Sequences

A sequence is a linear automation: you prepare a series of messages that send themselves when something happens. A trigger event enrols a contact, who then receives one to five messages, each after a wait you set. An optional cancellation event can stop it early. In short, it's the "if this happens, send this and then this" of your contacts, running on autopilot.

You build a sequence in a dedicated editor and activate it when it's ready. This guide walks through creating one, the builder's three tabs, and a few worked examples.

To start, open Automations and click New sequence.

Create a sequence

The New sequence dialog sets up the basics — "Set up the basics — we'll open the builder next." — before opening the builder:

Field	What you set
Name	A name for your own reference. Not shown to recipients.
Channel	The channel the sequence sends over — SMS or RCS.
Sender	The sender the messages go out from.
Consent policy	Who the sequence is allowed to reach.

The dialog only sets up these basics and spawns the draft — the trigger (the data source and event that enrol a contact) is not chosen here. You define it afterwards, in the builder. Click Continue and Instasent opens the builder on your new sequence (still a Draft), with the conditions panel focused so you can set the trigger straight away.

You can also start from a template. The creation screen offers a marketplace of ready-made sequences — welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase and more, grouped into categories (Welcome, Abandoned cart, Abandoned browse, Post purchase, Winback, Review request, Birthday, Subscription/Unsubscribe, Other) — each of which pre-fills the trigger and messages so you only have to adjust them.

The builder

The builder is organised into tabs. The main one is Sequence, where you lay out the trigger and messages; Audience sets who's enrolled and how often; Settings holds the name and senders. Insights appears once the sequence has been activated.

Tab	What it's for
Sequence	The trigger, the messages and their waits, and the cancellation — the timeline of the automation.
Audience	The segment that can be enrolled, the send frequency and the exclusion window.
Settings	The name, the channel (read-only) and the senders.
Insights	Per-automation metrics — available once the automation has been activated (it stays visible even if you later pause or archive it). See Analytics.

Sequence — the anatomy

The Sequence tab reads top to bottom as a timeline, from Start to End.

The trigger

At the top sits the conditions card. It holds two things:

• Activate when — the data source and event that enrol a contact. Click it to open the conditions panel and choose, from Platform events (Instasent's own events) or one of your connected Data sources (for example, a Shopify order created or a Klaviyo abandoned cart). The picker shows each event's volume — "events in the last 90 days" — so you can gauge how often it fires.
• Cancel when — an optional cancellation event that stops the sequence early for a contact (often the opposite event — they completed the purchase, so drop them from the cart reminder). Leave it unset to never cancel.

You can also narrow the trigger with Filter by event data — only enrol contacts whose event matches extra conditions.

The messages

Below the trigger come the message cards, one to five of them. Each card has:

• A wait before it, shown on the connector above the card. The first message's wait is measured from the trigger (it can be Immediate, or 5–45 minutes, 1–20 hours, or 1–90 days); later messages wait from the previous message.
• The message content, written inline. Collapsed, the card shows a preview; expanded, it opens the composer — the same editor used across the dashboard, with personalization, links and per-language versions.
• A toggle to Activate or Deactivate the message (a deactivated message is Inactive and skipped), and actions to delete it or insert another before or after.

Use Add message to add a step, up to the maximum of five.

Audience — who's enrolled and how often

The Audience tab controls enrolment and pacing:

Settings — name and senders

The Settings tab holds the Automation Name, the channel (read-only — it was fixed at creation), and the sender the messages go out from. On an RCS automation, the optional SMS fallback and its fallback sender are chosen when you create the automation, not here. Senders are managed in Senders.

Activate the sequence

A sequence stays a Draft until you activate it. Before it can go live, Instasent checks that it's complete — the Activate sequence button surfaces any issues under "Resolve these issues before activating:":

Requirement	Message if missing
A trigger event is chosen	Choose a trigger event
At least one message exists	Add at least one message
At least one message is active (not skipped)	Activate at least one message
Every active message has content	Message N has empty content
Every active message is within its length limit	Message N is too long. Please shorten it.

When the checks pass, Activate sequence moves it to Active and it starts listening for the trigger event. Changes aren't saved automatically — a banner prompts you to save or discard pending changes before you leave. Managing a sequence after activation — pausing, archiving, cloning — is covered in Managing automations.

Worked examples

A few common sequences and how they're shaped. Timings are starting points — adjust them to your audience.

Welcome

Greet new contacts the moment they join.

• Trigger: a contact is added (for example, joins a list or subscribes).
• Message 1: Immediate — a welcome, often with a first-purchase incentive.
• Cancellation: usually none.

Abandoned cart

Recover checkouts that didn't complete.

• Trigger: cart abandoned / checkout started from your store's data source.
• Message 1: a wait of around 30 minutes — a nudge with the cart.
• Message 2: a wait of around 24 hours — a reminder, sometimes with an incentive.
• Cancellation: order created — a contact who buys leaves the sequence.

Post-purchase

Follow up after a sale.

• Trigger: order created from your store's data source.
• Message 1: a wait of 15–30 minutes — a thank-you.
• Message 2 (optional): a later wait — a review request or a cross-sell.
• Cancellation: optional, depending on the follow-up.

Ready to see how an active sequence is run and adjusted? Continue to Managing automations.