After you have connected your email account and imported contacts into Reply, you may want to set up a sequence.

A "sequence" is a chain of different steps to reach out to your contacts. You can create a sequence using only one type of connection or combine several steps. The steps include Email step, Call step, SMS step (automatic and manual), WhatsApp messages step, LinkedIn step (automatic and manual), Zapier step and Task step.

To create a sequence, you can use pre-made templates or set it up manually as per your needs. You can add contacts, set schedules, and make other configurations.

Please note. Connecting an email account is optional for creating and saving sequences, but it is mandatory for launching sequences that include email steps. The same relates to sequences with SMS or LinkedIn steps, i.e., you can launch such sequences when you provide the information needed to send the messages (your phone number and LinkedIn account).

To create a sequence, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the "Sequences" tab from the top header menu.

2. Click on the "New sequence" button. The available methods to create a sequence will be shown:

3. If you have selected the From scratch option, add a name for your sequence and click the Add step button to create the first step.

4. The first part of setting up your sequence is creating sequence steps, i.e., the flow in which your messages will be sent, starting from initial outreach to follow-ups.

Once you click Add step, a pop-up window will appear where you can easily switch between different types of steps and combine them in the order that best suits your workflow.

Below is a list of available steps with links to articles containing detailed instructions for each of them:

When creating sequence steps, you can also manage the steps and perform such operations as:

Refer to this article for detailed instructions on managing steps in sequence.

If you chose Email, specify the subject for your Step 1 email. You can also insert templates (if they've been previously created) and variables, as well as attach files with a maximum size of 3 MB.

When you're done creating the email template step, you can save it to the list of your personal templates. You can also send a test email to the email account you've set as your default to see how it appears in your inbox. Just click the down arrow icon near the Save button.

Save the template for the emails in Step 1 so you can move on to the next step in making your sequence. You'll be able to create more steps and add a variant to an established step for A/B testing to see which template variant gets better reply rates. At this stage, you can create as many steps and variants as you need and edit, clone, or remove them.
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NOTE: In the case of follow-up emails, if you want all emails related to the same sequence step to be sent to the same thread, you need to leave the subject line for Step 2 and further empty. Otherwise, the follow-up email will be sent separately, even if the subject is the same as in Step 1.

Once you have created all the necessary steps, click "Next."

5. The next stage is Schedules, where you can specify when you want Reply to send your emails (weekdays and timeframes).

You can either select an existing sending schedule or create a new one. Here's a detailed article about setting up the schedule for a sequence. You can also skip schedules if you want emails to be sent 24/7 or if you want to get back to this section later.

Once you have selected the schedule, click "Next."

6. Add contacts to your sequence by clicking the "Add People" button. You can upload contacts from .csv file, add existing contacts, or create them manually. Here are instructions on how to add contacts.

When you add contacts from the people list, you'll see a list of contacts that can be added to your sequence, and contacts associated with other sequences will not appear on the list. Select the desired people and add them to the sequence:

7. Set up the sequence settings. It is important to understand Manual and Automatic handling of Call and Task steps as well as Max Daily Prospects Throttling.

8. Save and launch the sequence.

Launch step in the Sequence Wizard provides you with an overview of the sequence.

In this step, you can check all the settings as well as possible errors in your sequence. You can also jump to any step in the Sequence Wizard and make some changes.

Click "Save" to save a draft of your sequence or "Save & Launch" to save and launch it instantly.

Please note. The launch step may also display some problems with your sequence.

For example, if your sequence contains manual or automatic email steps, SMS steps, and LinkedIn steps, Reply will check if there is a valid email account, phone number, and LinkedIn account connected to your Reply account.

If sequence parameters are missed or don't pass validation, the "Save & Launch" button will be inactive, and your sequence cannot be launched. You can still save the draft of your sequence but not run it.

In case of any errors, when you hover on the "Save & Launch" button, you will see a pop-up with an explanation of what details are missing and links to corresponding pages on the platform where you can add all the details and fix the problem.

Make sure to add the missing phone number, email, or LinkedIn accounts that are required to send the corresponding steps in your sequence.