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Martin Cogburn
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    Adding Steps to a Sequence

    Note: Sequences and Rules are legacy features and are not enabled by default in new accounts. We strongly recommend you use Campaigns instead of Sequences and Rules. This documentation is provided for legacy clients still using these features.

    About Steps

    Applies to: ONTRAPORT Pro and above.

    Adding a step to your Sequence consists of both scheduling the step and then configuring the settings of that step depending on the type of step you’re adding to your Sequence.

    Scheduling a step means stipulating when a step needs to fire in your Step and Date Sequences. In Step Sequences, steps are scheduled according to when a contact was added to the Sequence whereas in a Date Sequence, steps are scheduled to fire either on a specific date or the date of a specific event. For both Sequence types you’ll need to set the time that each step fires. If you don’t schedule a time for your steps on a Sequence, the steps will fire at 10:00 AM in the account's time zone.

    What is the "account's time zone"? The account's time zone is that set by the Administrator's account. To find it in your account, click your email address at the top right, then select Manage Users and open the Administrator's account to see the time zone.

    Administrator's time zone

    Every type of step has different settings to configure before you save them. An email step requires a stored email to be selected while a rule step requires you to select an outcome to occur for the moment a contact reaches that step on the sequence, and so on. The proper way to configure each type of step is discussed below.

    Types of steps

    There are 6 types of steps you can add to a sequence. They are:

    all steps for a sequence

    • Email
    • Rule
    • SMS
    • Task
    • Fulfillment
    • Postcard

    How to schedule a step

    Step sequence

    1. Click on a type of step to add it and open the step settings.
    2. Find the Schedule Step section. An Email step is shown.

      schedule the step
    3. Select the amount of days after previous step
      1. This setting will determine how many days after the previous step has fired that this step will fire
      2. If this is the first step on this sequence, the day counter here will be based on when the contact was subscribed to the sequence and NOT based on the previous step
    4. Select the delay time/amount you want the step to fire
      1. Here you can select either an exact time or zero delay, a delay based on minute amount, or a delay based on hour amount.
      2. Steps with a delay in minutes or hours are processed at the top or bottom of the hour (:00 and :30). The step will delay at least the number of minutes or hours specified, but may activate up to 29 minutes after the delay is over. For example, if a Contact lands on a step delayed for "15 Minutes" at 3:01 PM, the step will activate at 3:30 PM, 29 minutes later. If the Contact lands on the step at 3:15 PM instead, the step will activate at 3:30 PM, 15 minutes later.
    5. Set which days of the week you’d like this step to fire (optional)

    Date Sequence

    1. Click on a type of step to add it and open the step settings
    2. Find the Schedule Step section.

      schedule a specific date
    3. Select whether you want the step to fire on a specific date or on a specific event
      1. If you select Specific Date click in the blank field and select a date from the calendar
      2. If you select Specific Event
        1. Select an event from the dropdown, based on the date fields in your contact record
        2. Select if you’d like the step to fire on, before, or after the event selected and refine the timing

          select a date relative to a contact field date
    4. Select the time you’d like this step to fire
    5. Check off whether or not you want this step to fire every year (annually)

    How to Configure Step Settings in Step & Date Sequences

    Email step

    1. Add an email step and schedule it
    2. Choose whether or not to split test the email
    3. Select a stored email from the messages collection using the Email name dropdown menu
      1. You can make edits to your stored email using the Edit button
      2. If you have not yet created the email, you can create a new email on the fly by clicking the New Email button
    4. Select an Email from address from the dropdown menu
      1. The options presented here are the email from addresses you’ve set up in your account
    5. Designate a send out name
    6. Designate a reply to email
    7. Minimize the step

    Task step

    1. Add a task step and schedule it
    2. Choose whether or not to split test the task
    3. Select a stored task from the messages collection using the Task name dropdown menu
      1. You can make edits to your stored task using the Edit button
      2. If you have not yet created the task, you can create a new task on the fly by clicking the New Task button
    4. Designate a due date for this task
    5. Select an assignee for this task
    6. If you are adding a task step to a step sequence, check off whether or not you’d like to pause the sequence until this task is completed by the assignee

      pause step until task complete
    7. Minimize the step editor

    Postcard step

    1. Add a postcard step and schedule it
    2. Choose whether or not to split test the postcard
    3. Select a stored postcard from the messages collection using the Postcard name dropdown menu
      1. You can make edits to your stored postcard using the Edit Postcard button
      2. If you have not yet created the postcard, you can create a new one on the fly by clicking the New Postcard button
    4. Minimize the step

    Rule step

    1. Add a rule step and schedule it
    2. Name your rule
    3. Select the condition(s) of your rule (optional)
      1. Select a condition from the And this is true dropdown menu
      2. If a dropdown menu appears with your condition, make a selection
      3. To add additional conditions click + ADD NEW CONDITION
    4. Select the action(s) performed
      1. Select an outcome from the Then do this dropdown menu
      2. If a dropdown menu appears with your outcome, make a selection
      3. To add additional actions click + ADD NEW ACTION
    5. Minimize the step

