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Build your email sequence

A sequence is an ordered list of emails, each with its own delay, subject and body. In this guide you add your first step, edit it, and put the steps in the order you want. Adding one step takes about two minutes.

Email automation requires Trustaroo Premium

This is part of Trustaroo Premium. Upgrade from Account and billing in the app to switch it on.

Before you start​

Automation has to be switched on first, otherwise the sequence never runs. See Enable automation and set it up.

Steps​

  1. Open the Automation page and select the Email Sequence panel. If nothing is configured yet you will see "No email steps configured. Add your first step below."
  2. Select Add New Step to expand the form.
  3. Enter Step Order. Use 1 for the first email, 2 for the second, and so on.
  4. Enter Delay (days). Its hint explains the rule: days after the previous step, or after entry for the first step.
  5. Optional: use the Template picker to prefill the wording. Choose an Industry and a Variant, check the Template preview, then select Apply Template. See Industry email templates.
  6. Fill in Email Subject and Email Body, or edit what the template put there.
  7. Select Add Step. The step appears in the list above the form.
  8. Repeat for each further email in the sequence.

Editing, deleting and reordering​

Each step in the list shows its order, its delay, its subject and the beginning of its body, with two icon buttons on the right.

  • The pencil button opens that step in the form below. The button then reads Update Step, and a Cancel button appears next to it.
  • The bin button deletes the step. Trustaroo asks you to confirm with a Delete step dialog first.

To reorder, edit a step and change its Step Order number. The list and the sending order both follow that number, so give two steps different numbers to keep the order predictable.

Deleting a step shifts everyone behind it

Contacts move through the sequence by position, not by step name. Deleting a step in the middle of a live sequence changes which email the contacts still in the queue receive next. Make structural changes when the queue is quiet, or accept that in-flight contacts may skip a message.

Writing the email​

The subject and body are plain text fields. Keep the body short: one line of thanks, one clear request, and the review link on its own line.

Both fields accept four variables, written with double curly braces, and Trustaroo replaces them per contact:

{{customer_name}}
{{business_name}}
{{review_url}}
{{step_number}}

Anything else in that form is rejected. If you mistype a name, the field shows an error listing the unknown variables and the allowed ones, and the step cannot be saved. Full detail is in Email template variables.

Always put {{review_url}} somewhere in the body. Without it the email has nothing to click and the customer has no way back to your review page.

A sequence that works​

Three steps is plenty for most businesses:

StepDelayPurpose
11 dayThe main request, while the visit is still fresh.
23 daysA short reminder for people who missed the first one.
35 daysOne last nudge, then stop.

The reasoning behind those numbers, and how to adjust them for your type of business, is in Email timing best practices.

Nobody gets all three

A contact who leaves a review after email 1 is set to Unsubscribed and never receives the rest. The later steps exist for the people who did not respond.