All Collections
Automated campaigns
How to create and manage automations
How to create and manage automations

How to create an automatic campaign in our drag & drop editor, how to test Automation and how to further edit it.

Jan Tlapak avatar
Written by Jan Tlapak
Updated over a week ago

Before creating any automated campaign, think about the Automation scenario and strategy, so you know what you want to achieve and how to set up Automation accordingly πŸ‘

The first you choose the contact list for which Automation will run. This is one of the reasons why it is better to maintain only one contact list in the application and further segment it as needed. If you have created multiple lists and want to start automation for all of them, you will need to merge the lists into one or duplicate the automata.

You create automation in the "Automation" section.

new automation

In the basic Automation settings, you set:

  • Automation title - for your reference, recipients will not see it

  • Running of Automation - here you set how many times Automation for contacts should be triggered, and you choose between:

  • - Run only once for each user - if the contact has already gone through the Automation once, it will not happen that it will fall into it again now
    TIP: Ideal for the Welcome campaign, as the contact is always new only once
    - Run multiple times - runs each time the contact meets a condition that triggers the trigger and has already completed this automation. Therefore, it will not start again for a contact that has not completed automation yet and is still in it.
    TIP: Typical for holiday and birthday automation, utomation of an abandoned basket, etc.
    - Run multiple times and in parallel - the Automation starts every time the contact meets the condition that triggers the Automation, even if it is already in Automation and has not completed it yet
    TIP: Automations, that are eg. multi-step and react, for example, to the purchase of a contact and always require the evaluation of a specific product

  • Connected list - you are attaching an already created list of contacts for which the Automation is to be started

After creating the Automation itself, you set its "scenario", ie how the Automation for contacts will work.

First you select "trigger", ie what will start Automation for the given contact.

You can add more triggers if you want Automation to run for contacts on multiple events:

triggers

And according to what choose trigger?

  • User signs up - for the Welcome campaign, ie the Automation is started for contacts who have logged in (registered) to the contact list (eg via the signup form)
    TIP: for contacts from manual import, you can start this Automat by clicking on "Automation" in the second step of the import -> Automat does not start automatically because you can also import older contacts

run automation
  • Opens an email - use if you want to follow up on the submitted regular campaign -> set up Automation and then send the regular campaign (you can also select the so-called "draft" in the trigger, ie a pre-prepared campaign)

  • Clicks in email - use if you want to follow up on the submitted regular campaign -> set up Automation and then send the regular campaign (you can also select the so-called "draft" in the trigger, ie a pre-prepared campaign)

  • Visits page - The Automation starts when the contact visits web page (only in the Marketer+ tariff and with functional integration)

  • Tag is added / tag is removed - The Automation is started when a tag is added to the contact by another Automation or by special merge tag *|ECM_ADDTAG_mytag|*

  • Date anniversary - for name days, birthdays and other anniversaries (for example, anniversary dates in your custom field), the year is ignored

  • Specific date will occur - as soon as a specific date (ie including the year) occurs that the contact has (do not use for a holiday or birthday)

  • Every day (beta) - Automation starts every day and checks the set condition (custom field or shopping behavior, etc.)

  • Makes an order - The Automation starts with the purchase of the contact (only in the Marketer+ tariff and with functional integration)

  • Custom event trigger - triggers when a contact performs a selected action on the site (e.g. triggers a video on your site)
    TIP: also used to Automation of an abandoned cart

  • API trigger - for the Automation you want to run via the API

After selecting the trigger, drag it to the Automation creation area.

You will then follow up on the trigger with other "actions" that are to happen in Automation for contacts (who have fulfilled the trigger):
​

creating automation

We distinguish between actions that relate to "sending", "Automation" itself and to "contact" itself.

action sending

action automation

action contact

You choose from events:

  • Send email - you choose from the templates you have created in the "Templates" section

  • Send SMS - precedes the purchase of SMS credits

  • Send FB Messenger message - currently not available because of the update of Facebook terms. We will let you know when the function will be available again.

  • Send a letter - to send a letter, contact support at support@ecomail.app

  • Send data to webhook

  • Wait - the contact "waits" the selected time before moving on the next step in Automation

  • Add condition - conditions can be selected according to various criteria, similar to segmentation

  • Trigger another automation

  • End this automation

  • Subscribe to list than the one for which the respective machine is running

  • Unsubscribe from list

  • Edit contact

  • Add or remove a tag

  • Add a note

  • Add or remove from FB Custom Audience - Facebook Custom Audience or your own circle of contacts

When creating automation from the very beginning, our mini hints will also help you:
​

mini hint

You can, of course, add more actions to create a complex "Automation Tree".
​

automation tree

Before starting, we recommend to test each Automation -> you can do this by clicking on the "Testing" section in the given Automattion.

For testing purposes, the email you entered will be added to the attached contact list. Each waiting step will be reduced to 5 minutes (or less) for convenient testing.

If the already entered email is in the automation and is active, it will be removed from the automation and this automation will be started again from the beginning.
​

testing

If the Automation is OK, click 'Start and close' at the top right.

Automation is now active, and as soon as one of the contacts completes the trigger, the automatic campaign you created for it will start.

It is always necessary to pause the automation for further modifications of the already started automation.

"Automatically deploy elements" function

elements

To ensure that the individual steps in automation are sorted by relevance and do not overlap, use the automatic deployment function. You will find this button when adjusting the automation in the upper left corner, see. prtsc above.

This is what automation looks like before using the compare button. ⬇
​

not deployed

Automation after deployment.⬇
​

deployed automation

If you do not know how to deal with anything, do not hesitate to contact our support >> support@ecomail.app 😊

Did this answer your question?