Create an automation

An automation is a flow that starts when a contact does something and then runs the steps you have arranged. You can begin with a blank canvas or use a ready flow for a common journey such as welcoming a subscriber.

Choose how to start

The Automations page shows Start from scratch and three options under Ready flows.

• Welcome email series starts when someone joins a list and contains three emails for welcoming, sharing value and presenting an offer.
• Win back sleepers starts with a segment, sends a comeback email and follows a different path according to whether the contact opens it.
• Hot lead follow-up starts when someone clicks a link, adds a tag and sends a follow-up email the next day.

Click Use on a ready flow to open the canvas with its trigger, waits, conditions and emails already arranged. Every part remains editable. Choose the correct list or segment and review every email before activation. Nothing is sent until you activate the automation.

Choose Start from scratch or click New automation when you want to build the trigger and steps yourself. Enter an internal name and click Create to open an empty canvas.

Before you start

• Prepare the source that starts the flow. It can be a list, tag, segment, form, page visit, email activity, custom event or another automation.
• If the flow sends email, make sure you have a verified sending domain.
• Have the subject, preview text, sender details and content ready for each email you plan to send.

Create the automation

1. Open the automation canvas

   Use Start from scratch for an empty flow or Use for a ready flow. A ready flow opens with its cards already in place.

2. Set or review the Trigger card

   Under Trigger type, choose the event that brings a contact into the flow and select the required list, segment, tag or other source. If you used a ready flow, replace its placeholder source. Entry policy shows that each contact can enter this automation only once.

3. Add or adjust steps from the left panel

   Click a step to add it to the flow. Use Send email for a message, Wait for a duration or Wait until for a particular date and time. Condition, A/B split and Split by segment send contacts down different paths.

4. Use audience actions where needed

   List actions, Tag actions and Update field change the contact record as the flow runs. Add End flow wherever a path should finish.

5. Complete each step

   Click a card in the flow and fill in the required fields in the right panel. Steps that are not ready show Needs attention. MailGraf saves changes automatically; Saved appears in the top bar when it is up to date.

A straightforward welcome flow could be: Trigger: Contact joins a list → Send email → Wait → Send email → End flow. You can build this yourself or adapt Welcome email series.

Prepare the automation email

In a Send email step, either choose Create a new email or select an existing draft under Copy from campaign drafts. Copying a campaign draft creates a separate email for this automation. Later changes to the campaign draft do not affect the automation email.

Enter the from name, verified from email, subject and preview text. Then click Edit email to prepare the content in the MailGraf email editor.

Activate the flow

1. Check the issues indicator in the top bar

   If something is incomplete, the indicator shows the number of issues. Open the relevant card and resolve each one before activation.

2. Click Activate

   The Activate automation dialog explains that new matching contacts will enter the flow. Confirm to move the automation to Active.

Activation creates the first version of the flow and freezes a copy of every email as it stands at that moment. Later edits do not change the experience of contacts already moving through the flow. To update an active automation, pause it, make the changes and click Activate new version. New contacts enter the new version while existing contacts continue on the version they started.