Automation

What you can do with Automation

# Find your automations

1. Open the automation list

   Click Automation under Campaigns in the left sidebar. The list shows every automation with its Status (Active or Inactive), its Trigger, how many Emails it contains and when it was created.

   Use the search box, the All statuses filter and Sort by date to find one quickly. To make a new one, click New Automation.

   

2. Use the row menu

   Click Edit workflow to open the flow editor. The ⋯ menu next to it has more actions:

   • Manage subscribers: open the automation's statistics and contact list.
   • Enable / Disable: start or pause the automation.
   • Duplicate: make a copy to use as a starting point.
   • Delete: remove the automation.

   

# Create an automation

1. Choose a trigger

   Click New Automation. On the Trigger step, click the card of the event that should start the workflow. You go straight to the next step.

   

2. Name it and choose the audience

   Type an Automation name (only you and your team see it).

   Under Audience, open Mailing lists and tick one or more lists. An event on any of the ticked lists can start the workflow. Use Segments (optional) to narrow a list to part of its contacts; a list with no segment selected includes all its subscribers.

   

3. Fill in the trigger settings and create

   Some triggers need more detail in Trigger settings:

   • Tag based / Remove Tag: the Tags to watch.
   • Say “Happy birthday”: the Date of Birth field, how many days before to send and the time.
   • Subscriber added date: the delay in days and the time.
   • Specific date: the Trigger date and time.
   • Weekly recurring / Monthly recurring: the days and the time.
   • Contact Attribute Update: the Subscriber field and the New value.
   • API 3.0: shows the API endpoint to call. Send it the contact's email address as EMAIL and the workflow starts for that contact; a contact who is not on the list yet is added first.

   Click Create automation. The flow editor opens with your trigger already in place.

   

# Build the workflow

1. Read the canvas

   Each card is one step. This welcome series sends a first email, waits 2 days, then checks whether the email was opened: contacts who opened it get the tag engaged (the yes branch), the others get a second email (the no branch).

   The small + buttons on the lines are where you add steps. The bar at the top holds Activate, Statistics and Settings.

   

2. Add a step

   Click a + on a line to insert a step there, or the + under the last card to add one at the end. In Add a step, choose:

   • Send email: email everyone who reaches this point.
   • Wait: pause before moving on.
   • Condition: split contacts into yes and no paths.
   • Operation: add or remove tags, copy or move to a list, or update a field.
   • Webhook: send the contact's data to another app's URL.
   • Go to step: send contacts on to a step on another path (only offered by the + at the end of a path).

   

3. Set a wait

   Click a Wait card to open its panel. With For a set time, type a number under How long and choose minutes, hours, days, weeks or months beside it, or tap a common wait such as 2 days.

   To hold contacts until a fixed moment instead, click Until a date and pick the day and the time (or tap Tomorrow, 9 AM). Click Save.

   

4. Split with a condition

   A Condition checks what each contact did with an earlier email. Choose whether contacts Opened the email, Clicked a link in the email or Replied to the email, pick the Email to check, and set how many times. Add more with Add another check, and at the top choose whether All of these checks are true or At least one of these checks is true.

   Wait this long before deciding gives contacts time to act (for example 2 days). When it ends, contacts who match go down yes and the rest go down no.

   A condition can also check a tag with Has a tag or Doesn't have a tag; see Stop an automation with a tag.

   

5. Change the contact with an operation

   An Operation changes the contact when they reach it. Click Choose action to pick Add tag(s), Remove tag(s), Copy to list, Move to list or Update field, then fill in the details and click Save.

   

6. Send several paths to the same steps

   Follow-up chains often end the same way on every path. For example: send email 1, and if it isn't opened send email 2, then email 3, and so on. Whichever email a contact opens, they should all move on to the same next stage. Instead of building that stage again under every yes, build it once and point the other paths at it with Go to step.

   Click the + at the end of a path and choose Go to step. In its panel, click Choose step and pick where contacts should continue, then click Save. Contacts who reach the Go to step carry on from the step you picked, exactly as if they had arrived there directly. Click Show this step on the canvas to find it.

   

7. Follow a Go to step on the canvas

   A Go to step (1) is always the last card on its path and shows where it leads, such as → Add tag(s): engaged. A dashed line joins it to that step (2); hover the Go to card to highlight its destination.

   In Statistics, a contact's progress shows Jumped to another step at the point where they went through it.

   

# Set up the emails

1. Open an email step

   Click a Send email card. The stage bar at the top shows where the email stands; click a stage to jump to it.

   If the email has no design yet, the Template stage asks you to pick one: click Browse templates.

   

2. Pick a template or paste HTML

   In Pick template, choose a design under System or My templates, or open the Paste HTML tab to use your own code.

   Once the email has content, the Template stage shows a preview with Edit content (opens the drag-and-drop designer) and Change template.

   

3. Check the sender and tracking

   On the Setup stage, set the Subject, From name, From email and an optional Reply-to. Under Tracking & delivery you can switch Track opens, Track clicks, Sign with DKIM and Skip failed messages on or off. Click Save & Continue.

   The Overview stage sums it all up and has Preview email and Send a test email buttons.

   

# Change the audience and settings

1. Open Settings

   Click Settings in the editor's top bar. Here you can rename the automation, see the Audience it watches (with its subscriber totals) and set the Timezone used by date and schedule triggers. Changes save straight away.

   

2. Add or remove lists

   Click Edit next to Mailing lists. Tick or untick lists in Mailing lists, adjust Segments if you like, then click Save audience.

   

# Activate or pause

1. Switch the automation on

   A new automation is paused, so nothing is sent while you build it. When every step is ready, click Activate in the editor's top bar. The badge next to the name changes from PAUSED to ACTIVE, and the button becomes Pause.

   You can also use Enable and Disable in the automation list's ⋯ menu.

   

# Track results

1. Open Statistics

   Click Statistics in the editor (or Manage subscribers in the list). The top card shows how many contacts are Not triggered yet, and how many are running, waiting, completed or failed.

   

2. Check each step

   In Node performance, pick a step from the menu on the right. You see how many contacts are before, at and past that step. For an email step you also get Delivered, Open rate, Click rate and Last sent.

   Click View details to open the full email report.

   

3. Find a contact

   The table lists every contact in the audience with the Current step, Status, Triggered at and Last activity. Search by email, or filter by status (for example Waiting or Failed).

   

4. Open a contact's progress

   Click Progress on a row to see where that contact is, when their next step is scheduled and a history of what has happened so far.

   The row's ⋯ menu also lets you trigger a contact by hand, hold or resume their run, or retry a failed one.

   

5. Read the email report

   The email report shows Recipients, Delivered, Opened, Clicked and Replied, with a rate summary below. Use the tabs to switch to Insights, Open log, Click log, Map or Bounce log, and Back to workflow to return.

   

6. See who opened and clicked

   On Insights, every recipient is listed with their last open, last click and delivery status. Filter by opens, clicks, replies or status to find, for example, everyone who never opened.

   

Common questions

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