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How Sequences Work

Sequences let you send a series of timed messages to contacts who have opted in. Each sequence consists of email steps and, on the Advanced plan, optional SMS steps, with configurable delays between them. When a contact is enrolled, they automatically move through each step in order.

Send from your email

Emails are sent from your own address (e.g., matt@yourcompany.com). Replies go directly to your inbox.

Track engagement

Monitor open rates, click rates, and bounces for each email step in your sequence.

Timed delivery

Set delays between steps (minutes, hours, or days) and configure a sending window so emails arrive during business hours.

Manage enrollments

Enroll contacts manually, in bulk, or automatically via workflows when someone submits a form.

SMS via Salesmsg (Advanced)

Add SMS steps and choose a Send from number in sequence settings. Each teammate connects their own Salesmsg account in Settings → Sending.

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Getting Started

1

Set up your sending domain

Go to Settings → Sending Domain and add your domain (open Sending Domain settings →). You’ll need to add a few DNS records (SPF, DKIM, and a tracking CNAME) to verify ownership. This is a one-time setup.
2

Create a sequence

Go to the Sequences page and click “New Sequence”. Add email steps with subjects and body content. Set delays between steps.
3

Configure sender identity

In your sequence’s Settings tab, enter the From Name and From Email you want to send from. The email domain must match your verified sending domain.
4

Activate and enroll contacts

Click Activate to publish the sequence, then enroll contacts manually or automatically via a workflow trigger.
See the Email Sending Domain Setup guide for detailed DNS configuration instructions.

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SMS steps (Salesmsg)

On the Advanced plan, you can click Add SMS step in the sequence editor. SMS is delivered through Salesmsg; it is not a separate workflow node.
  1. Team setup: At least one member connects Salesmsg under Settings → Sending (in the You section) → SMS (open Sending settings →), chooses a Message Inbox and Default Phone Number, and clicks Save Settings. See the Salesmsg integration guide.
  2. Per sequence: Open the sequence Settings tab → SMS section and set Send from number (required to publish if the sequence includes any SMS step). That selects both the phone number and which teammate’s Salesmsg connection sends the messages.
  3. Contacts: Enrolled contacts must have a phone value suitable for SMS (E.164 format, e.g. +14155551234).

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Building a Sequence

The sequence editor lets you build a multi-step flow with delays between each step.

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Time zones

Steps go out in the contact’s own time zone when Orbit knows it: the Time zone on the contact record, the country of their phone number (countries with one time zone), or a time zone they gave on a form or booking page. Otherwise the sequence’s time zone is used. The Recipients tab shows the zone each contact’s emails are timed in.

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Sender Identity

Each sequence has its own sender identity configured in the Settings tab:
  • From Name: The display name recipients see (e.g., “Matt Smith” or “Orbit Support”). This appears in the recipient’s inbox.
  • From Email: The email address emails are sent from (e.g., matt@yourcompany.com). The domain must be verified in Settings → Sending. Replies go directly to this address.
Domain Must Be Verified: You cannot activate a sequence until the From Email’s domain is verified. If you enter matt@yourcompany.com, then yourcompany.com must be set up and verified in Settings → Sending.

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Sending on a teammate’s behalf

When you enroll contacts, Send as picks who the emails come from: the sequence’s own sender, or a teammate with a connected email account. Sent as a teammate, the emails carry their name, their address on your sending domain and their signature, and replies land in their Inbox. Admins can send as anyone; editors can send as themselves.

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Daily sending limits

Admins can cap how many sequence emails each sender sends a day, with a workspace default and a limit per sender, in Settings → Sending Domain. When a sender reaches the limit, the rest of the day’s emails wait for their next day (in their own time zone) and go out in each contact’s send window; nothing is skipped. The Recipients tab shows Paused: daily cap reached with the time the email will go.

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Enrolling from the Contacts list

Select contacts (or a saved view’s contacts) and choose Enroll in sequence in the bulk actions bar. Pick the sequence and who it sends as, and Orbit shows how many will be enrolled and who will be skipped and why (already enrolled, unsubscribed, no email, no access) before you confirm. Up to 500 contacts at a time.

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Unsubscribe Handling

OrbitForms includes built-in unsubscribe support for compliance and deliverability. You can configure the unsubscribe link style in each sequence’s Settings tab:
Your Responsibility When Removing the Unsubscribe Link: If you choose “None”, no unsubscribe link will be included in your emails. It is your responsibility to ensure your emails comply with applicable anti-spam laws such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and CASL. Many jurisdictions require a way for recipients to opt out of commercial emails. Only remove the unsubscribe link if you are confident the emails do not require one (e.g., transactional messages or existing one-to-one conversations).

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Unsubscribe enforcement

  • Always respected: Regardless of your unsubscribe link setting, OrbitForms will never send to a contact who is on your unsubscribe list. If a contact has previously unsubscribed, they are blocked from receiving any sequence emails even if the sequence has the unsubscribe link set to “None”.
  • Automatic removal: When a contact unsubscribes (via the link, email client button, or manually added to the list), they are immediately removed from all active sequences and cannot be re-enrolled.
  • List-Unsubscribe header: When using “Stop hearing from me” or “Unsubscribe”, a machine-readable List-Unsubscribe header is included. This enables the “Unsubscribe” button in Gmail and Outlook, which improves deliverability. This header is not included when set to “None”.

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Exit & Entry Criteria

Each sequence’s Settings tab lets you control when contacts leave a sequence (Exit criteria) and when they’re prevented from enrolling (Entry criteria).

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Exit criteria

When any enabled condition is met, the contact is removed from the sequence automatically:
Chain sequences together: Use “Added to another sequence” to build handoffs. For example, when a contact is added to your “Qualified Leads” sequence, they can automatically exit your “Top of Funnel” sequence.

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Entry criteria

  • Skip if meeting already booked: Contacts who have already scheduled a meeting through your scheduler are not enrolled. Configure the look-back period (in days) to control how far back the check goes — set it to 0 to check all time.
Cancelled meetings are ignored by both the entry check and the “Meeting booked” exit condition, so a cancelled booking never affects a contact’s enrollment.

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Analytics & Tracking

Each sequence has an Analytics tab showing overall and per-step performance:

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Next Steps

Email Sending Setup

Verify your sending domain

Salesmsg (SMS)

Connect Salesmsg and configure inbox & numbers

Workflows

Auto-enroll contacts from forms