Sequences let you automate a series of messages and actions for your contacts.
Instead of manually following up with each contact, you can build a flow once and subscribe contacts to it. Kartra then moves each contact through the Sequence according to the steps, timing, and conditions you've configured
When to use a Sequence
Use a Sequence when you want multiple messages or actions to happen automatically over time.
For example, you can use a Sequence to:
Onboard new customers: Welcome them, provide instructions, and follow up over their first few days or weeks.
Nurture new leads: Send useful information over time before introducing an offer.
Follow up after a purchase: Share tips, resources, or relevant offers after someone becomes a customer.
Re-engage contacts: Send a series of messages designed to reconnect with contacts who haven't engaged recently.
Send reminders: Schedule multiple reminders or follow-ups as contacts move through a process.
A Sequence isn't always the right way to send an email.
If you want to send a one-time commercial message to a selected group of contacts, such as a newsletter or promotion, use an Email.
If you need to automatically send information associated with a specific event or activity, such as a purchase confirmation, use an Email Notification where available.
These features can also work together. For example, a purchase can trigger an Email Notification confirming the transaction and subscribe the customer to a Sequence for ongoing follow-up.
See Choose how to send emails in Kartra for help choosing between the available sending methods.
How Sequences work
Think of a Sequence as a path that contacts move through:
First, a contact needs to be subscribed to the Sequence. This can happen automatically based on an action or condition, or you can subscribe a contact manually.
The contact then moves through the connected steps you've configured. Each step determines what happens next and when.
For example:
Customer subscribes → Welcome email → Wait two days → Getting-started email → Wait five days → Follow-up email → Complete
Steps need to be configured, connected, and activated within the Sequence path to work as intended:
Inactive steps are skipped
Disconnected steps aren't executed
Learn how to Create and manage a Sequence.
What can happen in a Sequence?
Sequences aren't limited to sending emails. As contacts move through the flow, you can use steps to:
Send an Email or SMS.
Add or remove a tag
Subscribe or unsubscribe the contact from a list.
Subscribe or unsubscribe the contact from another Sequence.
Trigger an automation.
Send contacts down different paths based on conditions.
Wait before continuing.
Move contacts to another point in the flow or a sub-sequence.
Complete the Sequence for the contact.
You don't need to use every type of step. Choose the steps that support the process you want to automate.
Sequence emails are commercial emails
Emails sent from Sequences are considered commercial emails in Kartra, even when the action that subscribed the contact wasn't commercial.
For example, a purchase might subscribe a customer to a follow-up Sequence. The emails sent from that Sequence are still commercial emails and are subject to the contact's commercial email preferences.
This is different from an Email Notification used to provide information associated with an event, such as a purchase confirmation.
Learn more about Commercial emails and Email notifications.
Using sub-sequences
Sub-sequences can help organize additional paths within a more complex Sequence while keeping contacts under the same Sequence subscription.
Learn how and when to use sub-sequences.