Worked Examples

Build a welcome journey with a re-engagement branch

This is the automation most people want first: greet new contacts, then treat the engaged and the unengaged differently.

What we're building

Trigger: Contact is added to "Newsletter"
    │
    ├── Send an email — "Welcome aboard"
    │
    ├── Wait — 3 days
    │
    └── Condition: opened "Welcome aboard"? (within 2 days)
            ├── Yes → Send "Here's where to start"
            │         └── Operation: copy to "Engaged"
            └── No  → Send "Did you miss this?"

Before starting, confirm your setup is complete — the queue driver on Database, the scheduler running, and an active sending node. The Wait and the condition in this journey both depend on the scheduler.

Step 1 — Create the automation

On the Automations page click Add New. Name it Welcome Journey and select your Newsletter list. Click Confirm.

Step 2 — Set the trigger

Click the top node to open Select Automation Event and choose Contact is added to a list.

Set Lists to your Newsletter list. Leave Subscribers Custom Criteria empty to welcome everyone, or add a filter to narrow it. Confirm.

Step 3 — The welcome email

Click + below the trigger and choose Send an email.

Setup:

Field	Value
Action Label	Welcome aboard
Sending Nodes	Your active node
Sender Info.	Sending Node
Select specific time	Off — send on arrival
Track Opens	On
Track Clicks	On
Skip Un-confirmed	On, if you use confirmed opt-in
Unsubscribe-Link	On
Add List-Unsubscribe header	On, with both sub-options

Track Opens must be on

The condition in step 5 asks whether this email was opened. If tracking is off here, that condition can never evaluate. Turn it on now.

Email Content: choose Select Broadcast to reuse an existing welcome email, or Design New to build one.

Confirm: send yourself a test preview, then Finish. Remember that previews don't resolve personalisation tags.

Step 4 — Wait three days

Click + below the welcome email and choose Wait. Select 3 days.

This gives contacts a realistic window to open before you judge their engagement.

Step 5 — The condition

Click + below the Wait and choose Evaluate a condition.

Field	Value
Select Workflow Email	Welcome aboard
Select Engagement	Subscriber read an Email
Select Delay Time	2 days

The canvas now splits into a Yes and a No branch.

Wait plus delay is the real window

The 3-day Wait and the condition's 2-day delay stack: a contact reaches the condition after three days, and it then watches for up to two more. Contacts get roughly five days to open before landing on the No branch.

Step 6 — The Yes branch

On the Yes side, add Send an email labelled Here's where to start — they're engaged, so build on it.

Then add an Operation below it:

Field	Value
Select Operation Type	Copy to another list
Select Lists	Engaged
If Duplicates Found	Skip duplicate

You now have a self-maintaining list of engaged contacts.

Check the destination list

If Engaged has its own Contact is added to a list automation, this copy enrols them there too. Make sure that's what you want.

Step 7 — The No branch

On the No side, add Send an email labelled Did you miss this?.

Change the subject line — the whole point is that the first one didn't land. Keep tracking on so you can measure whether the second attempt worked.

Step 8 — Test, then go live

Before switching to Running:

1. Add a test contact with a real address you control to the Newsletter list.
2. Confirm the welcome email arrives, and that its unsubscribe link works.
3. Check the raw source for the List-Unsubscribe header.
4. Don't open it. Wait out the Wait and the condition delay, and confirm the contact lands on the No branch.
5. Repeat with a second contact, opening this time, and confirm the Yes branch and the copy to Engaged.

Then set the status to Running.

Test on a small list first

Point the automation at a small internal list, watch a full cycle, then switch it to the real list. It's far easier than unpicking a mistake that reached thousands of contacts.

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Recipe: birthday greeting

Sends a greeting on each contact's birthday, every year.

1. The list needs a date custom field holding the birthday, populated.
2. Trigger: Date based Automation → Based on profile date field.
3. Choose the birthday field, and set Apply Filters to Is Today.
4. Switch Exclude Year on.
5. Add a Send an email action with your greeting.

Exclude Year is the whole trick. A birthday field holds a full date including the year of birth, which as a literal match comes true only once. Excluding the year makes the comparison day-and-month only, so it fires every year.

To send a few days ahead, set Days Before.

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Recipe: renewal reminder

Warns contacts a week before their renewal date.

1. The list needs a renewal date custom field.
2. Trigger: Date based Automation → Based on profile date field, pointing at that field.
3. Set Days Before to 1 week.
4. Leave Exclude Year off — a renewal is a specific date, not an annual one.
5. Add Send an email with the reminder.
6. Optionally add a Wait of 5 days and a second, more urgent reminder.

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Recipe: click-driven sales hand-off

Alerts your sales team when a contact clicks a high-intent link.

1. Send a broadcast with click tracking on containing a pricing link.
2. Create an automation with trigger When a contact clicks on a link.
3. Select that broadcast, set link type to Custom, and choose the pricing URL.
4. Set an Automation expiry matching the campaign's useful life.
5. Add Notify admin, with To Email set to your sales address and a subject that identifies the contact.
6. Optionally add an Operation copying them to a Hot Leads list.

Because the trigger matches only the pricing URL, a click on any other link doesn't raise a false alarm.

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Common mistakes

Mistake	What happens	Fix
Condition on an untracked email	The condition can't evaluate.	Turn on Track Opens / Track Clicks in the referenced Send an Email action.
No scheduler	Contacts enrol, then freeze at the first Wait.	Check the cron entry and automation_waitingpool.
Queue driver left on Sync	Settings won't save; nothing runs.	Switch to Database and run a worker.
Condition delay too short	Engaged contacts land on the No branch.	Give opens a couple of days.
Two lists copying to each other	Contacts loop between automations.	Map hand-offs before building; use Move rather than Copy where it fits.
Editing without pausing	Edits are refused.	Pause, edit, resume — and keep the window short.
Automation started after the campaign	Engagement triggers ignore what already happened.	Set the automation Running before the campaign goes out.

Next steps

• Statistics — measure the journey you just built.
• Troubleshooting — when something doesn't fire.