    SMS step

    1. Add an SMS step and schedule it
    2. Choose whether or not to split test the SMS message
    3. Select a stored SMS from the messages collection using the SMS name dropdown menu
      1. You can make edits to your stored SMS using the Edit button
      2. If you have not yet created the SMS, you can create a new SMS on the fly by clicking the New SMS button
    4. Select a from number. These are the SMS numbers you have set up in your account.
    5. Minimize the step

    Fulfillment step

    1. Add a fulfillment step and schedule it
    2. Choose whether or not to split test the fulfillment list
    3. Select a stored fulfillment list from the Fulfillment Name dropdown menu
      1. You can make edits to your stored SMS using the Edit button
      2. If you have not yet created the fulfillment list, you can create a new one on the fly by clicking the New Fulfillment button
    4. Minimize the step

    Adding a Step to the End of an Active Step Sequence

    When you add a Step to the end of an active Step Sequence, the question may arise: “what happens to those contacts who have already hit the last step on that Sequence?.” Below are a few scenarios to demonstrate the different outcomes that can occur in this situation. The variables here are your contact’s proximity to the last Step as well as when you set the new step to fire.

    Scenario 1:

    Contact is at end of Step Sequence. You add a Step to go out immediately.

    Step fires the next day at 10 AM in the account's time zone.

    Scenario 2:

    Last Step for contact fired two hours ago. You add a Step set to go out one hour after the previous Step.

    Step fires at 10 AM in the account's time zone the next day.

    Note: The "Immediate" setting and times already in the past will always cause the added step to fire the next day. To send the added step the same day set the time to a future time.

    Scenario 3:

    Last Step for contact fired two hours ago. You add a Step set to go out three hours after the previous Step.

    Step fires three hours after the previous Step, so one hour from the time you add it. The account's time zone is used for the timing of this step.

    Scenario 4:

    Contact is at end of Step Sequence. It's 6 P.M. You add a Step set to fire at 5:30 PM.

    Step fires next day at 5:30 PM. The account's time zone is used for the timing of this step.

    Scenario 5:

    Contact is at end of Step Sequence. It's 6 PM. You add a Step set to fire at 6:30 PM.

    Step fires same day at 6:30 PM. The account's time zone is used for the timing of this step.

    Scenario 6:

    Contact has been at the end of the Step Sequence for three days. You add two steps, each set to fire 1 day and 10 hours after the last step.

    The first additional step will fire at 10 AM in the account's time zone the following day. The additional step will wait 1 day and 10 hours after that to fire (steps following the first added step fire normally).

    Inserting a Step Into the Middle of an Active Step Sequence

    1. Select the Step Sequence in the collections view and select Pause from the Actions menu

      pause or resume a sequence
    2. Open the Step Sequence for editing. Add the step to the sequence.
    3. Use the move icon on the left of the step to move the step into the desired location

      move step
    4. When satisfied with the edited Step Sequence, click Save.
    5. Remember to select the Step Sequence in the collections view again and select Resume from the Actions menu.

    These steps are necessary to prevent contacts from progressing to the new step after it is added, then being moved with that new step into its new location.

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    Comments

    • Avatar
      Robert Bergman

      How do I remove a step from a sequence? Looked everywhere

    • Avatar
      Robert Bergman

      oops, found it

    • Avatar
      Jeff Johnson

      To remove a step, scroll to the right where the steps are listed -- there's a little trash icon.

    • Avatar
      Trisha Fulton

      This program frustrates the s******t out of me!!!!!!!

    • Avatar
      Frank Hagan

      Hey Trisha, have you reached out to support for any issues you are having? For Pro accounts we offer 2 hours of implemenation with a Client Success Team member who can help your build out sequences, and Support is available from 6 AM to 12 AM most days on chat or the phone (you can chat support by using the question mark icon either in the top right of the account or in the lower left, depending on which version you are seeing.)

    • Avatar
      Antonella Macrea

      How can i run automatically the same step every 7 days ?

    • Avatar
      Frank Hagan

      Is this the only step in the Sequence, Antonella? What is your use case (otherwise I may make the solution much more complicated than it needs to be!)

    • Avatar
      忠洋 小川

      The following sequence is created.

      The first Opt-in Thank You Mail will be sent immediately,
      After the second time it will be sent at 23 o'clock.

      I want to send the second and subsequent mail every morning at 7 o'clock,
      Is it impossible to specify time by step mail?

      // now
      step.1 day 0 : optin thanks mail // optin time is 2017-07-24 13:37
      step.2 day 1 : mail A // mail send time is 2017-07-25 23:03
      step.3 day 2 : mail B // mail send time is 2017-07-26 23:03
      step.2 day 3 : mail C // mail send time is 2017-07-27 23:03

      // What I'm expecting
      step.1 day 0 : optin thanks mail // optin time is 2017-07-24 13:37
      step.2 day 1 : mail A // mail send time is 2017-07-25 07:03
      step.3 day 2 : mail B // mail send time is 2017-07-26 07:03
      step.2 day 3 : mail C // mail send time is 2017-07-27 07:03