Sequences: a first email and up to nine follow-ups

What a sequence is

Every campaign in Vecta can be a sequence: a first email, then up to nine follow-ups, each sent a few days after the one before, and only to people who haven't replied. The moment someone replies, they leave the sequence.

Working days

Each follow-up can wait days or working days (Monday to Friday). Working days are counted in the campaign's time zone (the one under Hours and rules, or your workspace's). A 2-working-day wait from a Friday lands on Tuesday, not Sunday.

A second version of an email

Open a follow-up (on the campaign's Editor tab press Edit, or in the new-campaign wizard) and press Try a second version and pick another template, another subject, or both. Half the people get version A, half get version B. Each person always gets the same version, so the test is fair. The campaign's Editor and Results tabs show sent, opened, clicked and replied for each version, so you can see which wording works.

Adding people later

• Automatically: tick Add people who join the list later. Anyone added to the list after the campaign starts gets the first email within about 15 minutes, then the follow-ups on their own clock.
• By hand: on the campaign's People tab, choose a list and press Add newcomers. Only people who haven't had this campaign's first email are added.
• Nobody ever gets a campaign's first email twice, however often you add the same list.
• Repeating campaigns can't add newcomers: they already send to the whole list each time.

Where each person stands

The campaign's People tab lists everyone in it with their state: Email 3 due (and when), Waiting to go, Replied, Bounced, Unsubscribed, Finished, Paused by you or Taken out by you. Search by email, or filter to see only who replied or who is waiting.

• Pause one person: their next email waits, and nothing else changes for anyone else. When you Resume them, their next email is due from that moment (it isn't skipped for being late).
• Take out one person: everything still waiting for them in this campaign is cancelled, and they are never added to it again. They stay in your contacts and other campaigns.

When someone leaves the sequence

• They reply to any email in it. Out-of-office auto-replies don't count: the next email just waits a few days. See out-of-office replies.
• They unsubscribe, bounce, are on your do-not-email list, or Atlas marks them Do not email.
• You pause or take them out.
• With Stop if they reply to any of your campaigns on, a real reply to another campaign in the last 30 days also stops this one.
• Their next follow-up would be more than a week late (for example, the mailbox was down for ten days). It is skipped rather than sent out of the blue.

If something doesn't happen

• A follow-up didn't go: check the person on the People list. "Paused", "Replied" or "Finished (too late)" explain it. If they show Email N due, it is simply not time yet, or the campaign is outside its sending hours.
• Follow-ups are all held: reply tracking (IMAP) on the mailbox is failing or hasn't run for an hour, so Vecta can't tell who replied and waits. Fix the IMAP details on the Mailboxes page.
• Newcomers didn't start: the campaign must be active (not paused, not a repeating one) and the person must not be blocked or skipped by your sending rules. Their skip reason shows on the run page.
• Version B never went out: a step's versions split people half and half as they become due, so on a small list one version can be ahead for a while.