Automations

Overview

An Automation is a series of actions and communications triggered by a Contact's behavior and preferences. Use an Automation when you want to send evergreen content based on Contacts' interactions with your brand!

With Automations, you can create the perfect email and SMS marketing funnel to welcome new Contacts, nurture leads and customers, or even update Contact Profiles—automatically!

If you want to send sale/special offer, date, or event-specific content to your Contacts, check out our guide to Campaigns.

In This Guide

This guide will cover each part of an Automation, how to edit or duplicate an Automation, and review troubleshooting solutions.

Automation Components

Automations are made of four components or types of nodes: triggers, actions, and logic and timing. Click on the name of each component below to read our guides for each component type.

Component Description
Triggers Triggers are user-based actions that start your Automation. Every Automation needs at least one trigger to begin the next steps of Automation.
Actions Actions happen due to a trigger's conditions being met, such as sending an SMS or email message, updating a Contact's profile, updating an Automation, or passing information with a Webhook.
Logic and Timing
 Wait times, Goals, Conditional Splits, and Audience Splits allow you to use advanced targeting to send your Contacts highly relevant content at the right time.

đź’ˇ Pro Tip

Ready to get started with your first Automation? Check out our guide to welcoming new Contacts with Email and SMS!

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Create an Automation

Build your own Automation entirely from scratch or get started with an Automation Template!

Use an Automation Template

To create an Automation using a template:

  1. Click the Automation icon 
  2. Select Email, SMS, or Email + SMS 
  3. Look through the available template options and click Get Started to start customizing 
  4. Enter a Name for your Automation 
  5. Click Start

Review each node of your Automation and add your content to email and SMS nodes and test your Automation thoroughly before activating it!

Build an Automation From Scratch

To create an Automation from scratch:

  1. Click the Automation icon 
  2. Click New Automation 
  3. Click Start from Scratch 
  4. Click Start

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Edit an Automation

You can edit any node, setting, or content in your Automation at any time!

🚨  Important Note

Edits made to email content or existing audience splits in active Automations that Contacts are currently traveling through will be made in real-time and seen by all Contacts. All other edits to the Automation, including any new nodes, will apply only to Contacts who start the Automation after the edits are made.

Editing Nodes

To edit an Automation node:

  1. Click a node 
  2. Make desired edits
  3. Click Done

Add a Node

To add a node to an Automation:

  1. Click the + button 
  2. Select the new Action

Delete a Node

Deleted nodes cannot be restored, so use caution when deleting Automation nodes.

To delete a node:

  1. Click a node 
  2. Click the Trash can icon
  3. Click OK

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Deactivate and Reactivate Automations

If Automations are deleted, they are gone forever, including content and logic. To avoid losing the hard work you put into your Automations, Deactivate them instead!

  • Deactivating an active Automation freezes Contacts exactly where they are in the Automation
  • Reactivating an Automation causes Contacts to pick up exactly where they were when the Automation was deactivated

To deactivate an Automation:

  1. Click the Stop icon next to the Automation's name 
  2. Click Deactivate

To reactivate an Automation:

  1. Click the Play icon next to the Automation's name 
  2. Click Activate

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Duplicate an Automation

Duplicating an Automation is a great way to save time by using your existing Automations to target different groups of your Contacts for hyper-targeted content flows.

To duplicate an Automation:

  1. Click the Duplicate Automation icon 
  2. Enter a Name for your new Automation 
  3. Click Duplicate

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Delete an Automation

Deleting an Automation is permanent; there is no way to restore an Automation once it is deleted. We recommend deactivating Automations that you no longer need instead of deleting them.

If you decide to delete an Automation, click the trash can icon next to the Automation you want to delete.

⏭  Next Steps

  1. Check out our pre-built Automation templates by selecting an Automation category in the Create New Automation window!
  2. Review the Automations section of your dashboard for an overview of your Automations' performance, or download Automation performance data to closely look at any Automation's performance!

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Troubleshooting

The add node button isn't working!

Automations have a limit of 50 nodes. If your Automation has less than 50 nodes and you can't add a new node, please contact your CSM or our 24/7 product support team!

My Automation isn't starting!

Make sure your Automation is set to Active if it seems like your Automation isn't starting when it should:

My Automation email isn't sending!

Make sure your Automation email is set to Active if Contacts are not receiving emails from nodes they meet the conditions for:

My Conditional Split isn't flowing!

Some Conditional Split actions have built-in required wait times between actions. Review our Conditional Split guide for detailed information!

I'm getting an infinite loop error message!

Our Automation builder will prevent your Contacts from getting stuck in "infinite loops," where one or more Automation sends a Contact back and forth through a flow. Avoid this issue by creating new Automations with fresh content for your audience to flow through to boost engagement and avoid spam complaints!

Additional Resources

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