About HubSpot Sequences
The HubSpot Sequences tool enhances productivity by automating routine tasks, such as sending follow-up emails, creating tasks, and running A/B tests. You can streamline your outreach efforts by leveraging sequences and focusing on meaningful interactions.
🥇 Best Practices
Plan Before You Build and Include a Clear Exit Strategy
Define Goals: Know the objective of your sequence (e.g., lead nurturing, follow-up, sales outreach).
Segment Your Contacts: Group contacts by behavior, demographics, or stage in the buyer’s journey to ensure relevant messaging.
Use Pause Until Task is Completed for manual tasks to ensure the sequence doesn’t continue until critical actions are completed.
Avoid unnecessary steps by removing contacts who no longer require outreach.
Respect Daily Email Limits
Test Before Launch
Optimize Timing
Set Appropriate Delays: Space out sequence steps to avoid overwhelming contacts. For example, follow-up emails are sent every 2–3 business days.
Business Hours: Use automated email send windows to deliver emails when contacts are most likely to engage.
Monitor Engagement and Adjust
Use Metrics: Track open rates, clicks, replies, and meetings booked to identify underperforming steps.
A/B Testing: Test different subject lines, email content, or CTAs to optimize performance.
Iterate Regularly: Update templates based on data insights
Review Sequence Analytics
📄 Step-by-Step Instructions for Creating and Managing Sequences
How to Enroll Contacts in a Sequence
Option 1: From the Prospecting Workspace
From the main navigation, go to Workspaces > Prospecting.
In the Prospecting Workspace, click on the Leads tab to view your lead list.
Select the leads you want to contact.
Instead of creating individual tasks, click Enroll in sequence to add them to an automated sequence.
Option 2: From the Contacts Index Page
Navigate to CRM > Contacts in the main navigation.
Select specific contacts or the entire contact list.
Click Enroll in sequence to add them to an automation.
Choose the desired sequence.
The next page will display contacts on the left and the steps in the sequence on the right.
To customize the sequence for individual contacts, select their name and edit the email or task in the pane that appears on the right.
How to Create a Sequence
Navigate to Sequences. In your HubSpot account, go to Automation> Sequences. In the top right, click Create Sequence.
Choose a Template:
In the left panel, select Start from scratch or a pre-made sequence template.
Click Create sequence in the top right.
Name Your Sequence:
Add Steps to Your Sequence: Click the sequence editor's + (plus) icon.
After adding steps to your sequence, you can edit the sequence settings, including the follow-up email send times and default task creation times (see below).
How to Edit Sequences and Sequence Settings in HubSpot
How to Edit Sequence Settings in HubSpot
Once you've added steps to your sequence, you can configure various settings to control email timing, task creation, and other options. These settings apply only to the steps following the first in your sequence.
Access Sequence Settings:
Adjust Email Timing:
By default, emails are only sent on business days. To include weekends, toggle off the Execute steps on business days only switch.
Use the Automated email send window to set a time range for sending emails. HubSpot will optimize send times based on previous email opens and the contact's time zone.
Configure Task Reminders:
Tasks are created at the start of your account's calendar day, based on the time zone used during contact enrollment.
To receive email reminders for tasks:
Toggle on the Email reminders switch.
Use the time picker to set when you want to receive the reminder.
Note: Tasks are due at 5 PM on the same day in the contact’s time zone.
Associate with a Campaign (if applicable):
If you have a Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise subscription, link the sequence to a marketing campaign:
Contacts enrolled in the sequence will be marked as influenced contacts for the campaign.
Save Changes:
Editing Sequences
You can update email templates, adjust tasks, and modify settings for existing sequences.
Reorder Steps:
Edit Templates and Tasks:
Automated Emails: Click Actions > Edit email to adjust the email content.
Manual Emails: Click Actions > Edit task to update email templates.
Other Tasks: Click Actions > Edit task to adjust task details.
Remove Steps:
Save Changes:
To update the current sequence, click Save existing.
To create a new sequence with changes, click Make copy, name the sequence, and save.
How to Edit Sequence Enrollment Automation in HubSpot
HubSpot allows you to customize enrollment and unenrollment triggers for sequences, ensuring that contacts move through your workflow efficiently. By default, contacts are automatically unenrolled when they reply to an email in the sequence or book a meeting on any scheduling page. These triggers cannot be disabled.
Editing Default Enrollment and Unenrollment Triggers
Access Automation Settings:
Enable Additional Unenrollment Options:
Save Changes:
Creating Embedded Workflows for Automatic Enrollment or Unenrollment
You can set up workflows to automatically enroll or unenroll contacts based on specific triggers, such as form submissions or page views.
Create an Automation:
Trigger Based on Form Submission:
Trigger Based on Page Views:
Configure Workflow Actions:
Save and Activate the Workflow:
Click Create at the bottom left.
In the dialog box, choose Turn on to activate the workflow or Save as draft to finalize it later.
Manage Embedded Workflows:
To edit, delete, or adjust triggers, go to the Automation tab in the sequence editor and hover over the workflow. The Actions dropdown menu provides options.
How to Create and Manage Task Queues
To create, edit, or delete task queues:
In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Tasks.
In the top right, click the Manage queues.
To create a queue, click Create task queue in the right panel.
To edit a queue, select to edit the queue's name and the users that have access to the queue. To remove an invited user, click X next to their names in the dropdown menu. Click Save to confirm your changes
To delete a queue, click Delete in the dialog box to confirm. The tasks in the queue will not be deleted.
Running A/B Tests in Sequences
HubSpot's Sequences tool allows you to automate A/B testing of emails to determine which versions resonate best with your audience. You can enhance engagement and improve conversion rates by experimenting with different email elements such as:
Subject Lines: Craft compelling subject lines to entice recipients to open the email.
Email Copy and Messaging: Experiment with different wording and tone to maximize reader engagement.
Personalization Tokens: Tailor the email content using personalization tokens for a more relevant experience.
CTA Placement: Test the placement and wording of call-to-action buttons.
Accessing A/B Testing:
Go to Automations > Sequences and select the sequence you want to test. Click on the Steps tab to view the sequence steps and their performance metrics.
Edit or Create a Sequence:
Hover over the desired sequence and click Edit, or click Create Sequence to build a new one.
Add an A/B Test:
Within any manual or automated email step, click + Add A/B test.
In the right panel, select your alternate (B) email. You can search existing templates or click Create template to craft a new one.
Toggle the Version B switch on.
Once your A/B test steps are set, choose Save existing sequence or Save as a new sequence to start running the test. This will help refine your outreach strategy based on performance.
Analyzing A/B Test Results:
Monitor the performance of each email version within the sequence builder.
The Step Performance table on the sequence's Performance tab provides detailed metrics on sends, opens, clicks, replies, and meetings booked for each version.
Ending an A/B Test:
Once you've identified the better-performing version, navigate back to the sequence editor.
Toggle off the underperforming version.
Save your changes to finalize the sequence with the preferred email version.
By leveraging A/B testing within HubSpot Sequences, you can systematically optimize your email outreach, leading to more effective communication and higher engagement rates.