Sequences
This article covers how to create and use sequences in Ashby. Sequences let you reach out to candidates and automate emails to gauge their interest in a role.
Sequence overview
Sequences let you:
- Create personalized email templates to send to individual candidates or in bulk.
- Schedule initial outreach and set time intervals for follow-up stages.
- Streamline sourcing by contacting candidates from the Ashby Chrome extension while on a candidate’s LinkedIn profile.
- Track email opens, clicks, and responses from the candidate’s side.
Sequences are primarily built for reaching out to leads to gauge interest. If you’d like to trigger emails automatically when candidates reach a certain stage in a job pipeline, use Automated Activities instead.
Sequence access
Sequences are available on all plans:
Foundations | Legacy Plus | Plus | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Confidential sequences are available on Legacy Plus, Plus, and Enterprise plans.
Foundations | Legacy Plus | Plus | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Permissions
- Limited Access users and users linked to an agency cannot see any sequence data or enroll candidates in sequences.
- To enroll candidates in sequences, you need Elevated Access or higher.
- Elevated Access users can enroll candidates in non-confidential sequences if those candidates:
- Do not have any job considerations, or
- Are considered for a job (or jobs) where the user has Hiring Manager access or higher.
If you don’t want Elevated Access users to view data for certain sequences, you can set sequences to personal or confidential.
Personal sequences
If you create a sequence with personal access:
- Only you, Organization Admins, and Elevated Access users with a direct link to the sequence can:
- View the sequence.
- View sequence data.
- Enroll candidates in that sequence.
Confidential sequences
If you create a confidential sequence:
- Only you as the creator can:
- View the sequence and its data.
- Enroll candidates in the sequence.
Confidential sequences are available on Legacy Plus, Plus, and Enterprise plans.
Creating email sequences
To get started with sequences, you first create a sequence template.
You can access sequences from Sourcing > Sequences. From here, you can create and edit multi-stage templates with customizable tokens you can use from the Ashby app or the Chrome extension.
To create a new email sequence:
- Navigate to Sourcing > Sequences.
- Select + New.
- Enter a title for your sequence.
- Choose whether access is Shared, Personal, or Confidential.
- Optionally link the sequence to a job (more about this in Sequence LinkingSequence Linking).
- Select Create Sequence to open the template editor and configure your stages.
Once you create the template, Ashby automatically saves it so you can immediately start enrolling candidates. You can return to the sequence manager at any time to edit the sequence.
Template editor
The template editor lets you build and manage each stage of your sequence.
- Name – View and edit the name of your sequence.
- Sender – Confirm the sender of your sequence. If different stages use different senders, multiple email addresses appear here instead of a specific user’s email address. You cannot select a no-reply address or default shared email aliases as a sender.
- Stages – View all stages in the sequence and when each will send if you enroll a candidate now. Use the trash can icon to delete a stage.
- Add stage – Add additional stages to your sequence.
- X error(s) – Shows how many issues are preventing candidates from being enrolled in the sequence.
- Error – When viewing a stage, this banner explains what needs to be added or changed so candidates can be enrolled.
- Type – Choose the stage type:
- Email.
- Prompt to send a LinkedIn InMail.
- Prompt to send a LinkedIn connection request.
More on LinkedIn InMail and Connection Request stages in sequences at Sequences: InMail and Connection Request StagesSequences: InMail and Connection Request Stages.
- Send – Set when this stage should send relative to the date and time the candidate is enrolled.
- From – Choose who the email is sent from or who receives the prompt to send the LinkedIn message.
- Subject – Enter the subject line of the email or LinkedIn InMail.
- Body – Write the content of the email, InMail, or connection-request note.
You can use:
- Tokens to personalize subject lines and body text with fields like candidate name, company, or sender details.
- File attachments and links from the formatting menu below the body.
Tokens are a quick way to personalize messages without manually editing common properties. To add a token, select the t icon (hover text: “Personalize with token”) and choose a property.
There are additional guides with:
- A full list of Substitution Token options.
- Details on AI Tokens in Outreach EmailsAI-powered tokens.
Refer to those if you need more advanced personalization.
Once you exit the editor, the sequence template will auto-save and you can immediately start to enroll candidates. You can also return to the sequence manager at any point to edit the sequence.
Linking a sequence to a job
You can link a sequence to a job so Ashby can automatically manage your outbound pipeline.
When a sequence is linked to a job, Ashby uses the default lead stages to automate candidate movement:
- Candidates move from New Lead to Reached Out when Ashby sends the first sequence email.
- Candidates in the default Reached Out stage move to Replied when they reply.
If a candidate replies while they are in a custom lead stage, Ashby does not automatically move them to Replied. Move the candidate to Replied manually if needed.
- Candidates are archived in the linked job when you mark them as not interested.
- Candidates can be automatically archived after a delay if they never reply, based on the settings you configure.
Keep candidates in the default lead-stage flow when you use a sequence linked to a job. Custom lead stages between the default stages can prevent the automatic move to Replied.
When setting up a sequence, link it to a job by selecting the job from the job dropdown. Once set, you can configure the sequence template to adjust when and how candidates are archived.
Enrolling candidates in an email sequence
Once you’ve created an email sequence template, you can enroll candidates right away. The most common path is via the Ashby Chrome extension while on a candidate’s LinkedIn profile, but you can also enroll from the candidate profile in Ashby and from the sequence manager.
