Get started with automations

An automation waits for something to happen and then does something for you. Someone buys — she gets tagged, enrolled in the course and sent a welcome email. You set the rule up once.

You’ll find them under Automations in the menu, in the Tools group. The row shows when the feature is on; it is on from the start.

Automation or sequence?

• Sequence = a straight line of emails with waiting time between them. Nothing else. See Email sequences.
• Automation = logic. Conditions, branches, tags, course enrollments, webhooks — and emails.

If you just need to send five emails in order, make a sequence. If something should happen depending on what she’s done, make an automation.

Build your first one

The automation builder needs a computer. It won’t open below 768 pixels of window width.

1. Go to Automations and click New automation.
2. Give it a name that says what it does: “Welcome flow, new customers” beats “Automation 3”.
3. Choose a trigger.
4. Add actions under the trigger. They run top to bottom.
5. Flip the Active switch when you’re done.

You can drag the steps to reorder them.

Triggers

The automation starts on one of these events:

Money and purchases — Purchase completed · Abandoned checkout · Subscription ended · Trial ending

Courses — Enrollment · Lesson completed · Course completed

People and tags — New member created · Tag added · Tag removed · Inactivity

Email and pages — Email opened · Email clicked · Page visited

Forms and bookings — Form submitted · Booking created · Booking cancelled

Events — Attended a live event · Missed a live event

An automation has one trigger. If you need the same actions from two directions, make two automations.

Actions

Here’s what an automation can do:

Action	What it does
Send email	One email to the contact.
Subscribe to sequence	Starts a whole email series.
Unsubscribe from sequence	Stops a series in progress.
Add tag / Remove tag	Marks or unmarks the contact.
Enroll in course / Remove from course	Gives or takes back access.
Update contact	Changes name, language, phone, city, country, notes or subscription status.
Wait / Delay	Pauses before the next step.
If / Else	Splits the flow into two paths.
A/B test	Sends half one way, half the other.
Notify me	An email to you.
Send notification	An in-app notification.
Webhook	Sends data to another service. See Webhooks.

A flow that works from day one

This is the first one you should build:

1. Trigger: Purchase completed
2. Add tag: customer
3. Enroll in course: your course
4. Subscribe to sequence: your welcome flow

Four rows. Now every buyer gets access, lands in the right group and starts receiving your emails — without you touching a button.

Active or paused

The switch at the top decides whether the automation is listening. A paused automation doesn’t react to new events, but flows already in progress run to the end.

Pause it while you change something. That’s better than rebuilding it while people are moving through.

Test before you let it run

Trigger the automation on yourself. If it uses Tag added, put the tag on your own contact and check that the right things happen. If it uses Purchase completed, make a small purchase and refund it in Stripe afterwards.

It takes ten minutes. Finding the fault through a customer takes weeks and costs trust.

Tips

• Start small. One trigger, two actions. Build on it when it works.
• Name it so you’ll understand it in six months.
• Always tag on purchase. The tag is what lets your next automation know who she is.
• To go deeper into conditions and branches, see Conditions, branches and timing.