them, or recipient. The count on the Recipients tab includes finished and exited enrollments.

When a recipient unsubscribes#

Sequence emails include an unsubscribe link. Opening the link does not change anything by itself—the recipient confirms on the page, or their email app can send a one-click opt-out. After a confirmed unsubscribe, that address is suppressed for marketing in your workspace, their active enrollments in your sequences exit with an unsubscribed reason, and further sequence sends to them are blocked.

Account and work notifications are not marketing and keep following each person’s notification settings.

Bounces, spam complaints, and unsubscribes are listed in Settings → Sending domain → Suppressions (see Suppressed addresses). A hard bounce or spam complaint stops all mail from your workspace to that address; an unsubscribe stops marketing only. Owners and admins can remove an entry to make the address mailable again.

Understand changes and holds#

Each enrollment keeps the published steps and settings it started with. Publishing edits affects new enrollments, not existing journeys. Switching the sequence off blocks further sends; a message already handed to the mail provider can still complete.

The sender in Replies go to is also saved with each enrollment, so changing it affects only people enrolled afterwards. Sequence mail also pauses while your workspace is suspended.

A hold means an active recipient cannot currently send—for example, because the domain or sender mailbox is unavailable. Check the displayed reason rather than assuming Active means delivering. Some holds do not automatically recover; do not repeatedly enroll or promise a resend without checking the journey.

• Needs a sending domain and Sender has no mailbox clear once a verified default domain exists or the sender reconnects Google. Recipients who already received an email continue at the next sending window; anyone who never received one exits as Never sent rather than getting a late first email.
• No email address, Missing attachment, Exit filter is broken, Version missing, Lookup fields are unavailable in sequences, Replace internal mentions, Sending failed, and Delivery needs review stay held. Fix the cause, Exit the recipient, and enroll them again if they should restart from step 1. Sending failed or Delivery needs review appears after the same email fails three times in a row (a send the mail provider rejects outright is held as Sending failed straight away; if the provider refuses the sending domain or is rate-limiting, the email is retried later and the recipient is not held); Delivery needs review means at least one try reached the provider, so the email may already have been sent.

Removing a member from the workspace exits the active enrollments they were sending, as Sender removed. Other exit reasons are Replied, Matched exit criteria, Unsubscribed, Suppressed, and Removed by hand. An active recipient whose address is suppressed for all mail, or is on the blocklist, when their next email comes due exits as Suppressed; a marketing-only suppression exits them as Unsubscribed. Ariyel doesn’t email anyone about holds or exits; check Recipients.