The Power of HubSpot Sequences: A Game-Changer for Sales and Service

HubSpot sequences are a powerful tool designed to automate and personalise outreach, making it easier for sales and service teams to stay in touch with prospects and customers. But what exactly are sequences, and why should your business be using them? Let’s delve into how HubSpot sequences can transform your workflow and drive results.

Covered in this article

What Are HubSpot Sequences?
Getting Started with HubSpot Sequences
Maximising Sequence Effectiveness
Conclusion
FAQs

What Are HubSpot Sequences?

HubSpot sequences allow you to send a series of timed, personalised emails to your contacts and automatically create follow-up tasks to keep the conversation moving. Unlike traditional mass emailing, sequences are tailored to individual contacts and can be used to nurture leads, onboard customers, or handle support requests in a structured and consistent manner.

One of the key benefits of sequences is that they can be set up to automatically unenroll contacts once they take a specific action, such as replying to an email or booking a meeting. This dynamic approach ensures that your outreach remains relevant and responsive, without overwhelming your contacts with unnecessary communication.

Sequences are available in the Sales Hub and Service Hub, making them ideal for both sales and customer service operations. Whether you're looking to increase conversions or improve customer satisfaction, sequences streamline the process, making it easier to achieve your goals.

Why Use HubSpot Sequences?

HubSpot sequences offer a variety of advantages that make them a must-have tool for any business aiming to scale its outreach effectively:

• Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks such as sending follow-up emails or scheduling calls, saving you valuable time.
• Consistency: Ensure that every prospect or customer receives the same high-quality communication, even when you're managing a large number of contacts.
• Personalisation: Customise email templates and add personalisation tokens to make each message feel unique, helping you build stronger relationships with your contacts.
• Automatic Unenrollment: Contacts automatically unenroll from sequences when they take key actions like replying or booking a meeting, ensuring your communication remains timely and appropriate.

By using sequences, you ensure that every interaction is meaningful and targeted, keeping contacts engaged and moving through the sales funnel or customer support process smoothly.

Getting Started with HubSpot Sequences

Before you begin creating sequences, it’s essential to ensure your HubSpot account meets a few basic requirements:

1. User Access: You must have an assigned seat for either Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise or Service Hub Professional or Enterprise.
2. Connected Email: Your user account must have a connected personal email address (team email addresses connected to a conversation inbox cannot be used for sending sequence emails).
3. Sequences Permissions: Ensure that you have the correct permissions to create and manage sequences.

Once these requirements are in place, you’re ready to start creating and customising sequences for your specific needs.

How to Create a Sequence

Creating a sequence in HubSpot is straightforward and customisable to fit your business processes:

1. Navigate to Automations > Sequences in your HubSpot account.
2. Click ‘Create Sequence’ in the top right corner.
3. Choose to either start from scratch or select a pre-made sequence template.
4. In the sequence editor, customise your sequence by adding emails, task reminders, or both.

Each step in a sequence can be tailored. You can set automated emails, manual tasks, call reminders, or even actions related to HubSpot’s integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Customising Sequence Steps

Adding steps to your sequence involves selecting actions that align with your business goals. Here’s a breakdown of the types of steps you can add:

• Automated Email: Automatically send an email when the contact reaches this step. You can choose to start a new email thread or reply to an existing one.
• Manual Email Task: Set up a task to remind yourself or your team to manually send an email.
• Call Task: Get a reminder to call the contact at a specific time.
• General Task: Create reminders for any manual tasks that are part of the contact engagement process.

For businesses utilising LinkedIn Sales Navigator, sequences also allow you to send InMail messages or connection requests as part of your task flow, helping you nurture leads across multiple platforms.

Maximising Sequence Effectiveness

Once your sequence is live, it’s important to continually refine it to achieve maximum effectiveness. Here are a few ways to optimise your HubSpot sequences:

1. Personalisation

HubSpot allows you to personalise each email by adding tokens that dynamically pull in contact-specific information such as their first name, company, or even details about their last interaction with your business. Personalisation increases the likelihood of engagement and can drastically improve response rates.

