A sequence is a set of email and call steps that Hive runs for each person you enroll. Hive sends the emails from the mailbox of the person's owner, in the same thread or in a new one, and waits the number of working days that you set between steps. When the person answers, the sequence stops for them.
To use sequences, you need CRM access. To open them, go to CRM and select Sequences.
Before you start
Each person that you enroll must have an owner and an email address. Sequence emails send from the owner.
The owner must have CRM access and a mailbox connected in Hive Mail (Google or Microsoft).
Create a sequence
In CRM, select Sequences, then select Create sequence.
Enter a Name and, if you want, a Description. Select Create sequence. The sequence page opens.
Under Sequence details, set the settings (see Sequence settings below).
Under Steps, set up the first step. To add more steps, select Add email step or Add call + email step.
Select Create draft. After the first save, this button is Save draft.
Select Activate version. You can enroll people only after a version is active.
Every step needs an email subject and an email body before you can save.
Change a sequence later: edit the steps, select Save draft, then select Activate version. People who are already enrolled continue on the version that was active when they were enrolled. The new version applies to people that you enroll after you activate it. Use the version menu at the top of the page to see earlier versions.
Sequence settings
Final observation delay, days: after the last step, Hive waits this number of days for an answer. If the person does not answer, the sequence ends for them with no response. This delay counts calendar days, not working days.
When AI cannot write an email: applies to steps that have AI blocks or a personalized attachment. Hive writes these parts for each person before the email is due. If it cannot, it tries once more after a few minutes. If the second try also fails, Hive does what you select here:
Send the default copy (the default): Hive sends the email with the default copy that you wrote for each AI block.
Skip the person: the person leaves the sequence and gets no more emails from it.
Stop on answers outside the thread (on by default): when this is on, the sequence also stops for a person when they book a meeting with the sender, or when they send the sender an email in a different thread. A reply or a bounce in the sequence's own thread always stops the sequence, also when this setting is off.
Steps and waits
Each step is an Email step or a Call + email step. For each step, set:
Step name
Delay: the number of working days to wait. For the first step, the delay counts from enrollment. For later steps, it counts from the step before.
Email type (second step and later): New Thread starts a new email thread. Reply sends the email in the thread of the last email that the sequence sent to this person.
Email subject and Email body. To add the person's details, select First name, Last name, Full name, Company name, Sender first name or Sender full name.
How Hive counts working days
Delays use the sender's working days, in the sender's time zone:
Hive skips the days that are not in the sender's workweek, for example Saturday and Sunday.
Hive skips the sender's holidays, if your workspace uses holiday calendars.
Time off is not counted as a holiday.
For example, if you enroll a person on a Thursday and the next step has a delay of 3, that step goes out on the next Tuesday at about the same time of day.
A delay of 0 sends the step at once, also on a weekend or a holiday. Hive checks for due steps every few minutes, so an email can go out a few minutes after its due time.
Add AI text to an email
Select AI block to add a part that Hive's agent writes for each person. Give the block a name, instructions for the agent, and Default copy to send when the agent cannot write it. An email can have up to 5 AI blocks.
Select Add personalized attachment to add a template file (PDF, PPTX or DOCX) that the agent rebuilds for each person.
Select Preview as a person to see how the email looks for one person.
Call + email steps
A Call + email step is for a call that a person on your team makes. Enter a Call script, then write the No-answer email: the email to send if nobody answers.
When the step comes due, the sequence waits for the call. The owner sees the call under Reminders in CRM in the Hive mobile app. There, they can call, log the result, or send the no-answer email:
Answered: the step is complete and the sequence continues. The no-answer email does not go out.
No answer or Left voicemail: select Email now to send the no-answer email.
Bad number: the sequence stops for this person.
The no-answer email does not go out by itself. Until someone logs the call or selects Email now, the sequence waits at this step.
If a sequence has a call + email step, its page also shows a Calls section with the calls made for this sequence.
Enroll people
One person at a time
In CRM, select Sequences.
In the row of the sequence, select Enroll person.
Search for the person and select them.
Only active sequences can take new people. A person can be in a sequence only one time, so people who were enrolled before do not show in the list.
Automatically, with a workflow
In a workflow with the Person created or Person updated trigger, add the Enroll in sequence operation and select the sequence. The emails send from the sender set in the workflow step, or from the person's owner. The workflow skips people who are already in the sequence.
When you enroll a person, the first step goes out after its delay. If the first step has a delay of 0, it goes out at once.
See each person's emails
The sequence page lists each person under People enrolled, with their status. For each person you can select:
Emails: each email in the sequence as this person will get it.
History: the result of each step that has run.
Remove: stop the sequence for this person.
When you enroll a person, Hive writes their AI text for all steps ahead of time. This way, you can read each email before it goes out, and the email does not wait for the agent when it is due.
In the Emails dialog, the text that the agent wrote is marked. Each step has one of these labels:
Same for everyone: the step has no AI text.
Not written yet or Being written: the agent has not finished this email.
Written by AI: the email is ready.
AI failed: the agent could not write the email. With Send the default copy, the dialog shows Default copy used. With Skip the person, it shows that the sequence skips this person.
Cancelled: this email will not be sent.
If an email is not ready when its step is due, the step waits and sends the email as soon as it is ready.
Send pacing
Hive does not send all of a sequence's emails at the same time. Emails from one sender in one sequence go out at least 18 seconds apart. If you enroll many people at once, their first emails go out over a few minutes.
When a sequence ends for a person
The sequence stops for a person when:
They reply in the sequence's thread.
An email to them bounces.
They book a meeting with the sender, or email the sender in another thread (only when Stop on answers outside the thread is on).
A call is logged as Bad number.
The agent cannot write their email and the sequence is set to Skip the person.
You remove them from the sequence.
All steps are done and the Final observation delay ends with no answer.
To see why a sequence ended for a person, select History in their row.
Stop a sequence
For one person: under People enrolled, select Remove in their row. Their status changes to Stopped, and the emails that are not sent yet do not go out.
For everyone: select Archive at the top of the sequence page. This stops the sequence for all people in it, and they do not start again.
If the sender's mailbox disconnects
If Hive cannot send from the owner's mailbox, it pauses the sequence for that person and tells the owner. When the owner connects the mailbox again in Hive Mail, the sequence continues.