It would be great to be able to test a sequence immediately (see the emails and task notifications) instead of having to wait for it process through the timing.
I'm Ana, the PM for sequences here at HubSpot. This idea is on our radar, but not our roadmap at this time, specifically through the end of 2023. I understand the need to test out and preview the content you’re sending your prospects and contacts, and we'll continue to investigate how to make this a reality.
I also wanted to highlight a workaround mentioned in this thread: sequence emails are made up of templates, which can be sent to yourself to preview how an email will appear to recipients. To do this, navigate to any test contact, open up the email compose window and click ‘Templates’ to select and send any email template.
I appreciate the feedback and examples shared in the thread! If you would like to chat more about this or other sequences feedback, please feel free to message me directly and we can continue the conversation.
For transparency, I'm updating this idea to 'Not currently planned' because sending a test sequence is not currently planned in the team's work this quarter. This idea is on our radar though, and we see agree with the value that comes with being able test send an entire sequence enrollment immediately rather than needing to wait several days. Doing this would mirror some functionality that is currently possible in Workflows.
I will update here if and when we decide to review this issue to be planned in the sequences roadmap.
None that I can see. Really debating a push to Marketo and SFDC given how lax updates that matter are lately....ops is vital and if we can't QA that's a HUGE issue.
This is getting ridiculous. I just had a sequence go out with an error - yes it was my error but I would have caught it if I was able to do a sequence test. How many years does it take a team of the world's top marketing software developers to make a sequence test available?...when it's already available through other email platforms like Mailshake...
Not much to say here that hasn't already been addressed but this is clearly a critical need and surprising that it's gone 3+ years without any traction, especially as other Hubs are growing.
As someone who has worked more on the Marketing hub side of things, I've always assumed this was a default feature we lean heavily on on our side of the house!
Two points around the specific use case that brought this gap to my attention:
- Bulk Sends: Now that 'mass' sequence sends up to 50 contacts are available, this seems like a necessary feature before larger sends are set to go out
- Training New Team Members/Risk Management: This is an important feature when training new sales team members, especially those who are new to Hubspot.
Not having the ability for there to be oversight when training and checking new team members' first sequences aside from a screen share is a gap.
I can only guess that this is a function they want to monetize, and just haven't figured out how to segment it out of lower subscription levels yet. Hubspot is a public company and they have to deliver value for investors. They can't give something for nothing.
@EW516 That's a good point. And they totally did that with sending sequences out on behalf of someone else...it requires a workflow and only Enterprise clients have that. But functionality makes or breaks the competitive edge. When marketing and sales directors are looking around to make a purchase, these things can make a difference. And it's got to be an easy fix too. Very disappointing.
Much needed! I came here via a search on how to do this. Since it doesn't exist, I'm going to try sending each of my team members each the five emails in a sequence right from their records. This will be tedious though sending 25 sequences just to test it. It's much easier in workflows.
Jackieru, I tested in what may an easier way (yet still tedious) by enrolling myself in a sequence, selecting 1st email step, send now. Then I unenrolled myself and re-enrolled and started it at the 2nd email, send now, etc.
At least this way you don’t have to spam your team, or wait for their feedback. And you can make any changes needed on the fly.
Adding on to the list of commenters - I would like to see a test functionality in sequences with template emails. Testing emails to ensure accuracy is essential. I am surprised Hubspot does not have this feature already in place. Buliding this feature should be moved up on the priority list. Thanks!
On a side note, one other benefit I found by sending it to myself was, that I had set up an A/B Sequence test, and accidentally deleted one of them. You CANNOT retrieve a deleted sequence (though you can most other items), so fortunately it was easy to recreate because I had saved all 5 test emails.
