FAQs

What is email automation?

Email automation is the process of setting emails to send automatically based on a specified trigger.  This trigger could be around a demographic data field such a birthday, member type, or renewal due date, or could be around a behavior, such as a recent registration, form submission, or purchase. 

What are the benefits of using email automation?

Email automation is a way of streamlining efficiencies by taking away the manual lift of recurring email sends, and personalizing content to get the right information to members at the right time. 

What are common errors or mistakes associations make with automation?

The biggest mistake when building an email automation program is to not complete thorough testing.  Always run sample data through your email program before activating it to ensure everything is working as planned.  Test every possible branch and scenario.   

I activated my automation program, but no one on my list received the first email. What did I do wrong?

The initial data that is already on your input list for the automation program will need to be manually pushed into the program to start their journeys. To complete this step: Head over to your list, choose to browse, click "Add to Program" and choose your program.  This will manually push that list into the program. 

My automation program is running, now how do I extract the data on who is receiving and engaging with my emails?

If you keep all of your emails inside of one folder that are in your automation program, you can either drill down to that project folder for reporting or you can set up an Export Manager report that can report on who has received, opened, clicked, and/or unsubscribed from your automation emails. This report can be scheduled out on a weekly or more/less frequent cadence.

It seems that contacts have stopped after a filter or branch in my automation. What do I need to do?

It's a best practice to put a delay of at least 2-24 hours after an email send for contacts to engage with the email. Otherwise without the delay the email will go out and they'll go through the event-based filter asking whether they have opened or clicked immediately after with no time for contacts to take any desired action. You will almost always want to put in a delay after an email and before a filter.

In what scenario would I create a repeating automation program?

Most of the time for welcome campaigns and event-based automation programs, you only want contacts to go through the journey one time. For anniversary programs, contacts can enter the program annually. If you want to set up an anniversary around member join date or birthday, then you will create a repeating automation program.

Is there a way to send a notification when an automation email has been sent?

When a user manually launches a campaign, they will receive a launch start and launch complete notification. However we do not typically send out notifications for automation. They are not automatically triggered as part of an automation program as they can launch at random times with numerous individual launches which would create a high volume of one-off notifications.