What are automations?

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Are automations new to you? This article provides basic information on the topic.

Please note: Generally, we strongly advise against making adjustments to an active automation. This can lead to unexpected errors. Therefore, always set the automation to 'Inactive' before making any changes!

If there is a situation where it is necessary for the automation to be 'Active' (e.g. starting contacts at a specific point), it is better to set this aside.

What are automations?

An automation, also known as an automation or funnel, is a series of events and actions that are triggered by the conditions you have set. This series helps you achieve your goals. Automations are often referred to as the Marketing & Sales Automation feature offered by MailBlue. They save you time, keep you organised, and can contribute to your revenue by improving your marketing and sales processes. Once an automation is set up, you don't need to worry about it, as it works without your input.

You can create as many automations as you like, for various purposes. For example, create a series of emails that a contact receives after a purchase, or a small automation to update the fields of your contacts with new information. Therefore, you can build an automation for any type of process.

Tip: You don't have to include all the larger processes in one automation. You can create multiple automations that work together. This way, you keep the automations simple and clear.

Getting started with automations

Before you can automate a process, you need to add your contacts to the automation. You can do this by setting a condition, known as the start trigger. So, a start trigger is essentially the gateway for your contacts to enter the automation.

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As you can see, there are 17 start triggers that you can select. They are based on the actions of the contacts or changes in their information (e.g. tag added/removed). When such a situation occurs, the contacts start the automation. When setting a start trigger, you can also further segment and set the number of times the contacts can go through the automation.

Actions

An automation allows your business processes to run automatically, but for this to work, contacts need to perform certain actions. If contacts do not perform these actions, they cannot progress in the automation.

You can place different actions in an automation:

  • Send a message to your contacts
  • Segment your contacts
  • Update contact information

There are four different types of actions that you can add to your automation:

1. Sending options

Within this action, you can send messages, both emails and SMS. The SMS option and sending a website message are available from a Plus subscription. Additionally, you can, for example, send a notification when a contact reaches a certain step in the automation.

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2. Conditions and workflow

This category contains actions that determine the path your contacts take in the automation. You can add a 'Wait' action, which allows contacts to wait for a certain amount of time before proceeding in the automation. This enables you to send perfectly timed messages.

In this category, you will also find segmentation options. With the 'If/Else' function, you set a condition and create a split. Within the 'If/Else' step, a 'YES' and a 'NO' path are created. This makes your emails more personal and targeted, increasing the likelihood of your contacts responding to your messages.

With the 'Split' action, you segment the contacts and measure which path in the automation is most effective.

The remaining actions in this category are used to move contacts within an automation, start another automation, or end the automation. The 'Goal' action is suitable for allowing contacts to skip steps in an automation once they meet certain conditions.

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3. Contacts

With the 'Contacts' category, you can update contact information. You can subscribe and unsubscribe contacts from lists, adjust custom fields, and add or remove tags.

Additionally, you can also modify lead scores, which is only available in the Plus and Professional subscriptions. This category helps you keep your contact information up to date, allowing you to send more relevant messages.

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4. CRM

Please note: The 'CRM' feature is only available in the Plus and Professional subscriptions, with the purchase of an additional CRM package.

With these actions, you can automatically adjust data to keep the information in your CRM up to date.

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When you start building automations, this can be quite a lot of information. The options are endless. If you encounter any issues, feel free to contact our Support department!

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