Troubleshooting Automations
Start here: five checks
Most automation problems come down to one of five things. Check them in order before digging deeper.
| # | Check | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The automation's Status switch is on, and there's no warning icon after its name. | Actions → Automations |
| 2 | Every step is set up: no Automation Warning in the builder's header, and no step showing "not set up yet". | The builder |
| 3 | The trigger matches what really happens: the right lists, custom criteria, broadcasts and links. | The trigger step |
| 4 | Your monthly action allowance isn't used up. | The Action Limit button, or the Automations tab of Plan & Usage |
| 5 | The emails can be sent: a working pool, and a From address on a verified sending domain. | Each Send an email step |
The automation won't switch on
The Status switch turns itself off again and you see Firstly Complete Automation!
An automation can only run when it's complete. Look for the step that isn't:
- an email that has no content yet, or no pool under Sending Nodes,
- a condition with no email chosen under Select Workflow Email,
- an operation with no destination list,
- a trigger with no list chosen.
Steps that aren't finished show a notice on the canvas, and the header shows Automation Warning. Also check for a warning icon after the automation's name in the list: an automation that Mumara ONE paused stays off until the cause is fixed. See Paused by Mumara ONE.
Nobody is enrolled
No contact ever enters the workflow, and the first step shows zero in Automations Stats.
Likely causes
- The automation is paused. Only a running automation enrols contacts.
- The trigger doesn't match. A Contact is added to a list trigger pointed at a different list from the one receiving contacts is a classic.
- Subscribers Custom Criteria is narrower than you think, and no contact matches every rule.
- The contact is already in the automation. A contact is only enrolled once at a time; they can be enrolled again after finishing.
- The contact joined while the automation was paused. Events during a pause aren't replayed.
What to do
Add a test contact with your own address straight to the list the trigger watches, and watch the statistics. If the count stays at zero, the problem is the trigger or the status, not sending.
Open or click triggers never fire
An automation started by When a contact opens an email or When a contact clicks on a link enrols nobody.
Likely causes
- The broadcast was sent without tracking. With Track Opens or Track Clicks off, there's no engagement to react to.
- The automation was switched on after the broadcast went out. It won't pick up engagement with that broadcast: If the campaign has started and the status of automation is changed into running later, then automation will not proceed. Switch the automation on before sending.
- The expiry has passed. Engagement that happens longer after the broadcast was sent than the period under Automation will expire after the specified duration. doesn't enrol anyone.
- The contact had already opened the broadcast. Only a contact's first open counts.
- Selected broadcasts or Selected Link doesn't include the broadcast or link the contact engaged with.
- The contact isn't on the lists the trigger watches.
Date-based automations never fire
Likely causes
- The date field isn't one of the list's fields, or it's empty for your contacts. Add the field to the list and fill it in. See Custom Fields.
- Excluded Year is off on a birthday or anniversary automation, so the date only matches in the year it holds.
- The filter points the wrong way. Occurring after fires before the date; Occurred before fires after it.
- The specific date has passed. An automation Based on specific date runs on that one day only.
- You're checking too early. Date-based automations are checked once a day, just after midnight UTC, and "today" is the date in UTC.
Contacts enrol, then seem to stop
The first email goes out, then nothing more for a while.
Likely causes
- A wait or condition is doing its job. A Wait of 3 days means 3 days from when each contact reached it, and a condition waits its full Select Delay Time before deciding. Check the delays on the canvas.
- A specific send time. An email with Select specific time to execute this email and Next Day holds contacts who arrive after that time until the next day.
- The automation is paused, by you or by Mumara ONE. Look for a warning icon after its name.
- The monthly action allowance has run out. See the next section.
Automations stop part-way through the month
Everything works, then stops, then starts again after your renewal date.
Cause: your automations have used their monthly action allowance. Each email, notification and copy or move counts as an action. Mumara ONE pauses the affected automations, and the warning icon after each one's name says that the actions limit has been exceeded.