2. Optimising Timing

Each email or task in a sequence can be delayed by up to 90 business days, allowing you to time your follow-ups in a way that feels natural and non-intrusive. This flexibility helps you strike the right balance between persistence and patience, essential when nurturing long-term leads.

3. Automating Unenrollment

When a contact replies to an email or books a meeting, HubSpot automatically unenrolls them from the sequence. This prevents redundant communication and ensures that your contacts only receive relevant information. You can also set additional triggers, such as unenrolling all contacts from the same company when one person takes action.

4. Analytics and Reporting

HubSpot provides detailed performance analytics for each step in your sequence, helping you assess what’s working and what isn’t. Use these insights to continuously refine your sequences and improve your results over time.

Conclusion: Why Your Business Needs HubSpot Sequences

In today’s fast-paced business environment, maintaining consistent and personalised communication with leads and customers can be challenging. HubSpot sequences offer a practical solution by automating much of the outreach process while still allowing for the personalisation that’s crucial for building strong relationships.

By integrating HubSpot sequences into your sales or service strategy, you can ensure that no lead slips through the cracks and that each customer receives the attention they deserve. Whether you’re looking to increase conversion rates or improve customer satisfaction, sequences are a powerful tool that can help you scale your efforts and achieve your business goals.

Ready to get started with HubSpot sequences? Reach out to Velocity, and let our team guide you through optimising your HubSpot account for maximum impact. With our expertise, we’ll help you streamline your outreach and drive meaningful results.

FAQs About HubSpot Sequences

1. What are HubSpot Sequences?

HubSpot Sequences are automated workflows that allow you to send a series of timed, personalised emails to your contacts. They also include task reminders for manual follow-ups, helping you to manage lead nurturing or customer engagement effectively. Sequences automatically unenroll contacts once they reply or take a specific action, keeping your communication relevant.

2. Which HubSpot subscriptions include Sequences?

Sequences are available with the following subscriptions:

• Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise
• Service Hub Professional and Enterprise

3. What types of steps can I add to a sequence?

You can add several types of steps to your sequence, including:

• Automated emails: Sent automatically at specified intervals.
• Manual email tasks: Reminders to send personalised emails manually.
• Call tasks: Reminders to call a contact.
• General tasks: Reminders to complete any manual action.

4. Can I personalise emails within a sequence?

Yes, you can easily personalise emails in HubSpot Sequences by using tokens that dynamically pull in contact-specific information like the recipient’s name, company, or other relevant details.

5. How does automatic unenrollment work?

Contacts are automatically unenrolled from a sequence when they:

• Reply to any email in the sequence.
• Book a meeting using a HubSpot scheduling link.

You can also configure additional triggers, such as unenrolling all contacts at the same company when one person responds.

6. What is the difference between HubSpot Sequences and Workflows?

• Sequences: Primarily used for one-on-one outreach, combining personalised email sequences with task reminders.
• Workflows: A more robust automation tool used for bulk processes, automatically enrolling contacts into a series of actions based on triggers (e.g., form submissions or page views).

7. How many sequences can I create?

The number of sequences you can create depends on your HubSpot subscription plan. You can check your limit by viewing the total number of sequences in your account at the top right of the Sequences dashboard.

8. Can I integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator with HubSpot Sequences?

Yes, HubSpot Sequences integrates with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, allowing you to add tasks for sending InMail messages or connection requests as part of your sequence steps.

9. How can I monitor the performance of my sequences?

HubSpot provides performance analytics for each step in your sequence, including open rates, click-through rates, and task completion. You can use these insights to adjust and optimise your sequences over time.

10. Can I edit an active sequence?

Yes, you can edit an active sequence, but keep in mind that changes may affect contacts currently enrolled. For example, editing email templates or task reminders could impact how the next steps are delivered to those already in the sequence.