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 offers Start from scratch and 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.
• Cart reminder starts with a store cart event. It waits one hour after the latest update, then sends an email showing the cart items. An order or payment event stops the remaining steps. The store connection needs to be set up separately.

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. For a custom-event trigger, use Re-entry to choose a single entry or repeated entries. For other triggers, check the entry rule shown on the card.

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. To tell your team when a contact reaches a certain point, use Notify team: see Notify your team from an automation.

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.

Wait for a specific date

Add Wait until to the flow. Open the card and set Date, Time and Timezone. Use it, for example, to hold an event invitation until a particular date and time.

Every contact waits for that fixed moment. If it has already passed when they reach the step, they continue immediately. Use Wait instead when each contact should wait for a duration.

Branch by a clicked link

1. Add a Condition after the email

   Choose Clicked a link in the email?.

2. Select the Email step

   The selector lists email steps in this automation. The email you check must have been sent before the contact reaches the condition.

3. Choose Which link

   Select a content link from the email or choose Any link. System links, such as unsubscribe and profile updates, are excluded from this list.

The condition checks when the contact reaches it. A matching click sends them down Yes. Otherwise, they follow No. It does not wait for a future click. Add Wait between Send email and Condition to give the contact time to read and respond.

If no links appear, add a link to the email design. If you remove a selected link from the design, return to the condition and choose a valid one.

Prepare the automation email

In a Send email step, choose Create a new email or select an existing draft under Campaign drafts. The selected draft is reserved for this flow and removed from your campaigns list. Edit it from the automation's email card from then on.

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

For a flow started by a custom event, Exit when this event arrives can stop reminders after a contact places an order. Separate event names with commas. When Restart the wait if the same event arrives again is on, a new event received while the contact is waiting resets that wait. The next email uses the latest event data.

Starter includes 2 active automations and Pro has no active automation limit. Paused flows also count towards the limit. Stop a flow you no longer need to free a place. Activating a new version of an active or paused flow does not use another place. If your account has a custom limit, follow the limit shown when you activate the flow.

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 the button that counts them, for example Publish 2 changes. New contacts enter the new version while existing contacts continue on the version they started.

See Compare plan allowances for Starter and Pro features and usage limits.

When a contact takes a break

If a contact has paused their emails, any email step they reach during the break is skipped. The flow moves on. Skipped emails are not sent later when the break ends.

Use conditional content to tailor parts of an automation email to the contact. Test with different example contacts before activating the flow.