Automation Example: Send a Message on a Recurring Basis

Details

If you're looking to advise or inform of something on a regular basis, a recurring message might be just what you're after. Some example use cases could be:

• Remind staff about an important recurring meeting or event
• Email customers about a weekly or monthly Happy Hour sale
• Send a recurring email or SMS reminder to staff about completing their timesheets or invoicing

What This Example Will Cover

In this automation example, we'll be setting up a fortnightly email to our members to remind them of their 'Fortnightly Freebie'. This automation consists of two parts - the first sets a value in a date field whenever a contact subscribes, and the second sends an email on a recurring basis (every 14 days) from the date of subscription.

Here's what our fortnightly reminder email looks like;

How-to Guide

Before you begin, you'll need to have your subscribe form created. You will also need to have a date field on your list (it can be an empty field to begin with), as well as the email that you wish to send on a recurring basis.

1. Select Automation from the sidebar.
2. Select the Advanced Automation tab.
3. Click New Workflow.
4. Give the workflow a name and click Save.
5. Click New Step.
6. In the first section, set the action as A trigger against the following List and select the folder & list that contains your subscription form. In our case, it's the our 'Exclusive Club Members' registration form.
7. In the second section, set the trigger as Subscribe.
8. In the third section, scroll down to the area titled Change the following value(s) in the Contact record and click Add/Edit. A popup dialog will open.
9. In the first dropdown, select your date field. In our example, it will be the 'Join date' field. In the second dropdown, select set to current date/time.
   
10. In the fourth section, configure the timing of when the information pack email should send. In most cases, you'll probably want to set this to Immediately.
11. Click Save. You'll now be taken back to the first screen for the automation.
12. So far, we've told the system to set the join date whenever someone subscribes to our list. Next up, we want to configure the fortnightly reminder message. Click New Step.
13. In the first section, set the action as A trigger against the following List and select the same folder and list that you selected in Step 6, above.
14. In the second section, set the trigger as Time-based.
15. Set the field as your date field (in our example, it's the 'Join date' field).
16. Set the frequency as desired (in our example, it's a fortnightly email reminder - so we'll be setting this to Every 14 days).
    
17. In the third section, enable the checkbox Send the Contact the message and use the folder and message dropdowns to select the message you'd like to have sent.
    
18. Click Save.
19. Click Save on the automation setup screen.
20. Finally, click … next to the automation and choose Activate. Your automation is now ready. The first step, which sets the date field, will run each time the form is completed. Then, the second part will run and send your desired message at the set frequency - in our example, every 14 days from the join date.

Once you have completed the setup process, you can test the automation by filling in the form to make sure you receive the relevant emails.