A Sequence in Zoho Bigin is a series of automated, response-based follow-ups that keeps a record engaged through emails, tasks, and calls. Each follow-up can trigger the next step based on timing or how the record actually responds, letting you build a genuinely personalised engagement journey rather than a single one-off action. Once a Sequence is defined and records are enrolled, Bigin runs the configured follow-ups automatically, and records can also be set to un-enrol automatically once a desired response is received.
Sequences can be built for the Team Pipelines and Contacts modules.
Both features automate parts of your business process, but they serve different purposes. Workflows are best suited to one-time actions triggered by a specific business event. Sequences are built for personalised, multi-step follow-up journeys that adapt based on how the customer actually interacts with each step.
Only Administrators, and users who have been given profile-level access to the Sequences feature specifically, can manage Sequences. Sequences are found under Setup, then Automation.
Click Email Follow-up, choose whether the email sends immediately on enrolment or after a set delay, name the follow-up, select the recipients from the record's email fields or related modules, choose the email template, and set the From and Reply To addresses.
Click Task Follow-up, set when the task should be created, name it, choose the task owner (the Record Owner is selected by default), set a due date relative to the trigger date, and optionally enable owner notifications, a reminder, or High Priority status.
Available for the Contacts module only. Click Call Follow-up, set when the call should be scheduled, name it, choose the call owner, and set the call start time relative to the trigger time, along with the call's purpose and agenda.
A subsequent follow-up is an additional step that fires after the initial one, continuing engagement based on how the customer responded, or didn't. After configuring your first follow-up, click the + icon in the next column to add another email, task, or call, and specify which action from the previous step should trigger it.
A real estate business receiving an enquiry about a luxury apartment might: send a brochure email immediately; once the customer opens it, automatically create a task for a rep to call and discuss requirements; once that task is completed, schedule a follow-up call about a site visit; if the call goes well, send a confirmation email with visit details; and once the customer clicks the booking link in that email, assign a high-priority task to a manager to handle pricing and booking formalities. The same branching logic works whether the trigger is email activity, task completion, or a call outcome.
If you need a similar Sequence with only minor changes, such as a different email template or timing, click the More icon and select Clone Sequence rather than building it again from scratch. The cloned Sequence keeps the same module as the original; this can't be changed during cloning.
A Sequence is automatically saved as a Draft while you're building it, and stays entirely inactive, no enrolments and no follow-ups sent, until you publish it. Once published, manually enrolled records begin progressing immediately, and custom view-based Sequences enrol matching records automatically going forward.
Click View Reports on a Sequence's configuration page for detailed performance metrics across emails, tasks, and calls, switching between a Follow-up View and a Report View as needed. Sequence activity can also be used as a filter in module views, letting you find records currently enrolled, records that completed a Sequence, or records that responded to a specific follow-up but haven't been actioned yet.
Records can be enrolled individually from a record's detail page via its Sequences related list, or in bulk from a module's list view. A single record can be enrolled in up to five Sequences at once, and up to 100 records can be enrolled into a single Sequence in one bulk action.
From Manage Preferences on the Sequence builder, you can choose when records should be automatically un-enrolled: never, once any email in the Sequence gets a reply, once the record no longer matches the custom view criteria, or on a specific date. Un-enrolling a record cancels all its remaining scheduled follow-ups.
Un-enrolled or completed records can be re-enrolled later. If a Sequence was previously Stopped or Failed, you can Resume from where it left off, or Restart from the first follow-up. Records that already completed a Sequence can only be Restarted. Re-enrolment currently only works for manually enrolled Sequences; custom view-based Sequences don't automatically re-enrol a record that leaves and later re-enters the view.