Guide

Automation recipes

The six ready-made automation templates, from welcome and birthday emails to bounce alerts and forwarding, with their steps and what to fill in.

Updated Oct 1, 2026

When you create an automation, you can start from one of six templates instead of a blank canvas. Each template sets up the trigger and steps for a common job. This page explains what each one does and what you need to fill in before you start it.

Use a recipe

Create the automation. Go to Email MarketingAutomations, select New automation, pick the context and then the template.
Name it and select Create. The automation opens as a draft with the template’s steps.
Fill in the gaps. Templates leave the email templates and addresses empty. Open the Editor tab, select each step and complete its settings, as described for each recipe below.
Save and start. Select Save, fix any highlighted steps, then select Start.

Every recipe uses 3 credits per run, plus 1 credit for each email it sends or forwards. Create the email templates you’ll need before you start.

Contact recipes

Thank you for subscribing

Sends a welcome email when someone joins an audience.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Added to audience	Any audience	Pick the Audience to welcome people to, or leave it empty for all audiences.
Send email	Subject override “Thanks for subscribing!”	Pick the Email template. Change or clear the Subject override to use your own.

The welcome goes to people added from the dashboard, the API or the Add to audience bulk action. Imports and subscribe URL sign-ups don’t start it. See Added to audience.

Wishing Happy Birthday

Sends a birthday email every year on each contact’s birthday.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Date anniversary	No field	Pick the Date field that holds birthdays, for example a Date custom field with the key `birthday`.
Send email	Subject override “Happy Birthday!”	Pick the Email template.

You need a Date custom field with birthdays filled in, in YYYY-MM-DD format. Runs start once a day, in UTC, for every contact whose date matches today’s month and day. In the current beta, also set the trigger’s date_field with the API, as described in Date anniversary.

In the email template, use Temple to personalize it, for example Happy birthday, {{first_name}}!.

Three day onboarding sequence

Sends three emails over three days to people who join an audience.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Added to audience	Any audience	Pick the Audience.
Wait / Delay	1 hour	Adjust if you want the first email sooner or later.
Send email	No template	Pick the first email’s template.
Wait / Delay	1 day
Send email	No template	Pick the second email’s template.
Wait / Delay	1 day
Send email	No template	Pick the third email’s template.

To stop the sequence for people who no longer qualify, add a Condition step before a send, for example on a custom field that marks customers who already upgraded, and connect only the No branch to the next email.

Email recipes

Prevent suppression of an email

Keeps one important address deliverable: when an email to it is suppressed, the automation removes the address from the suppression list and forwards the suppressed email to it.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Email suppressed	Filter: To Equals (empty)	Enter the address to protect as the filter value, for example `ops@acme.com`. Until you do, the automation never runs.
Remove from suppressions		Nothing to set. Removes the email’s recipient from the suppression list.
Forward email	Forward to empty	Enter where the copy should go, usually the same address.

The original email stays suppressed. The forward is a new email with the subject “Fwd: “ plus the original subject. Only protect addresses you control: addresses are suppressed for a reason, such as bounces or complaints. See Suppressions.

Forward received email

Forwards every inbound email to another address, for example your support inbox.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Email received	No filter	Optionally add a filter, for example To Equals `support@inbound.acme.com`, to forward only some addresses.
Forward email	Forward to empty	Enter the address to forward to.

You need inbound email set up on a domain first. See Forward with automations.

Notify me of any bounces

Emails you whenever an outgoing email bounces.

Step	Setting in the template	What to do
Email bounced	No filter	Add a filter to narrow it down, for example From Equals `billing@acme.com`. Also add To Not equals your alert address, so a bounced alert can’t trigger another one.
Send email	Subject override “An email bounced”	Pick the Email template and enter your address in To (recipient).

In the alert template, use Temple to include details of the bounced email from the event, for example:

HTML

<p>The email "{{payload.object.subject}}" to {{payload.object.to}} bounced.</p>
<p>Email ID: {{payload.object.id}}</p>

Triggers

Every trigger and its options.

Steps

Every step and its settings.