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Create an Email or SMS Sequence

Grace from Ivorey™ avatar
Written by Grace from Ivorey™
Updated over 2 weeks ago

There are multiple ways you can setup email/sms sequences inside of Ivorey™, and it all depends or your unique use case. Below are the #4 options that you can choose from, in the order of most to least common. Please ensure to read through them ALL to find your best fit.

Option 1: Email Campaign at Set Dates/Times

Campaign emails are perfect for any email you want to send at a specific date and time. Whether it's sending a one-off newsletter, or an entire sales campaign - we strongly suggest this option for anything with a specific sending date. Watch the training below for how to send an email campaign at a set date and time.

Click here for the written steps

  1. To setup a set of sales emails to send at set/dates and times via campaigns, go to Marketing > Emails > Create Folder and give it a name for your specific sale/campaign event.
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  2. Inside the folder, create each email that will go out in your campaign. You can either start from blank, our use an existing template that we've already added into your account.
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  3. Edit each email, ensuring to add the subject, preview line, and link buttons up correctly.
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  4. Schedule the exact date and time you want the email to go out, and to who. Refer to our guide on segmenting your email list here.
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  5. Use the “Resend to unopened” feature to automatically resend your email with a new subject line (e.g. 24 hours later) to anyone who didn’t open it, if applicable.
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  6. We always suggest testing your emails before sending them live. Send yourself a test and check it on desktop and mobile for best results.


Option 2: Evergreen Email or SMS Sequence

If you want to setup an email sequence that sends at set intervals after a certain event, workflows are the best option for this. For example, if someone downloads a freebie from your website, you could create a nurture sequence that emails them every x days after they opted in. Or if a client purchased a product, you could send them an automated welcome/onboarding sequence.

This means each person will receive the emails at certain days apart, but its always based on the unique time they entered the workflow (instead of an exact date/time like the campaign option above). Watch the training below for how to setup an evergreen email sequence with fixed wait times.

Click here for the written steps

  1. To setup an automated email sequence via workflows, use on of our bonus workflow templates (e.g. opt in workflow for once someone submits a form, or post-purchase workflow for after someone buys from you) located in Workflows > Bonus Workflows, or create your own by going to Workflows > Create New.
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  2. If creating your own workflow, ensure to add your Trigger (e.g. when a form is submitted, or leave it blank if you plan to manually add people later)
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  3. Add an action: Send Email → choose your first email template or write the email in plain text. Remember all emails are located inside Marketing > Emails > Templates. Once you make them there, they become available to pull into any workflow.
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  4. Add a Wait step (e.g. wait 1 day, or 6 hours)
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  5. Continue adding steps that alternative between Send Email → Wait 1 day → Send Email → Wait 1 day etc, until your sequence is finished
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  6. At the end, decide:
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    1. If you want to keep contacts in the workflow (e.g. if you plan to continue adding onto this sequence in the future) then add a final Wait step (e.g. wait 1000 days). This will just hold them in the workflow after the sequence is finished, in case you want to add to it later.
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    2. If you want to move them into another workflow, add the Add To Workflow action and choose where to send them next.
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    3. If you're happy for them to exit automatically, don’t add any wait at the end - they’ll finish and exit the workflow once the last step is done.
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  7. Once finished, toggle to 'Publish' mode then hit [Save]. We always suggest testing your workflows before launching them live to ensure they fire as intended. To do this, publish your workflow and perform the trigger, which will pull you into the workflow and start performing the actions.

Option 3: Email or SMS Sequence Before/After Calendar Bookings

If you use Ivorey™ calendars, our Calendar Guide shows you how to setup standard booking confirmation and reminder emails. But if you want to send extra emails, for example to nurture your contacts before or after their appointment, you can create a workflow email sequence for that. Watch the training below to learn how to send an email sequence based on an appointment time.

Click here for the written steps

  1. Go to Automations > Workflows > Create Workflow, choose Start from Scratch, and give it a clear name.
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  2. Add Trigger > Customer Booked Appointment > then in the filter dropdown, select the specific calendar you want this to apply to. If no filter is applied, this workflow will trigger for any appointment thats booked through any Ivorey calendar.
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  3. Add an Action > Send Email. Either:

    • Write the email directly and personalise it with custom values (e.g. {{contact.first_name}}).

