Sequences and automations are two of the corner stones of ConvertKit. Using both effectively is critical to the success of your email marketing efforts. But what is the difference between them?
Sequence
A sequence is a series of emails that a subscriber will get, one after the other. Each email is timed and sent a certain number of days or hours after the last one. For example, you could have a welcome sequence that all new subscribers to your list will receive. This could send the first email immediately (as soon as a subscriber signs up), the second one 3 days later and a third 5 days later.
Automation
There are two types of automations: rules and visual automation workflows. Automations control certain actions that subscribers will take when something happens. If you want someone to receive the welcome sequence when they first sign up, then the automation will be responsible for adding subscribers to the sequence after they fill in a newsletter sign up form.
An automation (at this point in time) can’t send emails directly to a subscriber. If you want to send an email to a subscriber from a workflow, you have to send them to a sequence.