> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.exclusivo.one/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automations

> Email that sends itself — welcomes, post-purchase notes, review requests and win-backs.

An automation is one thing happening, a wait, and then an email. That's the
whole model.

## What can set one off

| Trigger           | Fires when                       |
| ----------------- | -------------------------------- |
| `subscribed`      | Someone joins your list          |
| `order_placed`    | An order is paid for             |
| `order_delivered` | The carrier says it arrived      |
| `customer_lapsed` | Someone hasn't bought in a while |

## Building a sequence

There's no branching. If you want three emails over a week, that's three
automations on the same trigger with different delays:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Welcome, straight away">
    Trigger `subscribed`, no delay.
  </Step>

  <Step title="A nudge, three days later">
    Trigger `subscribed`, delay 3 days.
  </Step>

  <Step title="An offer, a week in">
    Trigger `subscribed`, delay 7 days.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Simpler than a flowchart, and much harder to accidentally leave someone stuck in.

## New automations start switched off

You have to turn one on yourself. It's pointing at an email you haven't read
yet, and we're not sending that to your customers on your behalf.

Read it, send yourself a test, then enable it.

## Things we won't let happen

You don't need to think about any of this — it's here so you know the edges are
covered:

* **Nobody gets the same automated email twice.** Even if the thing that triggered it fires again.
* **We check for unsubscribes when we send, not when we queue.** Someone who opts out today won't get a message scheduled last week.
* **If we can't tell whether someone is subscribed, we don't send.** Missing an email is fixable. Emailing someone who opted out is a complaint.
* **Refunding an order cancels its pending automations.** Nobody gets asked to review something they've just sent back.

## Where to start

<Tip>
  Set up one automation and leave it alone for a month.

  Three emails to a list that isn't converting on one email doesn't fix anything —
  it just sends the same problem three times.
</Tip>

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Post-purchase">
    Trigger `order_placed`. Good for what happens next, care instructions, or
    asking for a referral. Resist selling them something else immediately.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Review request">
    Trigger `order_delivered`, with a delay long enough that they've actually
    used the thing. Refunded orders drop out automatically.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Win-back">
    Trigger `customer_lapsed`. For most shops that sell anything repeatable this
    is the one that earns its keep, and the one nobody gets round to.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Your contact limit

Marketing automations count toward your **500 subscribed contacts**. Go over and
they pause — receipts and shipping notifications don't.

→ [Email](/stashed/growth/email)