Email sequences are the backbone of building relationships with your contacts on autopilot. Instead of manually sending follow-ups or remembering to nurture your leads, a well-crafted email sequence does the heavy lifting for you. Let's walk through how to set this up in IVOREY.

Watch this 9 minute training, or skip to the help article below to read the steps instead

Step 1: Decide if you want to send plain text or a fully-designed email

When it comes to connecting with your audience through email, both plain text and designed emails have their place in your communication strategy. Let's explore both options so you can choose what works best for your needs.

Plain text emails feel like they're coming directly from you - like a personal note you'd send to a friend.

Designed emails are far more branded and polished, which can also sometimes feel more promotional.

When you're setting up an email sequence in Ivorey - you can choose either, or a mix of both!

Step 2: Optional - Create your email templates if you want them designed

Understanding Ivorey's Email Templates

Under [Marketing] then [Emails] then [Templates] you'll see a library of pre-built email templates ready for you to customize. If you don't see these templates in your account, just pop us a message in the chat widget and we'll add them for you right away.

Think of email templates as your building blocks - they're the individual emails you'll use in workflows. The beauty of IVOREY's template system is that once you edit a template, it updates everywhere that template is used. This means you can refine and improve your messaging over time without having to hunt down every place you've used that email.

Creating Your Email Templates

Start in the Marketing > Emails & Templates section. Here you'll find a variety of pre-written templates for different purposes - from welcome series to follow-up sequences.

When customizing your templates:

Give each template a clear, searchable name so they are easier to find when you build the email sequence. You might like to add a prefix such as "Final" before each email you finish creating/customising.
Set a compelling subject line under the Settings section (or leave it blank to customise later)
Save your changes

Step 3. Create your email sequence

Now comes the fun part - putting your email sequence together by creating a workflow!

Go to [Workflows] then [Create New] and name your workflow something clear like "Email Sequence - Welcome (For New Leads)"
Click on the + to add your first action "Send Email"
1. In the panel that opens on the right, you can either write your plain-text email, or pull-in an email template from the drop down list.
2. Create a subject line, or if left blank it will default to the subject line of the template you pulled in.
Click on the + again to add your next action called "Wait"
1. Set the wait to however many minutes/hours/days you'd like the contact to wait before proceeding to the next step of the workflow.
Continue alternating between "Send Email" steps and "Wait" steps to build out your desired sequence and journey.
Once you're happy with your sequence, toggle it to "Publish" in the top right then hit [Save].

Step 4. Enrol contacts into your sequence

Add A Trigger: A trigger is the very top step of your workflow which sets the rules for who is allowed to come in. If you don't have anyone to enrol now, you can set a trigger that will apply from as soon as you hut publish.

A common example for a trigger could be when a contact is tagged with a certain tag, or when a client purchases a certain product. You can said one trigger, or many triggers, based on who you want into this sequence.

Note that these triggers will only apply for anyone who meets that rule once the workflow is published, and will not back-date to anyone prior.
Manually Enrol Contacts: If you have people you want to add to this sequence now, you can search them in your contacts list, then click the robot icon called "Add To Automation" which will bulk-enrol them to the first step of the workflow.

If your workflow is not showing up in this step, it means you have not yet published it to go live.

Frequently Asked Questions about Email Sequences

How do I setup a countdown timer in my email so that it will expire for each individual customer depending on when they originally opted in?

When you are selling an offer or service, you might want to add a countdown timer to add a sense of urgency for people to purchase, or you may be offering a discounted price for a limited time. Depending on how you choose to sell your offer or service (click here to read our guide on the 6 ways to sell in Ivorey) will depend on how you setup your countdown timer.

For example, if you are sending out an email to everyone who joined your waitlist, and you include a countdown timer in the confirmation email to let them know when the offer will be released, your countdown timer duration would start and finish at the same time for everyone, because the release date is fixed.
However, if you were offering an early bird discount or a special price for people who opt into a form for example, you may want the countdown offer to run for a period of 14 days, but you want the start time and finish time to automatically adjust depending on when each person signs up.

Both are possible to setup inside of Ivorey! Please follow the steps below to learn how to add a countdown timer to your email, and how to edit the settings to the client experience you want to create:

Go to [Marketing] > [Emails] > [Templates] > and click on the email template you want to add your countdown timer to
Click the [+] icon located along the top right of your screen and drag and drop the countdown element into your email
Click on the countdown element you pulled into your email template > then click [Get Started] on the left hand side
Click the [+ New] button > then select the timer template you want to use from the left hand menu > and click [Continue with this template] at the bottom of your screen
Under the [General] tab > 'Timer Type' you can choose:
1. 'Fixed' which means the countdown timer will start and finish at the same time for everyone
2. 'Recurring' which means the countdown timer will continue to 'loop' or recur as many times as you set the loop number to
3. 'Dynamic' which means the countdown timer will automatically refresh the countdown for each contact depending on when they opt-in/receive the email
Once you select which timer setting you need, fill in the relevant date settings that display underneath
At the bottom of your countdown settings you will see two fields:
1. 'Active timer leads to link' which is the link your countdown will direct your contacts too while the countdown is still active
2. 'Expired timer leads to link' which is the link your countdown will direct your contacts too once the countdown has ended
  This is a great way to ensure that your contacts can't access an discounted link after the countdown has ended, or gives you the ability to re-direct them to a landing page if they have missed the cut off time, but you them to submit a form to be notified for the next round for example
Once you have added your timer settings, you can then toggle over to the [Styling] tab and customise the branding of your countdown timer
When you have finished customising your countdown timer, click [Save] at the top right of your screen to update these changes
Now go back to your email template, click [Save] at the top right of your screen > then refresh your page so your countdown settings update inside the email template
The countdown timer you just created will now display on the left hand side of your email template, you will need to click on the countdown timer for it to populate into the countdown timer element you pulled into your email template