Organizational admins can set outreach limits so that candidates do not receive too many emails in a short amount of time. These limits can be set by navigating to Admin > Sourcing > Outreach Frequency Policy.
With an outreach frequency set, candidates who have been contacted within a set number of days will not be enrolled in sequences.
- One-off emails are still allowed.
- Policy is based on the organization’s timezone.
Enrolling a candidate from the Ashby Chrome extension
You can add candidates to Ashby and enroll them in a sequence directly from the Ashby Chrome extension.
Reason for Outreach and other custom fields
Before sending a sequence, populate details in the reason for outreach and other custom fields you create. If you have tokens in your sequences that rely on information added into custom fields, then this will ensure that information is populated.
To enroll a candidate from the Chrome extension:
- Open the candidate’s public LinkedIn profile.
- Open the Ashby Chrome extension.
- Add or update fields like Reason for outreach and any relevant candidate custom fields.
- Select Draft Sequence.
In the Draft Sequence dialog:
- Choose a sequence template from the Template dropdown.
- Select the candidate’s email address from the Email dropdown.
- Choose whether to:
- Start the sequence immediately, or
- Review the stages before sending.
If you select Review, you can:
- Review each stage.
- Adjust subject lines, bodies, or delays.
- Confirm the sender and timing.
When you are ready, select Start to begin the sequence.
If you close the dialog without starting the sequence:
- The sequence is saved as a draft on the candidate’s profile.
- You can start it later from within Ashby.
If you enroll a candidate in a sequence via the Chrome extension, that enrollment is treated as an individual sequence and cannot be edited in bulk with other enrollments.
Enrolling a candidate from their Ashby profile
To enroll a candidate from their profile in Ashby:
- Open the candidate’s profile.
- Select More > Enroll in sequence.
- Choose a sequence template from the dropdown.
- Review and personalize the stages as needed.
- Select Start 1 sequence to kick off the first stage for that candidate.
Enrolling candidate(s) from the sequence manager
You can enroll one or multiple candidates from the sequence overview page.
To enroll from the sequence manager:
- Go to Sourcing > Sequences.
- Select the sequence template you want to use to open the sequence manager.
- Select Enroll to open the enrollment manager.
- In the Add candidates field, search for the candidates you want to enroll and add them to the list.
- Any existing sequence drafts for those candidates will also appear here.
- When your list is complete, select Edit sequences.
Ashby opens the sequence editor with a candidate-level draft for each enrollment. From here you can:
- Customize each candidate’s stages.
- Fix any issues flagged in the left-hand panel (for example, missing emails).
- Choose whether to include an unsubscribe link in the email stages.
When you’re ready, select Start X sequence(s) to start the sequences for all selected candidates.
Stopping or cancelling an email sequence for a candidate
Ashby automatically stops a candidate’s sequence if they reply to one of the emails in that sequence.
To manually cancel a sequence that is in progress:
- Go to Sourcing > Sequences and open the template.
- Select the In Progress tab.
- Check the box next to the candidate(s) whose sequence you want to cancel.
- Select Cancel Sequence.
- In the bulk action dialog that appears, select Start to confirm the cancellation.
Note:
- Once a sequence has started, you cannot delete the record of that enrollment from the sequence details.
- Canceling a sequence stops further sequence stages, but does not affect any non-sequence emails already scheduled separately for that candidate.
Sequence reporting
Once you start enrolling candidates in a sequence, Ashby automatically tracks email activity and provides reporting to help you manage outreach and measure sequence effectiveness.
Sequence pipeline
Each sequence has a pipeline overview on its sequence manager page that shows current and historical enrollments at the candidate level.
To view the pipeline for a sequence:
- Go to Sourcing > Sequences.
- Select the sequence you want to view.
Ashby groups enrollments into the following stages:
- Enrolled – All candidates you’ve enrolled to date, including those with active, completed, and canceled sequences.
- In progress – Candidates currently enrolled in active sequences.
- Use this stage to find all active enrollments or to cancel active sequences in bulk.
- Completed, no reply – Candidates whose sequence ended without a reply.
- These may require a different email or sequence to re-engage.
- Replied – Candidates who replied to at least one email in the sequence.
- Replies may or may not indicate interest; review the response and manually set the response status.
- Interested – Candidates you’ve determined to be a potentially good fit and who have expressed interest.
- These are good prospects to nurture or move into a specific job pipeline.
- Converted – Candidates who have been added to a job opening and are now in the job pipeline.
- This count indicates how successful the sequence is at sourcing candidates who proceed into the pipeline.
Important:
- Candidates are filtered into these stages based on their current state.
- If a candidate is marked interested on your sequence but is later archived from the job consideration linked to that sequence, they no longer appear in the Interested segment.
Sequence metrics
Ashby also tracks sequence-level metrics, including:
- Open rate – The percentage of recipients who opened a specific email.
- Reply rate – The percentage of recipients who replied.
- Click rate – The percentage of recipients who clicked any embedded links.
You can:
- View metrics for a specific sequence on the top right of the sequence pipeline overview page.
- Get a broader view of sequence activity from Sourcing > Home:
- The top chart shows weekly sequence activity for the past three months.
- You can switch the report type to:
- Sequences sent.
- Sequence reply rate (% of candidates who replied).
- Conversion rate (% of candidates who were converted and added to a job).
- You can toggle between Mine and Everyone to change scope.
- Selecting a chart value drills down to candidate-level details.
