Overview: Automation 🎬

Details

Automations allow you to send email or SMS messages based on various triggers - such as date fields, information being received, forms being completed and so on. Our platform has two types of automations - Standard and Advanced.

When setting up & activating an automation for contacts that are being added / subscribed, it will only apply to new contacts. Contacts that join prior to the automation setup would not have the workflow apply to them.

Automations based around timing events (such as "Send XYZ email 2 weeks later") are sensitive to adjustments. If you edit the timing of an automation of this nature & save it, the timer will 'reset' at the time of save.

Standard Automations

Standard automations allow for the sending of trigger- and date-based email & SMS. This can include welcoming a new subscriber, sending a series of email / SMS messages over a period of time to educate subscribers or nurture leads, or sending an email or SMS message on the anniversary of a date field.

Advanced Automations

Advanced automations are only available on some plans.

The advanced automation module allows you to engage your customers in real one-to-one marketing dialogue, providing huge value to both you and your subscribers. Imagine being able to send out highly relevant and targeted content to your contacts without having to log in and send the message out yourself!

Advanced automations allow for campaign workflows, automated data updating, segmenting - and the ability to use criteria such as time, action and profile-based segments. Three of the main benefits of advanced automations over standard automations are:

• Access to a wider variety of triggers
• The ability to filter (for example, only run this automation step if the contact has / doesn't have a certain value in a particular contact data field)
• The ability to update a value on the contacts record (for example, when contact clicks a certain link in the email they were sent, then add / edit / remove a value inside one of their contact data fields ...you could then also trigger a completely different automation series to run when this occurs) 

Automation Triggers

Triggers for Standard Automations

• Subscribe (occurs after a contact subscribes via a web form)
• Unsubscribe (occurs after a contact is unsubscribed from a list)
• Update Profile (occurs after a contact updates their profile)
• Confirm Subscription (occurs after a contact confirms their subscription)
• A period on, before or after a date and time (nb. if using this to trigger a message send, you will need to ensure your chosen date field also has a time component - this can be configured when you create or edit the date field)
• Update Preferences (occurs after a contact updates their preferences)
• When a date field is reached
• When the anniversary of a date field is reached
• When a Contact is added from the API or Zapier
• When a Contact is created from the REST API
• When a Contact is updated from the REST API
• Added from Eventbrite (occurs after a contact is successfully added via the Eventbrite integration)
• Updated from Eventbrite (occurs after a contact is successfully updated via the Eventbrite integration)

Triggers for Advanced Automations

List-based trigger events:

• Subscribe (occurs after a contact subscribes via a web form)
• Bulk Upload (occurs after a Contact is uploaded via bulk upload)
• Confirm Subscription (occurs after a contact confirms their subscription)
• Unsubscribe (occurs after a contact is unsubscribed from a list)
• Leave Feedback (occurs after a contact leaves feedback after unsubscribing from a list)
• Update Profile (occurs after a contact updates their profile)
• Update Preferences (occurs after a contact updates their preferences)
• Manually Added (occurs after a contact is manually added to a List)
• Manually Updated (this event occurs after a contact is edited via the contact details popup)
• JSON-RPC API Upload (occurs after a Contact is uploaded via the API (using the addContacts method). This is also the advanced automations trigger to use when triggering from contacts added via Zapier).
• REST API Contact Created
• REST API Contact Updated
• Time-based (occurs at a specific time in relation to a Date Field)
• Time Delay (occurs after a specific time in relation the time of a Date Field)
• Added from Eventbrite (occurs after a contact is successfully added via the Eventbrite integration)
• Updated from Eventbrite (occurs after a contact is successfully updated via the Eventbrite integration)

Email message-based trigger events:

• Open (occurs after the email has been opened)
• Not Opened (the opposite of the above - noting that this would be 'true' until such time as the contact opens the email, so we recommend adding a wait time on these, in order to give the contact some time to open the email, otherwise this will trigger immediately after sending)
• Not Opened & Not Bounced (occurs when the email has not been opened but also, has not bounced)
• Link Click (occurs when the contact has clicked a link in the email; you will be able to select the link to monitor for clicks)
• Unsubscribe (occurs when the contact unsubscribes from the list)
• Leave Feedback (occurs when the contact leaves unsubscribe feedback)
• Update Preferences (occurs when the contact updates their Preferences via a Preferences form, as a result of receiving the message)
• Update Profile (occurs when the contact updates their profile via an Update Profile form, as a result of receiving the message)
• Complained (occurs when the contact uses the 'mark as spam' button in a supported email client - noting that not all providers support reporting this data back to us)
• Any Bounces (occurs when the email bounces for any reason)
• Temporary Bounces (occurs when the email temporarily bounces - eg. mailbox temporarily full)
• Permanent Bounces (occurs when the email permanently bounces - eg. mailbox doesn't exist)
• Not Bounced (the opposite of the above bounce options - noting that this would be 'true' until such time as the email bounces, so we recommend adding a wait time on these, in order to give the email some time to potentially bounce, otherwise this will trigger immediately after sending)

SMS-based trigger events:

• Delivered to Gateway (occur when the SMS reaches the SMS gateway - noting that not all carriers support reporting this data back to us)
• Acknowledged at Handset (occur when the SMS reaches the contact's handset - noting that not all carriers support reporting this data back to us)
• Delivery Failed / Bounced (occur when the SMS did not reach the destination - noting that not all carriers support reporting this data back to us)
• Update Profile (occurs when the contact updates their profile via an Update Profile form, as a result of receiving the message)
• Unsubscribe (occurs when the contact unsubscribes from the list)
• Leave Feedback (occurs when the contact leaves unsubscribe feedback)

Automation Examples

Looking for automation ideas? We have a series of examples with how-to guides available here in our support centre. Search for automation examples.

Before getting started with your automations, we recommend that you plan the structure of your workflow first.

Power Session Video

Check out our video recording below, from a Vision6 Power Session, which explains how automations work, provides some great examples, and runs through building an automation for a particular use case.