Every email workflow comprises a trigger and a sequence mapped out in detail. But so few of them have a real answer for when the sequence should stop.

It’s a pattern that pops up across many different setups. A nurture sequence is built for new leads, or a re-engagement flow for dormant contacts, and it works well for the first few weeks. Then a lead converts, or a dormant contact responds through a different channel entirely, but the automation keeps going.

What you’re left with is a contact who signed a contract last month, who is still receiving your "Here's why you should switch" emails. And the person who already responded to your emails is still receiving your re-engagement drip because there’s nothing telling the sequence to check.

What tends to happen is that teams create the trigger and the content first, because the outreach is what they’re focused on. The exit condition often becomes an afterthought. But it's arguably the part that determines how helpful the automation actually is.

A sequence without any exit logic isn’t primed to scale well. It just quietly multiplies the number of people receiving the wrong message at the wrong time. And most teams don't find out until someone complains or unsubscribes.

The fix is to tie the sequence to a status change or a completed goal and let that pull the contact out automatically. But it requires thinking about how the workflow will end with the same care as you do when planning how it begins.

How do you handle this in practice? Do you build exit conditions into every sequence by default, or only add them after something's already gone wrong?