Enrollment: manual, automation, event and inactivity

Overview

Enrolling places a contact inside a cadence. Each enrollment is the sequence running for that contact: it pins the published version, advances step by step on schedule, and stops on its own when an exit rule is met. Conversa Labs offers several ways to enroll, from a manual click to an automatic trigger.

The platform avoids talking to the same person twice: there is at most one active (or paused) enrollment per contact in each sequence (accounting for the conversation too). Repeated attempts are safely ignored.

Prerequisites

• A published, active sequence.
• For event or inactivity enrollment: the matching trigger configured on the sequence (see below) — without it the sequence stays active but enrolls nobody.
• For automation, macro or flow enrollment: the Automation/Flow module available.

Step by step

1. Create the sequence and choose the trigger (Manual, Event or Inactivity) and the target (contact, conversation, deal, appointment or charge).
2. If the trigger is Event, choose which event starts the enrollment.
3. If the trigger is Inactivity, set the inactivity time (value + unit: minutes, hours or days).
4. Configure the exit conditions (when the cadence stops) and save.
5. Publish the sequence. From then on, enroll manually or let the trigger act — the enrollment starts as active.
6. Need to adjust later? Open Sequence settings (the controls icon in the list) and edit the trigger, event, inactivity time and exits without rebuilding the sequence.

Settings & options

Ways to enroll

Triggers available on the sequence: Manual, Event and Inactivity. The other ways (automation, macro, flow and API) enroll the contact independently of the chosen trigger.

Event enrollment

Choose the Event trigger and pick, in the selector, which event starts the enrollment. The list is maintained by the platform and covers the events it actually emits, grouped by area:

• CRM: deal went stale, close date approaching, deal won.
• Tasks: task overdue, task due soon.
• Calendar: appointment no-show.
• Charges: charge overdue.
• Ads and social: ad lead captured, social comment captured.
• Commerce: cart abandoned, order placed, payment pending/confirmed/declined, order overdue/due-soon, refund, chargeback, subscription late/canceled.

When the event happens, the platform enrolls the contact — as long as the sequence target matches what the event carries. Saving requires a chosen event, so the sequence is never left without a trigger.

Inactivity enrollment

Choose the Inactivity trigger and set the inactivity time as value + unit (for example, 3 days, 12 hours or 90 minutes). Conversations idle beyond that time are enrolled — each conversation is processed only once per sequence. Because the time must be greater than zero, the sequence is never saved in a state that never fires.

For safety, publishing starts a from-now-on window: the detector does not automatically scan every old conversation that is still open. To include an earlier period, choose Include earlier conversations, select the date, review the count and sample, then confirm the signed preview before it expires. If the audience changes between preview and confirmation, the platform refuses the action and asks for a fresh preview. Confirmation queues only the ids in that exact audience, in safe batches; conversations appearing later do not inherit the approval.

Holding while an agent is attending (Maestro)

If the account uses Maestro, the cadence can wait while a human agent is on the conversation (Maestro paused) — so an automated nudge never lands on top of the reply the agent is about to send. The control applies to every trigger type, not just inactivity, and works on two levels:

• Account (or inbox) default: in Follow-ups → Settings, Hold the cadence while an agent is attending is already on — it is the safe default, because a held cadence resumes on its own, while ignoring the pause sends a message on top of the agent's reply. Turn it off only if your operation wants the cadence running even with an agent on the conversation. That is also where you set how often the platform re-checks.
• Per sequence: in the sequence settings, the While an agent is attending (Maestro paused) selector accepts Inherit (follow the account/inbox default), Always hold or Never hold.

Holding is not exiting: while the agent is on the conversation the sequence neither enrolls nor sends the next step; as soon as they let go, the cadence resumes on its own from where it stopped. What actually ends a cadence is a reply, a resolution or a goal.

Failure is safe too: when Maestro's state is unknown or the integration is temporarily unavailable, the platform holds enrollment and delivery. A network error is never treated as permission to contact the customer.

Exit conditions

On the same screen you decide when the cadence stops: when the contact replies (on by default), when the conversation is resolved, and/or when a goal is reached (charge paid, deal won, appointment booked or appointment held). Details in the funnel and exit article.

Use cases

• Bulk manual: select several contacts from a list and enroll them in a reactivation campaign.
• Event: every overdue charge automatically enters the dunning cadence.
• Inactivity: conversations with no reply for 3 days enter a follow-up cadence.
• Automation: new leads from a specific channel enter the welcome sequence.

Tips, limits & best practices

• Match the sequence target to the way you enroll (a dunning cadence has a charge target).
• Do not try to enroll the same contact twice in the same sequence — the duplicate is ignored.
• For inactivity triggers, tune the time to your business so it does not fire too early.
• Picked the wrong event or time? Use Sequence settings to fix it without rebuilding.

Troubleshooting

• The contact was not enrolled by an event: check that the sequence is active, published and has the right event and target (the sequence must have an event selected).
• Inactivity did not fire: review the inactivity time — it must be greater than zero.
• I enrolled and nothing showed: there was probably already an active/paused enrollment for that contact in that sequence (limit of one per target).

See also

• Follow-ups and cadences overview
• Sequences, steps, channels and composition
• Cadence funnel and exit rules
• AI with human approval