Sequences >> increase limit of emails per sequence

HubSpot Ideas
41

Hi Community,

With the addition of the new `Email` steps in sequences (also referred to as Manual emails), users can now build sequences with an unlimited number of emails. This means that when crafting and executing a sequence, processes can be built to make sure the appropriate number of email steps are carried out before giving up on a contact. If a planned outreach process requires 6 or more emails, you’ll no longer need to divide this process out into two seperare sequences.

Sequences will still have a limit of 5 automated emails added to a sequence. While we believe that some sales processes require more than 5 email steps, we also believe that 1:1 email automation requires a degree of personalization and mindfulness when reaching out, especially as email volume increases beyond the first 5 unanswered emails. With the new ‘Email’ step it’s now possible to personalize each email template on the day they send, powered by Sequences automation.

42

Need 5+ auto emails. The manual ones are fine but I would still like 5+ auto on top of that in order to help maximise outreach connection.

This hasn’t been delivered in my opinion. Having used Outreach and Salesloft previously, I think you need to match their functionality in this regard.

43

I’m so shocked this hasn’t been added by this point. And there seems to be this assumption from HubSpot that “if you haven’t reached your audience by email #5, then you won’t,” which is totally inaccurate. There are dozens (probably more) of case studies and examples showing the most successful nuture campaigns include up to 12 (!) touches. Seems smug and reductive to assume that all industries/businesses/nurture campaigns are the same and capped out at 5.

44

OK HubSpot Product team, an update please? The response from @glencornell (pasted below) ignored the requested functionality - the whole point of a sequence is that it’s automated and can be sent 1:1. We don’t want to add more manual emails. Just lift the cap from 5 - everyone agrees that “5” is arbitrary and previous contributions by customers have cited hard data that substantiates the need for more. We have over 80 upvotes. It’s been over 3 years since it was initially requested. This is an easy win. Can you please deliver on this?

[From HubSpot Product Team in Jan 2020]

Hi Community!

We are in the process of creating a new sequence email send type to allow for “Manual Emails”. With this release, we will remove the limit for emails in s sequence. There will still be a limit of 5 “automated emails” per sequence.

With this release we are also be including native LinkedIn InMail messages into sequences.

Best,
Glen

45

I don’t know what is worse, trying to move folks from sequence to sequence or ask them to manually send emails. Nevertheless, both approaches are waste of time; It creates friction in the prospecting process and exhausting sales reps. The feedback I’m getting from the team is that they spend time personalising emails and the last thing they want to do is spend more time sending them.
@glencornell there was another 10 upvotes since the last comment made in January 2021…

46

I’m not trying to be a Karen here, but there’s some things the Hubspot folks really need to understand:

Regarding the 5 template limit: it’s absolutely insane that this was requested 3 years ago and the Hubspot team still hasn’t given the customers what they asked for (to lift the 5 template per sequence restriction). As others have said, the improvement you’ve offered completely misses the boat. It creates a problem that sequences were supposed to solve: taking the manual work out of prospecting. Instead, it’s now adding work to prospecting.

You may think the reserach says “5 emails or no win” but there’s a much larger body of reasearch that says otherwise. After 3 years, you gotta listen to the people that are doing this day in and day out… the customers of your platform. There’s a time to stand on principle, and this is definitely not it. Not against your customers on something as trivial as a template limit.

As mentioned above, keep in mind that we are your paying customers. There’s a reason the addage is “the customer is always right.” If we don’t use your platform to the fullest extent, because it has perplexing limitations like this, then it means we’ll go and find those capabilities elsewhere (like a competitor’s platform). Once we start using the competition, it’s more likely we’ll boot you out once we see something with a more complete vision. I mean, this isn’t new logic. This is how, I’d say, a significant portion of your customers make their living (i.e. “land and expand”). All this to say, if you won’t, then (at a macro level) the customers will find someone who can.

I’m using Hubspot for the first time after 5 years of using Outreach, and I gotta say that I was very excited about what this platform has to offer. Looking at this with fresh eyes, I didn’t think I’d be missing a thing. But having a 5 template limit on sequences makes Hubspot sequences absolutely unusable. It kills Hubspot’s platform advantage, akin to a table with one uneven leg. I’ll be asking my company for Outreach, because I know it’ll get the job done in this regard.

In conclusion, I’m not here to rant for my own purposes, or to hear myself speak (figuratively). This is truly important and the Hubspot team needs to reconsider their position on this issue, as it’s not a matter of principle, but a matter of outright not listening to the customer.

47

I 1000% agree to the concerns and issues around the 5 email limit. With prospecting so much more challenging these days, and touches increasing before a prospect engages, we need the ability to have longer sequences with a higher limit or unlimited amount of automated emails. It creates a LOT of extra work for someone to go back in when 1 sequence has ended, choose the right contacts (less those that have been unenrolled) and start them on a new sequence.

