Mastering Automation Sequences: Deliver Sequential Messages to Your Users

In today's fast-paced digital world, engaging with your users effectively and at the right time is crucial. Automation sequences allow you to do just that – deliver a series of pre-defined messages to your users over a scheduled period, ensuring consistent communication and follow-up. This tutorial will guide you through the process of setting up an automation sequence in EasySocial and integrating it with your chatbot to send sequential messages.

What You'll Learn:

How to create a new automation sequence with multiple message steps.
How to incorporate dynamic variables and scheduling into your messages.
How to integrate your automation sequence into an EasySocial chatbot flow.
How to test and verify the execution of your automation sequence.

Step-by-Step Tutorial: Setting Up Your Automation Sequence

Step 1: Navigate to EasySocial Settings

First, log in to your EasySocial account. Once logged in, locate and click on the profile icon in the top right corner of your dashboard. From the dropdown menu, select 'Settings'.

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Step 2: Access Automation Sequence Menu

Within the settings page, look at the left-hand navigation menu. Click on 'Automation sequence' to proceed to the sequence management area.

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Step 3: Create a New Sequence

On the Automation Sequence page, you will see a button labeled 'New Sequence'. Click this button. A dialog will appear asking you to provide a few details about your new sequence, such as its name and a brief description. Fill in the required information and then click 'Next'.

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Step 4: Configure the First Message Step

A drawer will slide in from the right side of the screen, allowing you to add multiple steps to your sequence. Each step represents a message that will be sent to your user at a specific time relative to the sequence's activation.

For 'Step 1':

Choose a template message: Select an existing message template that you wish to send as the first message.
Handle dynamic variables: If your chosen template contains dynamic variables (personalizations), you have two options:
- Enter a custom value directly.
- Pick the value from 'Lead Data fields'. If the value for that specific user is available in EasySocial, the system will automatically customize the message with it; otherwise, it will use the predefined fallback value.
Set the schedule: Below the message configuration, you'll find the 'Schedule' option. Use this to set a delay for when this message should be sent after the sequence is triggered. For this example, let's choose '1 minute' for the first message. Once configured, continue to the next step.

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Step 5: Add Subsequent Message Steps

To add another message to your sequence, click on the 'Plus' button located directly below 'Step 1'. This will create a new step.

For this new step:

Map another template: Select a different message template that you want to send after the first message has been delivered.
Define the schedule: Set the delay for this message. For instance, you can set it to '2 days from now'.
Set a custom time (optional): You can also specify a custom time for the message delivery, for example, '10 AM'.

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Step 6: Save Your Automation Sequence

Once you have added all your desired message steps and configured their settings, click the 'Save sequence' button. Your new automation sequence is now saved and ready to be utilized within a chatbot.

Integrating the Automation Sequence with Your Chatbot

Step 7: Navigate to Chatbot Builder

From the left-hand navigation bar, go to 'Chatbot platforms' and then select 'WhatsApp'. Within the WhatsApp section, click on 'Chatbot builder'.

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Step 8: Edit Your Active Chatflow

On the Chatbot Builder page, identify your active chatflow. Click to 'Edit' it to open the chatflow editor.

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Step 9: Integrate the Sequence Node into Your Chatflow

In your current chatflow, let's assume there's a 'Contact Us' branch. Our goal is to trigger the automation sequence when a user clicks on the 'Contact Us' button. To achieve this, you need to introduce a 'Sequence' node into the flow. The 'Sequence' node can be found under the 'Automation' category in the node library. Drag and drop this node into your chatflow, placing it logically, for example, between the 'Welcome' message and 'Contact details' nodes.

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Step 10: Select Your Created Sequence

Double-click on the newly added 'Sequence' node in your chatflow. A properties drawer will appear on the right side of the screen. From the options presented, select the specific automation sequence you just created earlier (e.g., 'Marketing sequence').

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Step 11: Save and Exit the Chatflow

Once you have configured the 'Sequence' node with your automation sequence, click 'Save' to save the changes to your chatflow, and then 'Exit' the chatbot builder.

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Testing Your Automation Sequence

Step 12: Test Your Automation Sequence

It's time to put your new setup to the test! Open WhatsApp and send a 'Hi' message to your EasySocial-integrated number. This will trigger your chatbot and display its main menu, which should include a 'Contact Us' button.

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Step 13: Initiate the Sequence on WhatsApp

Click on the 'Contact us' button within the WhatsApp chat. The chatbot should respond with the next message in your flow. Simultaneously, this action should trigger the 'Sequence' node, activating the 'Marketing sequence' you created.

Step 14: Verify Sequence Activation

To confirm that the sequence has been activated, refresh the EasySocial page where you manage contact information. On the right side of the contact's details, you should now see a new card labeled 'Automation Sequence'. This card indicates that your sequence has been successfully added for this contact. You will also see an option to cancel the sequence if needed. The sequence is now poised to begin its work, with the first message scheduled to be sent after 1 minute, as we configured.

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Step 15: Confirm Sequence Execution

After waiting for the scheduled delays (1 minute for the first message, and 2 days for the second, as per our example), you will observe that the automation sequence has successfully executed. All messages within the sequence will have been delivered to the user at their designated times.

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Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully learned how to set up an automation sequence in EasySocial, integrate it into your chatbot's workflow, and verify its execution. Automation sequences are powerful tools for nurturing leads, providing follow-up information, or delivering drip-feed content automatically. By mastering this feature, you can significantly enhance your communication strategy and ensure timely engagement with your users without manual intervention.

Experiment with different message templates, delays, and dynamic variables to create highly personalized and effective communication flows for your specific needs.