How to Set Up a Basic Candidate Nurturing Sequence in Keap in 7 Steps

In today’s competitive talent landscape, simply posting a job and waiting isn’t enough. Proactive candidate nurturing is essential to build a robust talent pipeline, engage top prospects, and ensure you have qualified candidates ready when new opportunities arise. This guide will walk you through setting up a foundational candidate nurturing sequence in Keap, empowering your recruiting efforts with automation and strategic communication.

Step 1: Define Your Nurturing Goals and Audience

Before diving into Keap, clearly articulate what you aim to achieve with your nurturing sequence. Are you building a general talent pool, engaging silver medalists, or warming up leads for specific future roles? Define your target candidate segments—e.g., passive candidates in tech, recent applicants for specific roles, or those who didn’t quite fit a previous opening but showed potential. Understanding your goals and audience will inform your messaging, content, and the overall structure of your Keap campaign. Consider the common questions or hesitations these candidates might have and how your sequence can address them proactively, positioning your organization as an employer of choice. This clarity ensures every automated touchpoint serves a purpose, preventing generic outreach and fostering genuine engagement.

Step 2: Segment Your Candidate Database in Keap

Effective nurturing starts with precise segmentation. In Keap, you’ll need to identify or create tags and custom fields that allow you to categorize your candidates. For instance, you might have tags like “Talent Pool – Software Engineer,” “Interviewed – Silver Medalist,” or custom fields indicating their preferred job type or industry expertise. This segmentation allows you to deliver highly relevant content, avoiding the common pitfall of sending one-size-fits-all communications. Ensure your Keap CRM is updated with accurate candidate data, as this forms the foundation for targeted campaigns. Leveraging Keap’s robust tagging system empowers you to build dynamic lists that automatically update as candidate statuses change, ensuring your nurturing sequence is always directed at the most appropriate audience, minimizing manual effort.

Step 3: Design Your Email Content for Each Stage

The success of your nurturing sequence hinges on compelling and value-driven content. Plan out 3-5 email messages, each tailored to a specific stage of the candidate journey. For example, an initial email might welcome them to your talent community, the second could share company culture insights, and a third might offer career development resources. Focus on providing value, not just asking them to apply. Include elements like testimonials, company news, industry insights, or invitations to webinars. Personalize emails using Keap’s merge fields to make each communication feel direct and relevant. Remember, the goal is to build a relationship over time, so ensure your tone is professional, engaging, and reflective of your employer brand.

Step 4: Build the Campaign in Keap Automation

Navigate to Keap’s Automation section and create a new campaign. This is where you’ll visually map out your nurturing sequence. Start with a “Goal” that defines how candidates enter the sequence (e.g., being tagged as “Talent Pool – [Specific Role]”). Drag and drop “Sequences” onto the canvas to represent distinct communication stages. Inside each sequence, you’ll add the individual email assets you designed in the previous step. Keap’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it straightforward to connect these elements. Give each sequence and email a clear, descriptive name for easy management and future optimization. Building the campaign visually helps you anticipate the candidate experience and ensures a logical flow from one interaction to the next, forming a coherent nurturing journey.

Step 5: Set Up Triggers and Entry Points

For your nurturing sequence to run automatically, you need to define its entry points or “goals.” Common triggers include applying a specific tag (e.g., after an initial interview where they weren’t selected but showed promise), filling out a “Join Our Talent Network” web form, or being manually added to a list. In Keap, these goals can be activated by tag application, form submissions, or even purchases (though less common for recruiting). Ensure your website or applicant tracking system (if integrated) can seamlessly feed contacts into Keap with the correct tags or custom field values. Test these entry points to confirm candidates are flowing into your campaign as expected. Proper trigger setup is critical for maintaining an automated, “always-on” nurturing machine that consistently engages potential hires.

Step 6: Implement Delays and Decision Points

A well-paced nurturing sequence avoids overwhelming candidates while keeping them engaged. Utilize Keap’s “Delay” timers between emails to spread out your communications—typically 3-7 days between messages works well, but this can vary. Incorporate “Decision Diamonds” to create conditional pathways based on candidate engagement. For example, if a candidate clicks a link in an email, you might move them to a “Hot Prospect” sequence, while those who don’t engage might receive a re-engagement email or be removed from the sequence after a certain period. This dynamic approach ensures your communication remains relevant and respectful of the candidate’s interest level, optimizing their experience and your team’s efforts, helping you focus on the most engaged individuals.

Step 7: Test, Monitor, and Optimize Your Sequence

Before activating your campaign for real candidates, thoroughly test every step. Send test emails to yourself and colleagues to check formatting, links, and merge fields. Once live, continuously monitor your campaign’s performance. Track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates (e.g., how many nurtured candidates apply for a new role). Keap provides detailed analytics for this. Based on your findings, don’t hesitate to iterate and optimize. A/B test different subject lines, email content, and timing of delays to see what resonates best with your audience. Candidate nurturing is an ongoing process, and continuous refinement ensures your Keap sequence remains effective, attracting and retaining top talent for your organization.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: The Indispensable Keap Expert: Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition with Automation and AI