What are sequence automations and how do I use them?

What are sequence automations and how do I use them?

Overview

Sequence automations are what happens the moment a profile is marked as finished for a sequence. They connect the end of one process to the start of the next, so people move forward without an administrator doing it by hand.

They are not the same thing as step automations. Sequence automations fire once, at the finish line, for everyone who gets there. Step automations sit on a single step and watch one person's progress on it. Question 6 covers the difference.

1. Where do I set them up?

Open the sequence and go to Settings and automations. The section is headed "Once a profile is marked as finished for this sequence, apply the following conditions", and each automation is a toggle with its own picker underneath.

At the top of that sidebar there is an Automations summary. It lists everything you have switched on, in one place. Open it before you publish a sequence, because it is the only screen that shows the whole picture at once.

2. What can fire when someone finishes?

  • Auto-add to database. The person becomes a full profile in your database. See question 3, because where you put this one matters.
  • Auto-assign sequences. They are enrolled in one or more sequences you pick. This is how you chain a general intake sequence into a role-specific training sequence.
  • Auto-assign opportunities. They are approved on the opportunities you pick, so they can reserve shifts, log hours and join the related chats with no further approval step.
  • Auto-assign profile tags. One or more tags land on their profile, ready for filtering, segmenting and reporting. You can create a tag from this screen if it does not exist yet.
  • Auto-assign sites. They are granted access to the sites you pick, which is useful when finishing a sequence is what unlocks a particular location or department.

You can switch on as many as you like. Everything configured fires together, at the moment the person is marked as finished.

3. Where should Auto-add to database go?

Here, at the end of the sequence, if you run an onboarding sequence at all.

The same setting exists on forms, and it is tempting to switch it on there so people appear in your database as soon as they apply. The cost is that everyone who ever filled the form in is then in your database, screened or not, and you lose the one thing the database is good for: being the list of people who are actually cleared to work with you.

Turning it on at the end of the sequence instead means a profile arrives in your database only once your process is genuinely complete. If you have no screening process and no onboarding sequence, the form is the right place for it. Otherwise, put it here.

4. Can a form put people into this sequence automatically?

Yes, and the setting lives on the sequence rather than only on the form. Turn on Auto-assign this sequence via form, then pick the forms it applies to. Anyone who submits one of those forms is enrolled in this sequence.

This is the inbound side of the same idea: everything else on this page is about what happens when people leave the sequence, and this is about how they get in. You can also drive enrolment from the form's own settings, or from an automation on a single question so that only certain answers lead here. See How do Forms work on Vome?

5. Can I change the email people get when they finish?

Yes. A completion notification is sent automatically when someone finishes a sequence. The Add a custom notification message setting gives you three options:

  • Leave it off and people get the default notification.
  • Turn it on and write your own subject and message, which replaces the default.
  • Turn the notification off entirely, if finishing this sequence is not something the person needs to hear about.

The custom message is worth the two minutes when the sequence ends in something concrete. Telling someone their onboarding is complete and they can now book shifts is a better last impression than a generic confirmation.

6. How is this different from step automations?

The two answer different questions.

Sequence automations answer "what happens next". They fire once, when the whole sequence is finished, and they apply to everyone who finishes it. Their actions are all forward-looking: assign, enrol, grant, tag.

Step automations answer "what happens while someone is stuck". They sit on one step, fire when a person enters it, completes it, or sits on it for a length of time you choose, and can repeat on a schedule. Their actions go both ways: as well as assigning things, they can chase someone with a "Still interested?" email, mark them inactive, remove them from the sequence or archive the profile.

Most well-built sequences use both. Step automations keep people moving through the middle, and sequence automations hand them off cleanly at the end. Full detail on the other half is in How do sequence step automations work on Vome?

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