A sequence is a series of emails that send themselves, each a set time after the previous one. It needs Postalion Pro and Postalion 1.6 or newer. Sequences live under Postalion → Sequences.
What starts one
- Someone joins a list: the moment a subscriber is confirmed on that list (or added without double opt-in).
- Someone gets a tag: from a form, an import, the Subscribers screen, WooCommerce or code.
- A WooCommerce order is placed: when the free plugin records a paid order for a subscriber. A new order starts the series again once the previous run finished.
- A cart sat untouched for the minutes you set: see Shop automations.
- A customer's last order is N days old: once per order, for people with the "last order" field.
One person goes through a sequence once. Pausing a sequence stops new starts and holds everyone where they are; activating it again continues.
The emails
Each step has a delay in days and hours counted from the previous email (0 and 0 means right away), a subject and a text. They render in the template you pick for the sequence, with the same placeholders as a newsletter: {first_name}, {subscriber_name}, any custom field, and for shop sequences {order_number}, {order_total}, {order_date}, {product_names}, {cart_link}, {cart_total}, {shop_url}. Every email carries the unsubscribe and preferences links and goes into the Logs with the type "sequence".
What stops one early
- The person unsubscribes: always.
- The person places an order, if you tick it. Cart sequences stop on an order regardless.
- The person gets a tag you name, for example "Customer" or "Booked".
When emails go out
A step with no delay is sent at once. The rest are sent by a check that runs every five minutes with your site's cron, together with the free plugin's own jobs. If WP-Cron is off on your host, point a real cron at wp-cron.php, as for scheduled newsletters.
Numbers
The Sequences screen shows how many people are in each sequence now, how many went through to the end and how many stopped early. Per-email opens and clicks appear in the newsletter statistics when they are on.
Next: Segments