Automated email sequences: how it works and how to set it up

Automated email sequences are a fixed series of emails that each contact moves through at their own pace, starting when they do something and stopping when they reach a goal or reply. The engineering of a sequence, its entry rule, spacing, branches and exit, decides whether it feels attentive or relentless. This article answers how to design that structure well on the levelpartner.ai platform, using a nurture sequence for leads who are not ready yet as the worked case.

The four design decisions

Every sequence comes down to four choices. Make them on paper before you build anything.

Entry. What makes a contact start the sequence. It should be one clear event, such as an opportunity being marked "not now" or a guide being downloaded.

Spacing. How long between emails. Early emails can be closer together; later ones should spread out.

Branches. Whether behaviour changes the path. A contact who clicks a pricing link might move to a sales follow up instead of continuing to nurture.

Exit. What ends it. A reply, a booking, a stage change or simply the last email.

Spacing that matches a buying cycle

Spacing is where most sequences go wrong. Send too often and you get unsubscribes. Send too rarely and the contact forgets who you are.

The right spacing follows how long your buyers take to decide. A mortgage client coming off a fixed rate in six months needs a slow sequence that speeds up near the date. An agency prospect who said "maybe next quarter" needs one email a fortnight for two or three months. A homeowner thinking of selling "in the spring" needs monthly market notes until then.

Before you start

• A clear entry event, such as a pipeline stage called "Nurture" or a tag applied when a prospect says not now.
• The full set of emails written and approved, with a schedule.
• The exit events you want to stop on.
• Each salesperson's mailbox connected if emails should come from them.

How to set it up

1. Open Automation, go to Workflows and click + Create Workflow.
2. Pick Start from scratch.
3. Add the Pipeline Stage Changed trigger set to your Nurture stage.
4. Add the first Send Email action and click Save Action.
5. Add a Wait with a time period of seven days.
6. Repeat the email and wait pair until the sequence is complete.
7. After email two, add If / Else on a link-click email event.
8. On the matching branch, add a follow-up task for the owner.
9. In the Settings tab, tick Stop on Response.
10. Add a Goal Event for a booked appointment, set to End this workflow.
11. Run Test Workflow with a test contact, then publish and save.

Content that earns the next email

Each email in a sequence must give the reader a reason to open the next one. That means each needs something they did not have before: a short insight, a relevant example, an answer to a question people at their stage ask.

Avoid emails that only say "just checking in" or "any update?" Those are for the follow up after a proposal, where a decision is pending. A nurture sequence is for people with no decision pending, so it has to be useful.

What it replaces

It replaces the "let's touch base in three months" note in a salesperson's diary that never gets acted on. It turns every "not now" into a scheduled, consistent series that keeps your firm in mind until the prospect is ready.

The time it takes each week

Little once it runs. Review it monthly: how many contacts entered, how many replied or booked, and at which email most people stopped engaging. If engagement drops sharply at one email, that email needs rewriting.

The mistake most people make

Building a sequence with no exit except the last email. Contacts who reply to email two still receive emails three to six, which reads as if nobody read their reply. Set reply and goal exits before you publish.

When not to use a sequence

Do not use a sequence when there is a date everyone is working towards: that is a campaign. Do not use one for a single confirmation: that is one email. And do not put active clients in a nurture sequence meant for prospects.

For the difference between a sequence and a date-based campaign, read how automated email campaigns run. For copy patterns, see this cold email sequence template, and for the general structure of any sequence, read our overview of the email sequence.

Troubleshooting

Contacts enter the sequence more than once. The entry event can repeat. Set the workflow to allow one entry per contact.

Sequence emails clash with a campaign. Exclude contacts currently in the sequence from campaign smart lists, or pause the sequence for the campaign weeks.

Emails send from the wrong person after an owner change. Set the sender to the contact's current owner, not a fixed user.

Branch never triggers. The link click condition checks a different link from the one in the email. Copy the exact link into the condition.

Frequently asked questions

How many emails should a nurture sequence have?

Enough to cover the time until the prospect is likely to be ready. For most service firms, four to eight emails over two to four months.

Should every sequence end with a sales email?

End with a clear, low-pressure invitation to talk, then move the contact to the newsletter. A hard pitch at the end undoes the trust the sequence built.

Can a contact be in two sequences at once?

Technically yes, but avoid it. Add conditions so a contact in one sequence is excluded from others until it finishes.

Do sequences work by SMS as well?

You can mix SMS steps into a sequence, but keep email as the main channel for nurture. SMS suits time-sensitive reminders better than slow education.

The journey this guide describes