This article explains how email scheduling works within a sequence and the different conditions that determine when a contact receives an email. An email can be scheduled based on several criteria, such as a delay after registration, a specific day or time, selected days of the week, a fixed date, or a time zone.
If an email is no longer being sent even though it worked previously, the issue may be related to the step's scheduling settings, the sequence status, the contact's status, or the email content. Use the checks below to identify the most common causes.
Understanding email scheduling in a sequence
Email scheduling is configured from the Configure step option for an email sequence step.
From this screen, you can define the conditions that determine when the email is sent, including:
the delay after registration
the day and time of sending
the days of the week on which the email can be sent
a fixed date
the time zone
These settings determine when the email can be sent to the contact. A contact progresses from one step to the next only when the sending conditions are met. If a condition has not yet been met, the email remains pending and is not sent immediately.
Check the email's Spam Score
The Spam Score can prevent an email from being sent. If the Spam Score is 5 or higher, the email is blocked and will not be sent.
To check the email:
Open the email in the editor
Click Spam Score, then click Analyze.
If necessary, revise the email content, then run the Spam score analysis again.
Check that the sequence is active
A sequence with a Deactivated status will not run any of its steps.
If the sequence is deactivated, scheduled emails will not be sent, even if the step's scheduling settings are configured correctly.
Before changing the email or its sending conditions, check that the relevant sequence is set to Active.
Check whether the contact has already completed the sequence
A contact who has already completed a sequence does not automatically receive steps that are added afterward. If you add a new email after the contact has reached the end of the sequence, that step will not run automatically for them.
In this case, the issue may not be related to the email itself. The contact may simply no longer be progressing through the sequence.
Check the contact's status
An unsubscribed contact no longer receives emails.
If an email is not being sent to a specific contact, check that the contact has not unsubscribed. From your CRM, you can filter your user database to display all your contacts who have an unsubscribed email status.
Unsubscribed contacts are excluded from email sends, even when the sequence and step are configured correctly.
Understanding how contacts progress through a sequence
Steps within a sequence do not all run immediately.
A contact progresses from one step to the next only when the sending conditions are met. If a step includes a delay, a specific date or time, selected days of the week, or a time zone, the email will remain pending until those conditions are met.
This means that an email can be configured correctly without being sent immediately.
Possible reasons why a scheduled email is not being sent
If a scheduled email is not being sent, check the following first:
the Spam Score is below 5
the Spam Score analysis was run again after making corrections
the step is scheduled for the expected sending time
the sequence is not deactivated
the contact has not already completed the sequence
the contact has not unsubscribed
all conditions required for the contact to progress through the step are met
What happens after completing these checks?
After making any necessary corrections, the email will be sent once all required conditions are met.
If you change the email content, run the Spam Score analysis again from the editor.
If you change the step's scheduling settings, check that the sending conditions correspond to the time you want the email to be sent.
If the issue affects a specific contact, check their status and their progress through the sequence before concluding that there is a problem with the scheduling configuration.