An automation is a per-contact workflow. When a trigger fires for a contact — a form submission, joining an audience, getting tagged, or matching a date field — that contact starts at step one and walks through the sequence one step at a time. Each contact is independent: contact A may be on step 3 while contact B is still on step 1, and a third contact may have already finished.
Triggers — what can start an automation
Form submitted — when a specific form is submitted by a contact.
Audience added — when a contact is added to a specific audience.
Tag added — when a specific tag is applied to a contact.
Date field matched — when a contact's birthday or anniversary date matches today.
Steps — what happens once an automation fires
Send email — sends a specific EmailAsset to the contact. Captures delivery, opens, and clicks for that send.
Wait — delays the next step by a configurable number of minutes, hours, or days.
Add tag — applies a tag to the contact.
Remove tag — removes a tag from the contact.
Editing an automation
While an automation is in Draft status, you can add, remove, or reorder steps freely. Once you activate it and contacts start enrolling, the trigger and step structure are locked — but the content inside each step (email subject, email body, tag names) can still be edited at any time. Edits don't affect contacts who already passed that step; future contacts see the latest version.
Statuses
Draft — not yet running. No contacts will enroll. Fully editable.
Active — accepting new enrollments. Existing runs continue.
Paused — not accepting new enrollments. Existing runs continue. Use this when you want to stop new contacts from entering but let the queue finish.
Archived — not accepting new enrollments AND all running contacts are cancelled. Use this when the automation is fully retired.
Re-enrollment
By default, a contact can only enter the same automation once. If you want a contact to be able to re-enter (e.g., a quarterly check-in automation that should fire each quarter), turn on "Allow re-enrollment" on the automation. Each new trigger event will start the contact at step one again.
What automations do not do
Conditional branching ("if the contact opened email A, send email B; otherwise send email C") is not supported. Every contact follows the same sequence in the same order.
External webhook triggers are not supported. Only the four built-in trigger types above can start an automation.
Date triggers are limited to birthday and anniversary. Other custom date fields cannot be used as triggers.
A/B testing within an automation is not supported.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I add or remove steps in an active automation?
You can edit the content of existing steps any time. To add or remove steps, you have to take the automation back to Draft, which stops new enrollments. Contacts mid-flight finish on the old structure.
What happens to contacts in an active automation if I delete a step?
You can't delete steps from an active automation. Take it back to Draft to make structural changes. When you reactivate, new contacts use the new structure; mid-flight contacts continue on the version they enrolled under.
Why didn't my birthday automation fire?
Check that the contact has a birthday set in the right custom field, that the automation is Active (not Draft or Paused), and that the trigger is configured for the correct date field. Birthday matches run once per day.
Can I send a one-off broadcast through an automation?
No — automations are per-contact and trigger-driven. For one-off broadcasts to a list, use a Campaign instead.
Related guides
Marketing Plans and Usage
Three tiers: Individual (free, 125 emails/month), Growth ($4 per 1,000-email block over 1,000), and Pro ($3 per 1,000-email block over 5,000). Quotas reset at the start of each calendar month.
Sending Domains and DNS Setup
Verify a custom domain so marketing emails come from your address ([email protected]) with proper SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and Return-Path records.
Marketing Troubleshooting
Common issues and how to resolve them: cancelling a scheduled campaign, understanding hard vs. soft bounces, and what to do when a contact stops receiving emails.