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Enroll Existing Subscribers

When you create a sequence with a trigger (tag, list, or event), it only starts for new matches going forward. But what about subscribers who already match the criteria?

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The Problem

Imagine this scenario:
  1. You have 500 subscribers with the tag past-due
  2. You create a new “Past Due Recovery” sequence triggered by that tag
  3. The sequence only runs for future subscribers who get the tag
Those 500 existing subscribers won’t receive your recovery emails.

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The Solution

Use the Enroll Existing Subscribers feature to retroactively add matching subscribers to your sequence.

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How to Use It

  1. Open your sequence in the editor
  2. Click the people icon in the header toolbar
  3. Review the count of matching subscribers
  4. Optionally exclude specific subscribers from enrollment
  5. Click Enroll to add them to the sequence
The dialog keeps the trigger criteria, eligible audience, and final action in one place so you can verify the enrollment before it starts.
Enroll subscribers dialog showing the sequence trigger, eligible contacts, selection controls, and Enroll action

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What You’ll See

The enrollment modal shows:
  • Matching criteria - The trigger condition being matched
  • Subscriber count - How many subscribers are eligible
  • Subscriber list - Paginated list of matching subscribers
  • Exclusion controls - Remove specific subscribers before enrolling

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Choosing Subscribers

Use the checkboxes to choose who should enter the sequence:
  1. Select individual eligible subscribers, or use the page-level checkbox
  2. Clear the checkbox for anyone you want to leave out
  3. Review the selected count in the Enroll button
This is useful when you want to enroll most subscribers but skip a few specific ones. The Enroll tab has two flows: Matching criteria (described above) and Search. Use the Search flow when the subscribers you want don’t match the trigger criteria - for example, someone who received the event more than 30 days ago, or a hand-picked group you want to run through the sequence:
  1. Switch to the Search flow inside the Enroll tab
  2. Search for subscribers by email
  3. Select them individually, or use Select all not enrolled to select every match
  4. Click Enroll - they start from the first step of the sequence
Subscribers with an active enrollment are shown as “Already enrolled” and cannot be selected. Because this is an explicit manual action, the Search flow does not check the trigger criteria and bypasses the enrollment mode (one_time vs unlimited), like enrolling at a specific step does.

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Trigger-Specific Behavior

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Tag Added (tag_added)

Matches all active subscribers who currently have the specified tag.

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Contact Added (contact_added)

  • With specific list: Matches subscribers in that list
  • Any list: Matches subscribers in any list

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Event Received (event_received)

Matches subscribers who received the event in the last 30 days.
Events older than 30 days are not included. This prevents accidentally enrolling subscribers based on very old activity.

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Enrollment Mode

The enrollment respects your sequence’s enrollment mode setting:

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Sequence Status

Manual enrollment is available when the sequence is active and accepting enrollments. Activate a draft or paused sequence before adding subscribers.

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Common Use Cases

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New Sequence for Existing Tags

You’ve been tagging customers as churned for months. Now you want to create a win-back sequence:
  1. Create the sequence with trigger: tag_added: churned
  2. Use Enroll Existing Subscribers to add all currently churned customers
  3. New churned customers will automatically enter going forward

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Onboarding Sequence Launch

You’re launching a new onboarding sequence for your product:
  1. Create the sequence with trigger: tag_added: signed-up
  2. Enroll existing signed-up users who haven’t completed onboarding
  3. Exclude users who are already paying customers

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Re-engagement Campaign

Starting a re-engagement sequence for inactive users:
  1. Create the sequence with trigger: event_received: session_started (inverted logic via tag)
  2. Or use: tag_added: inactive-30d
  3. Enroll all currently inactive subscribers

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Enroll at a Specific Step

Sometimes subscribers finish a sequence, and you later add new steps. You can re-enroll those subscribers starting at a specific step — skipping the steps they’ve already completed.

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Open The Step

  1. Open your sequence in the editor
  2. Click the email step where subscribers should resume
  3. Click Enroll in the step popover
For other supported step types, open the step’s More menu and choose Enroll subscribers here.
Sequence email step popover with the Enroll action highlighted

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Choose Subscribers

Choose from Finished subscribers who already completed the sequence, or use Search to find another subscriber. Select the contacts and click Enroll to start them at this step.
Enroll at step dialog showing finished subscribers, search, selection controls, and the target step

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How Filtering Works

The “Finished” tab automatically filters subscribers based on their progress:
  • Only subscribers who haven’t already passed the selected step are shown
  • Subscribers with an active enrollment in the sequence are excluded (shown as “Already active”)
  • This prevents accidentally re-running steps a subscriber has already completed

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Example

You have a 3-step welcome sequence. 15 subscribers completed it. You add steps 4 and 5:
When you click “Enroll” on Step 4, those 15 finished subscribers appear in the modal. They’ll start at Step 4 and continue through Step 5, skipping the steps they already received.

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Notes

  • This bypasses the enrollment mode (one_time vs unlimited) — it’s an explicit manual action
  • The sequence must be active and accepting enrollments
  • You cannot enroll subscribers at the trigger node

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Best Practices

  1. Review before enrolling - Check the subscriber list to ensure you’re targeting the right people
  2. Finish in draft mode - Configure and review the sequence fully, then activate it before enrolling
  3. Use exclusions wisely - Exclude VIP customers or special cases that need manual handling
  4. Check enrollment mode - Decide if subscribers should be able to re-enter the sequence
  5. Use step-specific enrollment for additions - When adding new steps to an existing sequence, enroll finished subscribers at the new step rather than restarting from the beginning