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Automations
Build an automation
2 min read · Updated
An automation runs a sequence of steps for each contact who meets its trigger: wait a day, send an email, check whether they opened it, and so on. Once active, it works on its own.
Choose a trigger
Create an automation on Automations, then pick what enrolls a contact:
- Contact is created
- Contact joins a list
- Contact enters a segment
- Contact opens a campaign
- Contact clicks a campaign
- Added manually
Add steps
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wait | Pauses the contact for a set time before the next step. |
| Send an email | Sends a template, with its own subject and sender. |
| If / Else branch | Splits contacts into a YES and a NO path, each with its own steps. |
| Check engagement | Checks whether the contact has opened anything recently, then continues or exits. |
| Remove dormant contacts | Suppresses or unsubscribes contacts who stopped engaging. |
| Exit the automation | Ends the automation for the contact. |
Drag steps to reorder them, or use Add to the end. An email step needs a verified sending domain for its sender.
Branch on engagement
An If / Else branch can ask one of three questions:
- The previous email in this automation: did they open or click it? You can have the branch wait a number of hours after that email was sent before it decides.
- Any email, recently: have they engaged with anything, across all your campaigns and automations?
- A specific campaign: did they open or click it? Someone who never received that campaign takes the NO path.
The last two are checked the moment the contact reaches the branch. To give people time to open first, put a Wait step before the branch.
Let the assistant draft it
Describe the journey you want, for example “a welcome series of three emails over a week for new contacts”, and the assistant drafts the triggers and steps. Nothing is saved until you review the proposal and save it yourself.
Activate, pause and edit
An automation starts as a draft. Save your changes, then select Activate. Pause stops it until you activate it again. Save any edits before changing the status.
For a flow that removes inactive contacts, see Re-engage or remove dormant contacts.