    • Or select a branded email template that you've created under Marketing > Emails > Templates.
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  4. Control timing by adding the "Wait" action in anywhere you'd like a delay to occur:

    • No wait = email sends immediately.

    • Time delay (e.g. wait 1 day).

    • Event/Appointment based (e.g. 2 days before, 1 hour before, or 1 day after the appointment).
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  5. Ensure you use the correct Wait type. Please watch the video to find out what your calendar type is, as this is an important distinction. If this appointment is booked through an Ivorey:

    • Meeting Calendar → use Event / Appointment Time.

    • Service Calendar → use Event / Service Booking Time.
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  6. Continue building the sequence with additional Wait + Email (or SMS) steps until you’ve mapped out the full journey.
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  7. At the end, decide:
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    1. If you want to keep contacts in the workflow (e.g. if you plan to continue adding onto this sequence in the future) then add a final Wait step (e.g. wait 1000 days). This will just hold them in the workflow after the sequence is finished, in case you want to add to it later.
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    2. If you want to move them into another workflow, add the Add To Workflow action and choose where to send them next.
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    3. If you're happy for them to exit automatically, don’t add any wait at the end - they’ll finish and exit the workflow once the last step is done.
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  8. Once finished, toggle to 'Publish' mode then hit [Save]. We always suggest testing your workflows before launching them live to ensure they fire as intended. To do this, publish your workflow and perform the trigger, which will pull you into the workflow and start performing the actions.

Option 4: Email or SMS Sequence at Set Event Times (Advanced)

The final option is to create an email sequence via workflows, that waits for before or after a certain event date/time that you get to manually choose. This could be in reference to a special deadline, live event, or any other type of event.

This is the least common option, as your email objectives can almost always be achieved by using the 3 options above. However if don't want to follow our best-practice recommendation of sending an email campaign (option 1) for any fixed date/time emails, you can learn how to do this via workflows in the training below.

Click here for the written steps

  1. To build a workflow sequence with emails/sms that send at exact times, go to Automations > Workflows > Create Workflow, start from scratch, and give it a clear name.
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  2. Add a Trigger to start the workflow, or leave it blank if you plan to import contacts manually.
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  3. Add the Actions for your workflow:
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    1. Option 1 (Countdown): This is where you set the Event Time once, and then continue adding wait steps based on intervals such as waiting for 2 days before the event, then 1 day before the event etc. To do this, continue rotating between these actions:

      • Set Event Time (for the event time you want all the wait steps to reference)

      • Wait (change the filter to x days/hours before or after the event time)

      • Send Email / Send SMS

      • Wait (change the filter to x days/hours before or after the event time)

      • Send Email / Send SMS

      • Continue repeating the Wait > Send Email / Send SMS steps until your sequence is finished.
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    2. Option 2 (Exact Time): This is where you can set the exact event time, based on when you want each individual email to send, and then add a wait step to wait for that exact event time. To do this, continue rotating between these actions:

      • Set Event Time (for the exact date/time you want the email/sms to send:

      • Wait (change the filter to "Exact Time")

      • Send Email / Send SMS

      • Repeat the 3 above, consistently setting new times.

      • Note: We don't suggest this option if you're only sending emails, as it's far easier to achieve via an email campaign instead.

  4. For each email, you can either:

    • Write a text-only email directly and personalise with {{contact.first_name}}.

    • Or pull in a branded email template (which can be created and managed in Marketing > Emails > Templates)
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  5. Once finished, toggle to Publish then click [Save].
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    ​Important: It's critical to always ensure Ivorey™ has the correct Event Date/Time to reference, as well as the correct wait steps and filters. If not, you'll risk all your emails/sms sending out to your contacts at once, with no waiting in between. We always suggest testing your workflows before launching them live to ensure they fire as intended. To do this, publish your workflow and perform the trigger, which will pull you into the workflow and start performing the actions.

Need Help?

Hit the support chat widget inside Ivorey - we can:

  • Drop any of the templates into your account if you can't find them

  • Walk you through any of the steps

  • Troubleshoot anything that’s not working

We’re here and ready to help via the chat widget in the bottom right of your Ivorey™ account. Or if you are looking for done-for-you support, you can browse our current services here 🤍

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