How to manage automations and autoresponders

One of the most common uses of email marketing is the creation of autoresponders, i.e. emails that are sent automatically in certain circumstances.

The new version of Mailrelay includes many new options and makes it easier to manage the old features that remain.

In this tutorial, we'll look at how to manage the automations in the new version of Mailrelay, step by step.

We'll focus on a small concrete example.

But it will help you see how to create other similar automations, because they work in the same way.

ÍNDICE

• How to manage automations and autoresponders
  • 1. Preparing an autoresponder that will be sent after a new subscription
    • 1.1. First autoresponder configuration screen
    • 1.2. Second autoresponder configuration screen
    • Campaign activity
    • Subscriber activity
    • 1.3.Third autoresponder configuration screen
    • 1.4. Fourth autoresponder configuration screen
  • 2. Testing the autoresponder you created
  • 3.Automation and autoresponder statistics
  • 4. . Adding more triggers to the autoresponder
  • 5. It is easier to create and manage automations

1. Preparing an autoresponder that will be sent after a new subscription

The first step in this example is to set up the typical autoresponder that sends an email after a new subscriber signs up.

In this tutorial, we'll take for granted the following aspects

1. That you have already created the groups where you want subscribers to be saved (first tutorial)
2. and that you already have a subscription form ready.
3. in addition, the newsletters you want to send have been created and prepared.

If these three factors have already been taken into account, we can continue with the tutorial without any problems.

The first thing to do is go to the Automations menu and click on the Add button.

This screen will present us with two new options:

• Birthday: this will allow you to send the subscriber an email on their birthday or on an earlier date, a few days before, for example.
• Custom: this will allow you to set up a more personalized automation.

Choose the Custom option to follow this tutorial and click on the button: Use this automation.

1.1. First autoresponder configuration screen

Let's look at these options first:

• Name: this is the name of the automation, it is used internally to organize the automations you create.
• Send only once: if you want the automation to be sent only once, even if the conditions are met more than once, check this option.
• Which subscriberswould you like to include: if you want to include all the contacts in the account or a specific group or segment.
• Groups: if you choose to send to groups, you will have to choose the groups.

This is the basic configuration in which we mainly choose the group or segment.

This way, when there are new subscribers in that group, the email will be sent to them.

To do this, you need to add a new trigger. A trigger is a resource for initiating an action. To do this, click on Add trigger.

1.2. Second autoresponder configuration screen

On this screen, you are presented with various automation options, in two blocks:

Campaign activity

Subscriber activity

• The subscriber was added to the group
• The subscriber was removed from the group

For this tutorial, we'll follow the Subscriber activity option, so click on the corresponding tab:

And so we'll see a screen with the two options we've discussed:

Let's choose the option: The subscriber has been added to the group.

1.3.Third autoresponder configuration screen

We're almost there.

Choose a name for this trigger. Again, it will be used internally to organize your triggers.

Next, we have Conditions and Action.

• Conditions: And we can choose whether the action will take place after a few hours, days or immediately. For this example, choose Immediately.

• Action: The action is to send a newsletter; in this section, choose that option. Finally, click on Validate and apply.

1.4. Fourth autoresponder configuration screen

The last screen is just a summary, for you to review the settings, accept them and save them.

Make sure everything is correct and click Create automation.

Once saved, we can see this automation/autoresponder in the list:

As you can see, it is marked as activated.

2. Testing the autoresponder you created

If you want to test the autoresponder you've created, it's very easy.

Go to the Subscribers>>Signup forms menu:

As you can see here, we have a form that we created in a previous tutorial.

This form registers a new subscriber in the "Sports" group.

If you click on this URL, it will take you to the subscription form, where you can enter a new email address and test the registration:

When we send the form, we receive this message:

The contact will receive an email with a link to confirm the subscription.

And after confirmation, they will receive the email that was set up in the automation:

If we want to check the emails that are being sent, how do we do that?

3.Automation and autoresponder statistics

To see the statistics for automations and autoresponders, go to the Reports>>Automations menu.

In this menu, we'll see the automations we've created:

On this screen, we only have basic information on each automation, such as emails sent, click and open rate.

If you want more information, click on the magnifying glass icon on the right.

As you can see, here we can see much more information, including graphs that can really help us to see the evolution of our automations.

And if we click on Emails sent, for example, we can see which contacts the emails were sent to:

So it's very easy to keep track of what's happening with the automations.

So it's very easy to keep track of what's happening with the automations.

4. . Adding more triggers to the autoresponder

So far, we've seen the steps for creating an automation that sends an email to the subscriber as soon as they sign up to receive our newsletters.

But what if we wanted to add another step? For example, to send an email a day later? In this case we would have:

1. an email after registration

2. and an email a day later

Let's see how we would do this.

Click on the automation menu again to edit the one you've created:

IMPORTANT: You don't need to add a new automation for each trigger; if, in fact, it is going to be grouped, like a series of emails, it is better to create several triggers for the same automation by editing it.

The configuration will remain the same for new subscribers to the sports group.

What we're going to add is another step, and we'll do this with the Add trigger button.

And the configuration will be as follows:

In this case, we have:

1.  we have to wait 1 day after the contact subscribes to the "sports" group.
2.  and after one day, the system will send a newsletter.

The process is very easy.

Now we have two actions in this automation:

And that's it, everything is ready.

5. It is easier to create and manage automations

As we've seen in this tutorial, it's very easy to create automations, and now we have many more options:

1. Veceived the campaign

2. Opened campaign

3. Clicked on the campaign

4. Did not open the campaign

5. Did not click on the campaign

6. The subscriber was added to the group

7. The subscriber was removed from the group

Above all, we can group them together.

In this way, we can have different automations for different forms or groups and segment the conversion funnels of different target customers much more effectively.

At the same time, we have complete statistics for each automation separately.