Advanced sequences: conditions, branches and chaining

Ask something: the Condition step

In Add step, under Logic, choose Condition. The engine evaluates it when the contact reaches that step and sends them down the Yes or the No branch. There are two ways to ask:

• Classic, a single criterion, in Condition type: Replied on WhatsApp, Replied on any channel (you can narrow it down in Channels), No recent activity, Has a label, Deal stage and Has phone. The first three let you set how many days back to look.
• Advanced, with several rules: next to the classic one, Convert to advanced turns it into rules you can keep editing (or, if that criterion can't be converted, Create advanced condition starts with no rules). Both open Advanced condition, the same builder as the entry filter: the person's and the deal's fields —your custom fields included— and the signals Has a deal, Has phone, Has email and Last reply from contact. The contact goes down Yes if they meet every rule under Match ALL of these conditions and, if there are rules under And match ANY of these conditions, at least one of those.

Yes and No: the branches

Below the condition, the Yes and No tabs show one branch at a time; the other one tells you how many steps it has. Each branch has its own Add step and its own steps, with their waits. Inside a branch you can put another condition: up to two levels. At that limit, Condition shows disabled with the explanation, and the way to keep branching is to continue in another sequence.

When a branch runs out of steps, the contact carries on after the condition, in the flow that contains it (and if there's nothing after it, they finish the sequence). An empty branch says itself where it goes: Continues with the main flow; Ends the sequence here, when the condition is the last step; No steps: this branch continues with its containing branch, in a nested condition; or, with a merge point, No steps: this branch continues straight to the merge point.

Bring paths back together or end them

• Merge point — makes visible where a condition's branches come back together: from there on, whoever went down Yes and whoever went down No carry on with the same steps. In Merges the branches of you choose which condition it closes; it's offered when there's a condition without one in that same flow. Without a merge point, a branch that runs out of steps also carries on with the next step, but silently.
• Path ending — ends the path right there: the contact completes the sequence with the Ending reason you choose —Completed the flow, Replied, Not interested, Marked lost or Custom reason, with its Reason label—. Nothing can be added after it on that path.

Each reason is counted in the Report tab, under How they ended: that's where you see whether the paths of the sequence work —how many reached the end, how many replied, how many weren't interested—. In Contacts, whoever reaches an ending shows as Completed.

If the sequence uses merge points, path endings or nested conditions and a branch was left empty with no merge point, turning it on —from the switch or from the list— asks you to confirm first: There are open paths lists each empty branch with what it will do (end the sequence, continue with the main flow or continue with the branch that contains it). You can Activate anyway or close those branches with a merge point or a path ending. It never blocks you.

Continue in another sequence

When a process has clear phases —prospecting, then nurturing, then the post-sale—, it reads better as several chained sequences, each with its own report. Two Action steps chain them:

• Continue in another sequence — choose the Target sequence. The contact enters it with the same linked deal and without going through its entry filter, because this one already filtered them when they came in. Do not contact is never skipped, and the target's Re-entry applies. Check Leave this sequence when continuing so they're not left in both.
• Remove from a sequence — takes the contact out of the sequence you choose, or out of this one with This sequence.

To see how your sequences connect, use View chain (the link icon at the top of the sequence). Sequence chain lists the sequences linked to this one, each with how many contacts it has active, its status (Live, Paused or Draft) and an arrow that shows which way the link goes; click one to open it. Direct link is a Continue in another sequence step. The dashed links are indirect: one sequence puts a label or adds to a list that starts another one. Hover over them: if that label or list is renamed, or someone applies it by hand, the chain changes without notice.

Limits that help you split the flow

A sequence holds up to 30 steps. As you get close, a notice above the steps tells you how many you're at and, at the limit, offers Continue in another sequence →, which adds that step at the end so you only have to choose the target. With 10 conditions or more, the same notice suggests splitting the flow into two chained sequences: it reads better and each phase keeps its own metrics. That one is a suggestion: it doesn't block you.

See the whole flow in Canvas

With branches, Canvas —next to List, at the top of the editor— is the quickest way to read the flow: it draws it from top to bottom, with the waits between steps and the Yes and No branches side by side, nested ones included. Zoom with Zoom in, Zoom out and Actual size, or with Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) and +, − or 0. Click a step to open it in a side panel and edit it there; adding, deleting or reordering steps is done in List. The view stays in the page address, so a link you share opens straight on the canvas.

Next step: decide how contacts get into each sequence of the chain in Make a sequence start on its own: triggers, entry filter and re-entry, and if a step breaks along the way, what to do in A sequence with a problem: how you find out, what happens to your contacts and how to resume it.