If you’re running sales, SDR, or outbound campaigns and sick of emails falling flat, you’re in the right place. This guide walks you through setting up email sequences and templates in Frontspin that actually get responses—not just opens. Whether you’re new to sales engagement tools or you’ve been using Frontspin for months, you’ll find honest advice on what to do, what to skip, and how to avoid the biggest time-wasters.
1. Get the Basics Right Before You Build Anything
Before diving into Frontspin’s sequence builder, make sure you’re not repeating rookie mistakes. No tool, no matter how slick, can fix a bad message or messy list.
- Clean up your contact list. Remove obvious junk, check for duplicates, and make sure you’re not emailing people who opted out. Deliverability still matters.
- Know your audience. Templates won’t magically “personalize at scale.” If you don’t know what your prospects care about, stop and do the homework. Even the best tech can’t fake relevance.
- Have a goal. What’s a “reply” worth? Demo? Feedback? Don’t just send emails for the sake of activity.
Pro tip: If you’re copying sequences from a blog post, change something. Prospects can smell recycled content a mile away.
2. Set Up Your Email Templates in Frontspin
Templates are the backbone of your sequences. They’re supposed to save you time, not make you sound like a robot. Here’s how to use them right in Frontspin.
Step 1: Draft Your Best-Guess Template in Plain Text
Don’t start in the app. Open a simple text editor and write your email like a real person. Skip the “hope this finds you well” fluff.
- Subject line: Keep it short and honest. “Quick question about [their company]” beats “Exciting Opportunity!”
- First line: Make it about them, not you. If you can’t, you’re not ready to send this email.
- Call to action: Ask an easy question. The lower the effort to reply, the better.
What to ignore: Fancy images, banners, or “signature marketing.” They scream mass email and tank reply rates.
Step 2: Create the Template in Frontspin
- In Frontspin, click “Templates” in the sidebar.
- Hit “New Template.” Name it something you’ll actually remember—think “VP Outreach v2,” not “Template 1.”
- Paste in your text.
- Use Frontspin’s merge fields for first name, company, etc. But keep it minimal; over-personalization gets weird fast if anything breaks.
Pro tip: Send a test email to yourself. Formatting glitches or bad merge tags are embarrassing and easy to miss.
Step 3: Build Out Variations
Don’t bet everything on a single template. If you’re emailing different verticals (say, SaaS vs. manufacturing), tweak your language and value props. But don’t overcomplicate—two or three versions is plenty to start.
3. Building an Email Sequence That Doesn’t Annoy People
Frontspin sequences let you automate follow-ups, but automation is a double-edged sword. Used poorly, you’ll just annoy more people, faster.
Step 1: Map Out the Sequence on Paper
Seriously—sketch it out first. Decide:
- How many steps? (3-5 is plenty; more than that starts to look desperate)
- How many days between each email?
- What’s the goal of each step? (First: introduce, Second: follow-up, Third: break-up email, etc.)
What to skip: Don’t add calls or LinkedIn steps unless you’ll actually do them. Nothing’s worse than a sequence full of steps you ignore.
Step 2: Create the Sequence in Frontspin
- Go to “Sequences” in Frontspin.
- Click “New Sequence.” Give it a clear name—include the persona or campaign.
- Add your first email step. Choose your template.
- Set the wait time (e.g., 2 days).
- Add follow-up steps. Each should have its own template or at least a different subject line.
- (Optional) Add non-email steps, like calls or tasks, if that fits how you actually work.
Pro tip: Don’t just resend the same email with “Bumping this up.” Change it up. If you wouldn’t reply to it, why would they?
Step 3: Set the Triggers and Stop Conditions
Frontspin lets you stop a sequence when someone replies, clicks, or opens. Always stop the sequence on reply—no one likes getting emailed after they’ve answered you.
- Don’t trigger off opens. Open tracking is shaky with privacy changes.
- Clicks can be useful, but don’t assume everyone who clicks wants to buy.
4. Fine-Tune for Higher Reply Rates
Now the real work starts: making your emails less ignorable. A little testing goes a long way.
Test One Thing at a Time
- Subject line A/B tests: Does “Quick intro” beat “Question for you”?
- Call to action: “15 min call” vs. “Is this a priority?”
- First line: Personal fact vs. industry insight.
Don’t: Change everything at once. You’ll never know what worked.
Don’t Over-Personalize
Frontspin will let you add tons of custom fields, but most of the time, it’s overkill. Personalize one or two things—like industry or company name—and focus on a message that’s actually relevant.
Watch Your Metrics (But Don’t Obsess)
- Reply rates matter more than open or click rates.
- Unsubscribes and spam complaints are red flags—if these creep up, dial it back.
- Demo/sales accepted leads are the only real metric that matters long term.
Ignore: Vanity stats. A 70% open rate means nothing if no one replies.
5. Avoid These Common Traps
Frontspin’s automation is powerful—but that means you can get into trouble faster if you’re not careful.
- Don’t blast the same sequence to everyone. If it’s not relevant, it’s not going to work.
- Don’t over-automate. A little manual touch goes further than a 10-step sequence.
- Don’t ignore replies. If someone replies, take them out of the sequence and answer like a human.
Pro tip: Block out time every day to check for replies and act on them. Automation should make you more responsive, not less.
6. When to Iterate (and When to Start Over)
No one gets it right the first time. The best sequences are built over weeks, not hours.
- If reply rates are under 5%: Try a new subject line or rewrite the first two sentences.
- If people ask “Why are you emailing me?”: Your targeting or your message is off—rethink both.
- If you’re getting “not interested” replies: That’s actually progress. Edit your CTA to something even easier.
Don’t be afraid to delete a sequence that just isn’t working. Sunken cost isn’t a good reason to keep annoying people.
Keep It Simple and Keep Improving
You don’t need 10 email steps and hyper-personalization to get replies—you just need a message that makes sense, sent to the right people, with a follow-up or two. Start simple, use Frontspin’s tools for what they’re good at, and tweak as you go. The best sequences are the ones you actually use, not the ones sitting half-built in your settings.
Don’t overthink it. Send, learn, adjust. That’s how you get real replies—not just more activity in your dashboard.