What happens at the reset
The automations start again by themselves when your allowance resets. Contacts who were partway through when the limit was reached are handled according to Reset Automation Limit, on the Automation tab of User Settings in the user menu:
- Skip: those contacts leave the automation. New contacts are enrolled as normal. This is the default.
- Resume: those contacts carry on from where they stopped.
What to do
- Check your usage on the Action Limit button or the Automations tab of Plan & Usage.
- To keep automations running through the month, move to a plan with more actions. See Mumara ONE pricing.
"You've reached the maximum number of actions"
Next Step shows You've reached the maximum number of actions allowed in this automation. Adding more actions is not permitted.
Cause: your plan caps how many steps one automation can have. Simplify the journey, for example by replacing several short waits with one, or move to a plan that allows more steps.
You can't create another automation
Add New shows a message that you've reached your automation limit.
Cause: you have as many automations as your plan allows. Delete one you no longer need, which frees its place, or move to a plan that allows more. Paused automations count toward the limit too.
Emails aren't being sent
Contacts move through the workflow, but no email arrives.
Likely causes
- The pool stopped working. Mumara ONE pauses the automation, and its warning icon shows Your SMTP failed. For more details visit the Issues page. Check the pool under Setup → Dedicated Pools, or contact Mumara support.
- The sender details aren't usable. Sender Info. is set to Sending Node, which doesn't give your emails your own From address; or Contact List is chosen but the list has no sender details on a verified sending domain. Choose Custom, or fix the list. See Sending Domains.
- The contact was skipped at send time. Contacts who have unsubscribed, complained, been deactivated, hard-bounced or been suppressed since they entered the automation aren't emailed.
- Skip Un-confirmed is on, and the contact hasn't confirmed their subscription.
- A specific send time is set, and the contact is waiting for it.
A condition always takes the No branch
Everyone is treated as unengaged, even people you know opened the email.
Likely causes
- Tracking was off on the email above the condition. A condition reads tracking data; without it there's nothing to go on. Open the email step and switch on Track Opens, and Track Clicks for a click condition.
- The delay is too short. A condition that waits an hour treats almost everyone as unengaged. Give opens a couple of days.
- The wrong links count. A click condition set to Custom only counts the links under Select Email Link.
Switching tracking on now doesn't help contacts who have already passed the condition. They were decided without tracking data and took the No branch.
The List-Unsubscribe header is missing
You switched it on, but the header isn't in the received message.
Check, in order
- The main switch is on: Add List-Unsubscribe header on the Setup tab of the Send an email step.
- At least one option under it is on. With both Unsubscribe Link and Unsubscribe Email off, there's nothing to put in the header.
- The address is filled in, if you're using Unsubscribe Email.
- You're looking at a real email. Test previews don't fill in system values.
This is separate from Unsubscribe-Link, which controls the link in the email's body.
Contacts get the same email twice
Likely causes
- Two automations send the same email to the same list, for example one on Contact is added to a list and one on When a contact is edited. Check your automations' triggers and lists side by side.
- A contact finished and was enrolled again. A contact can only be in an automation once at a time, but after finishing, a new event enrols them again. This is most common with When a contact is edited; add Subscribers Custom Criteria so only the change you care about counts.
- The contact is on two lists that both feed the automation, as two separate contact records.
Edits are refused
A step's settings are greyed out and you can't change them.
Cause: the automation is running. Pause it with the Status switch, make your edits, then switch it back on. The pause is a real gap in coverage, so keep it short on busy automations. See Editing a live automation.
Still stuck?
Contact Mumara support with:
- the automation's name, its Status, and its trigger,
- the reason shown by the warning icon after its name, if there is one,
- whether the first step shows any sends in Automations Stats,
- the email address of a contact who should have gone through the journey, and roughly when.
See also Troubleshooting for problems outside automations.