PippifyHelp Center

How to Put Leads on a Sequence

Feature Availability User Permissions Business Type Time to Complete Skill Level
All plans and the free trial All roles All business types About 5 minutes Beginner

Summary

Overview: Besides the automatic follow-ups from your default sequence, you can start any turned-on sequence for a lead yourself. You can do it from the lead's Follow-up section, from a sequence's View leads page (several leads at once), or when you add a new lead.

Prerequisites:

  • At least one sequence exists and is turned on. See How to Create a Follow-Up Sequence.
  • The lead has a way to be reached: a real email address, a phone number your plan can text, or a recent Messenger or WhatsApp conversation.

How Pippin Decides

  1. When you start a sequence, the first message goes out right away, or at the next opening of your sending window.
  2. If the lead has a quote waiting in the Review Queue, the sequence still starts, but its messages wait until the quote is approved or rejected.
  3. Each later step waits its delay after the previous message. Pippin writes each one from the conversation.
  4. The sequence stops by itself if the lead replies, books a meeting, unsubscribes, asks to pause or stop follow-ups, or is marked won or lost.
  5. After the last step, the sequence waits for a reply for the time set in the sequence, then ends (and marks the lead lost if the sequence is set to).

Limits

  • A lead can be on only one sequence at a time.
  • You can't start a sequence for a lead who is archived, marked won or lost, unsubscribed, or who asked to pause or stop follow-ups.
  • Only turned-on sequences can be started.
  • Starting a sequence by hand doesn't count toward the limit on automatic enrollments.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Option A: From the lead's Follow-up section

  1. Open the lead in the Inbox (the Follow-up section is in the lead details on the right) or open the lead's page from Leads (the Follow-up card is in the column on the right).

  2. In Follow-up, choose a sequence from the Sequence list. Each option shows the name, (default) for the default, and the steps, for example Hot lead blitz (default) — 3 steps · email→SMS→email.

  3. Click Start followed by the sequence name, for example Start Hot lead blitz.

  4. If something is waiting for approval, Pippify asks first:

    • This lead's quote is still awaiting approval in the Review Queue. Follow-ups will be held until it's cleared. Start anyway?
    • A booking link for this lead is still awaiting approval. The follow-up will go out without it. Start anyway?

    Click OK to start, or Cancel.

  5. The section now shows the sequence, the step and when the next message is due, for example Hot lead blitz · Step 1 of 3 · next touch in 2 days.

Option B: Several leads from the sequence's page

  1. In the left menu, click Sequences.
  2. On the sequence's card, click View leads.
  3. Click Add leads. The button is greyed out while the sequence is turned off, and the page says This sequence is switched off. Switch it on in Sequences to add leads.
  4. Search by name, company, email or lead ID, then tick the leads you want. Each lead shows its ID under the name. Leads that can't be started are greyed out with the reason:
    • Already in this sequence
    • In "…" (already on another sequence)
    • Marked won or lost
    • Unsubscribed, Follow-ups paused or No follow-ups
    • No way to reach this lead
  5. Click Start (N), where N is the number you ticked.
  6. Pippify shows the result, for example Started 3 leads on this sequence., and lists any lead that didn't start with the reason.
  7. Click Add more to start more leads, or Done.

The list shows the first 50 leads. Search to find others. Sales Reps see only the leads assigned to them.

Option C: When you add a new lead

  1. In the left menu, click Leads, then Add Lead.
  2. Fill in the lead's details. Add an email address or a phone number.
  3. Tick Start a follow-up sequence. (This can't be combined with Send AI intro message, because the sequence's first message goes out right away.)
  4. Choose the sequence from the Sequence list.
  5. Save the lead.
  6. A message confirms "Lead added and the sequence started". If the lead was added but the sequence couldn't start, you see "Lead added, but the sequence did not start:" followed by the reason.

Stop a sequence for one lead

  1. In the lead's Follow-up section, click Stop & Remove.
  2. Confirm Stop the follow-up sequence for this lead? This cannot be undone.
  3. The lead's conversation shows Follow-up sequence ended — stopped by and your name, so your team can see who stopped it.

Verify It Worked

Success criteria:

  • The lead's Follow-up section shows the sequence name and Step 1 of ….
  • The lead's row in the Inbox, the Leads table and the board shows a sequence chip with the name and step, for example Hot lead blitz · 1/3.
  • The lead appears on the sequence's View leads page under Active.

Troubleshooting

Common errors

  • "This lead already has an active follow-up sequence. Stop it first.": Fix: click Stop & Remove, then start the new one.
  • "This lead is archived. Unarchive it before starting a follow-up sequence.": Fix: unarchive the lead first.
  • "This lead is marked won or lost — move it back to an open stage before starting a follow-up sequence.": Fix: change the lead's stage to an open one.
  • "This lead asked us to stop following up. You can still message them yourself." (or the pause version with a date): the lead used the link in a follow-up email. Fix: respect their choice and reply by hand if needed.
  • "This lead has no way to reach them — no real email address, no phone number your plan can text, and no Messenger or WhatsApp conversation — so a follow-up sequence cannot reach them.": Fix: add an email address or phone number to the lead.
  • "No step of this sequence can reach this lead with the channels they have.": Fix: choose a sequence with a channel the lead has, or add contact details.
  • "This lead last wrote on Messenger or WhatsApp more than 24 hours ago, so we cannot message them there until they write again, and they have no email address or phone number to fall back to.": Fix: wait for the lead to write again, or add an email or phone number.
  • "No email inbox is connected, so this sequence cannot send its emails. Connect your email (Gmail or Zoho Mail) in Settings → Channels, then start it again." (or the SMS, WhatsApp or Messenger version): Fix: an Admin connects that channel, then start again.
  • "That sequence is disabled — enable it on the Sequences page first.": Fix: an Admin turns the sequence on.
  • Add leads is greyed out: the sequence is turned off. The tooltip says Enable this sequence on the Sequences page first.
  • "Add an email or phone number to start a sequence." (in Add Lead): Fix: fill in an email address or phone number.
  • "Could not stop the follow-up sequence.": Fix: refresh and try again.

Limitations & considerations

  • If you reply to the lead by hand from the Inbox, their sequence stops.
  • If you take over the conversation (Pause AI), the sequence pauses. Clicking Resume AI picks it up again.

Next Steps & Related Resources

  • Next steps:
    • How to See Who Is on a Sequence and Why It Stopped
  • Related articles:
    • How to Create a Follow-Up Sequence
    • How to Choose the Default Sequence
    • How to Add a Lead Yourself
    • How to Take Over a Conversation From Pippin
    • What Your Leads See When They Unsubscribe

Need more help? For more information and assistance, please send an email to support@pippify.ai.

Last Updated: 10/19/2026