u/Play2gaming

Is there a tool that sends pre-written email sequences directly from spreadsheet columns?

I’m looking for something pretty specific and I’m not sure if it already exists.

I don’t want a classic sequencer where you build one template and insert variables like {{first_name}}, {{company}}, etc...

My workflow is different:

I already have a table where every row has fully written emails, for example:

• subject
• email_1
• follow_up_1
• follow_up_2
• breakup_email

Each cell already contains the final personalized message for that specific lead.

What I want is simple:

Upload/import the table, map the columns, and have the tool send each row exactly as written.

So:

Step 1 uses the email_1 column
Step 2 uses the follow_up_1 column
Step 3 uses the follow_up_2 column
Step 4 uses the breakup_email column

Ideally it should also handle the basics:

• preserve line breaks and formatting
• send follow-ups in the same thread
• stop the sequence if someone replies
• handle bounces
• manage unsubscribes
• show basic tracking/status

I’ve looked at few tools, but most tools seem built around templates + variables, not around “each row already has its own finished email sequence.”

Is there a tool that sends pre-written email sequences directly from spreadsheet columns?

I’m looking for something pretty specific and I’m not sure if it already exists.

I don’t want a classic sequencer where you build one template and insert variables like {{first_name}}, {{company}}, etc...

My workflow is different:

I already have a table where every row has fully written emails, for example:

• subject
• email_1
• follow_up_1
• follow_up_2
• breakup_email

Each cell already contains the final personalized message for that specific lead.

What I want is simple:

Upload/import the table, map the columns, and have the tool send each row exactly as written.

So:

Step 1 uses the email_1 column
Step 2 uses the follow_up_1 column
Step 3 uses the follow_up_2 column
Step 4 uses the breakup_email column

Ideally it should also handle the basics:

• preserve line breaks and formatting
• send follow-ups in the same thread
• stop the sequence if someone replies
• handle bounces
• manage unsubscribes
• show basic tracking/status

I’ve looked at few tools, but most tools seem built around templates + variables, not around “each row already has its own finished email sequence.”

Okay so I keep seeing this pattern all over on Reddit. Indie devs post their game looking for playtesters (on r/playtesters, r/playmygame...), not a lot of interaction, so I guess not a lot try it, and eventually the conclusion becomes "players just don't want to help anymore" or "people are lazy now" or something along those lines. 

I get why people end up there. if you spend 2 years making something and the response is silence, that silence might feels personal after a while. FYI I work at Play2Review so I spend a stupid amount of time around early playtests and I genuinely think most teams are sometimes trying to solve the wrong problem

And I think most of the time it isn't a feedback problem but more something like "this already feels like effort before I even know if I care" issue. Dont forget that most gamers have dozens of Steam games they PAID for and haven't played. You have to compete with those for that gamers time and attention. 

Have a look at it, a stranger scrolls past your post after work while half distracted watching YouTube or replying to Discord messages or whatever. Their brain is making this super fast unconscious decision about whether clicking your game is going to feel exciting or draining, or maybe both. And a lot of playtest posts accidentally feel draining immediately.

Tell me that you never seen this pattern? : 

• external download links
• giant paragraphs explaining lore
• "looking for honest feedback!!"
•  vague genre descriptions
• five screenshots where nothing understandable is happening

I’m sure that people don't consciously think "this game looks bad" but they just quietly leave. Making a good game and making people care are two separate skills. 

The weird thing is I used to assume rough games naturally struggled more because players judge polish too hard or whatever, but after watching a ton of sessions I honestly don't even think that's true anymore.

I've seen “ugly” broken prototypes pull in tons of players because the core idea was instantly readable. 15 seconds of footage and you just got it- not because it looked good, but because the fantasy was obvious. Like “Oh okay I'm a little robot digging through giant machine”s. “Oh okay this shotgun sends enemies flying across the room”. You understood what kind of fun this was going to be before you even decided if you wanted it. 

And then I've seen polished games with clean UI and beautiful Steam pages get almost no traction because the whole thing felt weirdly cautious. Like the page was afraid to commit to what made the game interesting in the first place.  So everything becomes "a challenging adventure with unique mechanics" which could describe literally anything and nothing at the same time.

I also think devs underestimate how tired people are now in general. Even as someone who literally does playtesting stuff for work, there are moments where I open a post and see:

download here -> create account -> verify email -> fill survey after session.. and my brain instantly goes "yeah maybe tomorrow" and tomorrow never come (not gonna lie)

The bad part is that teams then try to fix feedback quality when the real issue is nobody got curious enough to click in the first place. So they rewrite survey questions or add analytics or spend weeks optimizing onboarding for players who never even downloaded the build, when sometimes the fix is honestly smaller than that ↓

• put the gameplay clip first
• show the coolest thing immediately
• say who the game is actually for
• remove steps
• stop writing store pages like you're filing taxes

And in other good examples exist and are not just due to luck. Find them by going to any sub related to gamedev, sort them by top, then sort by all time or this year. You’ll find a bunch of good examples of best practices. Do not reinvent the wheel, but make it yours.

I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking this because I spend too much time around early builds, aha. But I'm curious if other people doing player research or community testing see the same thing, because the pattern feels REALLY consistent from where I'm standing to see at Play2review. Maybe if we add something like "roast my art" on our website, it would benefit the indie dev community aha. 

Je parlais à ma cousine récemment et ne me demandais pas comment on est arrivé là mais je sors la phrase "bah oui en moyenne les hommes sont plus forts physiquement que les femmes". Et là… énorme malaise.

J’ai eu l’impression d’avoir d'avoir insulté toute sa lignée (dont je fais partie) alors que dans ma tête c’était juste un constat biologique assez basique, pas une attaque contre les femmes ou quoi.

La conversation ne s’est pas super bien terminée, ça m'a mis super mal et honnêtement ça m’a fait réfléchir après coup. Même si je n'ai pas eu l'impression d'avoir dit un truc de choquant ou factuellement faux du genre "N'importe qu'elle homme est plus fort que la plus forte des femmes".

Donc est-ce que j'ai loupé quelques choses ? Est-ce que les études actuelles prouvent le contraire ?

Je ne cherche pas à lancer un débat haineux ou quoi. C’est une vraie question et ce sub semble le plus adapté.

EDIT : On parlait des différences hommes/femmes dans le sport. C’est dans ce contexte que la phrase est sortie.