Email automations

An automation enrolls a contact when something happens and runs them through a sequence of steps automatically: send an email, wait, tag, branch, repeat. Unlike a one-off email campaign, an automation fires on its own whenever its trigger condition is met. Every automation starts with one trigger -- such as contact added, tag added, donated, or attended an event -- configured in the top canvas node, where you can also narrow the condition (for example, which specific tag).

Step types

After the trigger, build your sequence by inserting steps:

• Send email. Sends one email to the contact. Choose subject and body in the step editor.
• Wait a duration. Pauses the run for a set amount of time before continuing.
• Add or remove a tag. Writes a tag change to the contact's CRM record.
• Branch on a condition. Evaluates a condition and routes contacts down a Yes or No path. Each path continues with its own steps.
• Wait until an event. Holds the run until the contact acts, with a timeout fallback if they do not.
• A/B split. Randomly routes contacts across two to five weighted variant paths for comparative testing.

Branch and wait-until-event steps

A branch step supports four conditions: has a tag, is in a segment, has donated at least a set lifetime amount, and engaged with email in the last N days (opened or clicked). The condition is evaluated at the moment the run reaches that step.

A wait-until-event step pauses the run and waits for a specific contact action: email opened, email clicked, event RSVP, donation completed, or tag added. When the event fires, the run advances down the event path immediately. If the contact does not act within your configured timeout (1 minute to 30 days), the run takes the timeout fallback path instead. Email open and click waits are tied to the specific automation send, so opens from unrelated campaigns do not count.

A/B testing and goals

Add a split step to route contacts randomly across variants by weight. To measure results, mark one downstream step as the goal (one goal per workflow, set in workflow settings). When a run first reaches the goal step, that conversion is counted. The split metrics panel shows assigned contacts, goal conversions, and conversion rate per variant, with the highest raw-rate variant marked.

Activating and monitoring

Save a workflow as a draft while building; drafts do not enroll anyone. Before you go live, run the workflow in test mode to validate it without enrolling real contacts. When ready, activate it. The detail view shows per-step pass-through counts and, for branch steps, Yes/No splits. The Runs list shows every enrolled contact and their status. Click any step node to open the metrics panel with the last 20 step-level log entries.

Why this matters

Automations let you follow up consistently without manual effort, so no new member, donor, or event attendee falls through the cracks. Because each sequence runs on its own trigger, you can maintain multiple parallel journeys without them interfering with each other. Branching and wait-until-event steps mean your contacts receive relevant messages based on what they actually do, not just what you assumed they would do. Over time, A/B testing within a workflow gives you concrete data to improve your messaging without running a separate campaign.