48

Yea just piling on here. Have seen a lot of comment from the Hubspot team but nothing that says specifically “NO you cannot send more than 5 emails in a sequence without manually going in and personalizing or breaking it down into several different sequences”. Agree that this seems to indicate that Hubspot has no idea how we use this tool. Rarely do 5 emails do the job or illicit a response.

Why isn’t this in development? Have there not been enough requests for this feature (three years of history JUST in this thread)? What’s the constraint or limitation that makes this unfeasible? Some simple communication might help us (hubspot users) understand why this limit exists and why hubspot seems so married to it.

For those researching highly recommend outreach.io or prospect.io, both are very effective prospecting tools with no limitations on sequences.

49

I agree with ALL of the complaints here, especially @JBussman @BSmith33.. As a previous user of Outreach.io, I’ve gotten a good amount of replies from prospects after the 5th email. Sure, a lot after the 2nd or 3rd follow up email, however, the point is to capture all of the money left on the table after the 5th email limitation. Your R&D and product team’s jobs are to make your customer’s lives easier, right?

I have two main complaints about your limited sequencing product, and everybody here has very valid points so please, please listen Hubspot. Since it’s been years and these products are still “under review,” it’s looking like I’ll have to make my team budget yet another platform for sequencing when you have the feature built in already, just with severe limitations and you’re still not listening to your customers.

Possible work-arounds to having more than 5 emails would be adding a 6th+ manual email task with the email written in a template, or creating another sequence to move the contacts who haven’t responded over to… both wastes of time since we want to automate as much as possible right?

Which leads me to my second problem. Even if we get more than 5 automated emails for a sequence, I have a problem with 5 of the same subject lines within one sequence if I want to thread my email sequence (1 fresh, 4 Re: to that same 1st subject line). These two problems work hand in hand so I’m going to include another thread in here about not threading 5 email subject lines straight as well. https://community.hubspot.com/t5/HubSpot-Ideas/Threading-individual-emails-in-sequence/idi-p/180238#comments. You had a great experimental toggle threading on/off within the sequence that never came into fruition. Why? Can we have a status update?

Even if you extended the 5 email limit to 10 or 15, I’d like the option to thread some of the emails and not others. As in, If i were to thread the emails, I wouldn’t want 10 of the same email subject lines. It should work like this instead:

Email 1 in sequence

Subject line: Can we have a quick call, <FirstName>?

Email 2 in sequence

Subject line: RE: Can we have a quick call, <First Name>? (THREADING ON)

Email 3 in sequence

Subject line: ROI on your mind? (THREADING OFF)

Email 4 in sequence
Subject line: Re: ROI on your mind? (THREADING ON)

So, my current work-around for this is to create a Folder for a sequence, with 4 different sequences, to thread 4 different threads, having to set a task to manually move prospects who don’t answer one mini-sequence, to the next step.. this is incredibly painful and disappoints me, Hubspot.

Sequence Folder:

-Sequence 1: Subject 1

Threaded Re: Subject 1

-Sequence 2: Subject 2

Threaded Re: Subject 2

-Sequence 3: Subject 3

Threaded Re: Subject 3

-Sequence 4: Subject 4 Last email

50

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes…

So. Much. Yes…!!!

51

We need this in our business. Follow up is key – 10 email minimum.

52

This is strange that this issue is still not resolved after 3 years and 118 Upvotes, as I am writing this. REMOVE this 5 automated email cap. Period. It is ridiculous that it even exists.

53

Could not agree more, @CThornblad

54

@CThornblad @JMiller7 yes! This is something that we’d really like to see. I know that this idea may have been good thing to implement at the beginning, but the field of prospecting and engagement has changed so much even over the last 5 years. People need to be wooed and it takes longer than ever!

This is something to keep top of mind for Hubspot for sure!

55

@sethnenstiel @CThornblad @JMiller7 Absolutely! It takes an average of 8 touchpoints JUST to get a meeting with a prospect, let alone close a deal. Limiting the sales sequence to just 5 automated emails is limiting the potential of businesses who use Hubspot. Not only this, but it wastes more time for those in the marketing department who are creating additional steps in the sequences and tasking sales with adding prospects to a 2nd or even 3rd sequence. REMOVE THE LIMIT!

56

Preach it, Brother…! (Or Sister…?!) :grin:

57

@Clwagner and @JMiller7 – there we go! There we go!

It would also be great if they moved the Auto Enroll in Sequences back from Enterprise to Sales Pro!

58

Did someboy have found the solution to send more than 5 emails (limit) in a sequence ?
I have to send 7 emails automaticly…I don’t want to send 2 emails manualy, that’s crazy :slightly_smiling_face:

59

Hi JRocchio,
This has not been solved yet, to the best of my knowledge.
It’s a very frustrating problem, to be sure.

60

So here we are in 2022 and still this email increase hasn’t happened. Asking to create a manual task to send is simply unproductive and inefficient. I’m supposed to manually click each task and do that for the 100 people in my sequence? All research shows emails are opened between 5-10th outreach. Please refer to the graphic from Axel, from 2017 no less.

Can we fix this already instead of this manual workaround?

Thanks!