Is a sequence the same thing as a campaign?

The translation table

Sequence and campaign are one feature

This is not read off a feature list. The help article that explains the thing is titled "How to automate the sending of an email sequence (email campaign)". Both words appear in the title of the page, describing one feature.

The feature list says the same in the other direction: email campaigns are described as automated email sequences with customisable delays.

So a five-email welcome sequence is a campaign with five emails in it. Nothing is missing and nothing needs converting.

What is a broadcast, and when should I send one?

A broadcast is a newsletter here. systeme.io's own description of the newsletter feature is one-time or scheduled broadcasts sent to tagged contacts.

Send one when the reason for the email is a moment rather than a stage: an offer closing, an event, a piece of news, the regular Thursday email your readers expect.

The part that surprises people arriving from another tool is the recipients. A newsletter goes to tags, and only to tags. A contact receives it if a tag you selected is on them, so a contact with no tags receives nothing.

There is an exclude list alongside the include list, and exclusion wins. One excluded tag stops the email reaching a contact even when they also hold several included tags.

A newsletter can also be kept away from the newest arrivals. A limit on recipients by registration date sends only to contacts who have been on the list for at least the period you set.

The word that does not carry across

Lists. Tools built around lists ask you to pick which list a broadcast goes to, and a contact belongs to one or more of them.

systeme.io targets by tag instead. There is one contact database, and the tags on top of it are what divide it up, which is why the tag question comes before the sending question here rather than after it.

Once the words are straight, the welcome sequence guide builds a campaign: the emails, the delay on each one, and the rule that subscribes people to it.