Onboarding Sequences

Onboarding sequences are automated, multi-step message flows that run when a new host joins — so every hire gets a consistent welcome.

Defining a sequence #

A sequence is an ordered list of steps. Each step has:

• a channel (WhatsApp and/or email),
• a delay in hours after the previous step,
• a reference to a reusable message template.

If your agency has no messaging channel connected yet, the sequence editor says so outright — a sequence with nothing to send through will record every step as skipped. Connect WhatsApp in Settings → Channels or email in Agency Settings first.

How it fires #

When an application is accepted and creates a brand-new contact, the active sequence dispatches automatically (with sub-agencies, the one described below). Steps send in order, spaced by their delays.

Sub-agencies #

If your agency has sub-agencies, a sequence can belong to one. The whole agency and each sub-agency can have one active sequence at a time: making a sequence active switches off only the other active sequence of the same sub-agency, or of the whole agency.

A new host from an application gets the active sequence of the sub-agency their new platform account is in, or the whole agency's when it is in none. A sub-agency with no active sequence onboards nobody: its new hosts don't get the whole agency's sequence instead. Sequences made before this belong to the whole agency, so in an agency with sub-agencies, a new host whose platform account is in a sub-agency isn't onboarded until that sub-agency has an active sequence of its own.

Start onboarding on a host offers the active sequence of each sub-agency their platform accounts are in, and the whole agency's when one of their accounts is in no sub-agency or they have none yet. When there is more than one, it asks which to send. People attached to a sub-agency are offered only their own sub-agency's.

When you choose a step's message template, a sub-agency's sequence offers only that sub-agency's templates, not the whole agency's, even to someone who works across the whole agency; a sub-agency that wants one creates its own. A WhatsApp step goes out on the number that fits the platform account the onboarding was started for, the way a campaign's does (see WhatsApp).

In Onboarding Sequences, people attached to a sub-agency see and manage only their own sub-agency's sequences; the whole agency's are there only for those who work across the whole agency. On a host's page, anyone who can open the host sees the name of the sequence that onboarded them, whichever it belongs to. The Hosts list's Needs attention filter, and the count beside Hosts in the menu, include a host who hasn't been onboarded only when the sub-agency their platform account is in, or the whole agency for an account in none, has an active sequence.

A platform account in a deleted sub-agency counts as in none, and a deleted sub-agency's sequence onboards nobody.

Hosts already part-way through a sequence get the rest of its steps as they were scheduled when it started, and a WhatsApp step scheduled before this change goes out on the number it would have used before.

Run history #

Open a sequence and you get a Run history tab. Every dispatch is logged: when it ran, what triggered it, how many steps were evaluated, and how many succeeded, were skipped, or failed. The list column on the sequences page shows the last run at a glance.

A step waiting for its time to send shows Queued, and then what happened when it came due: Done, Skipped with its reason, or Failed. For an email, Done means it was sent; one held back by the agency's sending limits stays Queued until the hold ends, and then shows Done if it went or Failed if it didn't. For WhatsApp, Done means WhatsApp accepted it; the message's own status shows whether it was delivered. A host's onboarding shows Completed on their page once every step has run its course. A step that failed doesn't hold that back: it shows as Failed here, in the run, which is where to look when a host says a message never came.

Open a run and you see it step by step — which step, what happened, and why, in plain words. A step that could not send is recorded as Skipped with its reason rather than disappearing:

Reason	Meaning
No messaging channel connected	The agency has neither WhatsApp nor email set up.
Step has no message template	The step points at nothing to send.
Host has no email address	An email step for a host you have no address for.
Host has no phone number	A WhatsApp step for a host you have no number for.
Onboarding was stopped before this step sent	The host's accept was undone before the step was due.
Host was archived or deleted, or their record on this platform deleted, before this step sent	No step goes to an archived or deleted host, and no WhatsApp step goes for a platform record that was deleted.
Messaging to hosts was paused when this step was due	The agency's subscription wasn't active when the step was due.
Host could not be messaged when this step was due	The host had opted out, or their number was blocked or not valid.
The onboarding could not be started, so this step was never queued	Something went wrong while the onboarding was starting. The step shows Failed and was never sent.
A template value is empty for this host	A step whose template uses a value this host didn't have when the onboarding started, when every step's message is prepared. Nothing is sent rather than a message with a gap in it.

That is the point of the log: "the host never got the welcome message" now has an answer on the screen instead of requiring a support ticket.

One thing worth knowing about how the numbers read:

• One run is recorded per host being onboarded, and its counts are that host's steps — not a count of hosts. A sequence that welcomed ten hires has ten runs.

Runs are kept for about 90 days.

Channel skipping #

If a step targets a channel the contact doesn't have (for example, an email step for a host with no email address), that step is skipped — the rest of the sequence still runs, and the skip is recorded in the run history with its reason.