Sequence step send times

Steps in sequences execute at 24-hour intervals, which means that each step will execute at the same time the contact was first enrolled. You can customize the delays for each step to make the delays between emails and tasks longer, or to allow emails to send on weekends. Learn how weekend days impact sequence delays, how to customize the follow-up email send times and task creation times, and how incomplete tasks impact sequence delays. 

Please note: HubSpot sends sequences emails one at a time from a single queue. If multiple sequences emails are scheduled to send at the same time, the sends will be staggered by 30 seconds. 

Send follow-up emails on the weekend

If the first step in your sequence is an email, it will send out on the day that you start the sequence, whether it's a weekday or the weekend. By default, though, subsequent emails in the sequence will only send on weekdays. If a sequence step is scheduled to execute on a weekend day, the email will not send. Instead, the email will send on the following Monday at the time of day the contact was first enrolled.

For example, you built the following sequence:

• Send Template A.
• If no reply after 3 days, send Template B.
• If no reply after 3 days, send Template C.

A contact is enrolled in this sequence at 5 PM on Monday. Assuming the contact doesn't respond to any emails, here is the time/day each step will execute:

• The contact will receive Template A when enrolled at 5 PM on Monday.
• The contact will receive Template B at 5 PM on Thursday.
• The contact is scheduled to receive Template C at 5 PM on the following Sunday, but by default will be sent the email at 5 PM on Monday.

If you want contacts to be able to receive emails in your sequence on Saturday and Sunday, you can disable this setting on a contact-by-contact basis by clearing the Send follow-ups on weekdays only checkbox before enrolling a contact in your sequence.

Customize sequence follow-up send times

You can customize when follow-up emails will be sent and when follow-up tasks will be created. When enrolling a contact in your sequence:

• In the upper right, click the Follow-up options dropdown menu. In the window, customize the email and task follow ups:
  • To ensure emails are only sent on weekdays, select the Send follow-ups on weekdays only checkbox.
  • To keep sequence emails in the same thread, select the Thread follow-up emails as replies to the first email checkbox. These settings will override the sequence's default settings.
  • Select when each subsequent email should send:
    • Send follow-ups at manually set time: specify a send time for each email in your sequence. To manually set the send time, use the dropdown menus above each email in the sequence.
    • Send follow-ups within a time range: click the dropdown menus to set a time range for each follow-up email to execute in the sequence.
    • Send follow-ups at recommended send times (Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise only): follow-up emails will be sent at a time with the highest open rate for that day. This time is determined by HubSpot.

• • Next, select when tasks should be created:
    • Create follow-up tasks at manually set times: specify a time for each task to be created in your sequence. To manually set the send time, use the dropdown menus above each task in the sequence.
    • Create follow up tasks at default time: select and click the dropdown menu to set a time for each follow-up task to be created in the sequence.

• Click Apply.

Please note: by default, a sequence will pause until the preceding task is complete. If there is a delay between the task and when the next step is scheduled to execute, the delay does not begin until the task is complete. This means if you have an email scheduled to send two days after a task, the sequence will not start the two day delay until the task is complete.