Email automations

How an automation works

An automation is a flowchart. Each step is a "node", and each node does one thing:

The trigger starts the automation — a new subscription, an unsubscribe, a date on the subscriber's record, a manual start, or a call to the API
Email nodes send a message at that point in the sequence
Delay nodes wait — anything from one minute up to twelve months — before the next step
Condition nodes split the path in two based on the subscriber's fields, groups or segments
Action nodes change the subscriber: update a custom field, move them between groups, or unsubscribe them
Webhook nodes post data to an outside system
Data fetch nodes pull values from an outside API so later nodes can use them
Other automation nodes hand the subscriber over to a second automation

Once activated, an automation runs on its own, so every subscriber gets the same timing and the same personalisation without anyone touching it.

This feature used to be called "Workflows". In Yaplet a workflow now means a scripted conversation a brand runs in chat, on Facebook and Instagram, and on the phone (Workflows). Two unrelated features could not keep the same name, so the email side became Email automations. Only the wording changed — the web address is still /dashboard/newsletter/workflows, so existing bookmarks and links still work.

Getting started

To build your first automation:

Choose a trigger

Decide which event starts the sequence

Build the sequence

Add email, delay and condition nodes in the visual builder

Test and activate

Send test emails, then switch the automation to Active for live subscribers

Managing your automations

Automation builder

The visual builder where you set the trigger and lay out the nodes. Covers every trigger and node type, the API trigger payload, auto layout, validation and AI generation.

Automation reports

Run statistics, email performance and a row-by-row list of every send, plus renaming, duplicating and deleting an automation.

Automation API

Start an automation for a specific subscriber from your own application, shop or CRM, and pass custom data into its emails.

The permission that controls this screen is Email automations (Newsletter.Automations); the older Newsletter.Workflows key no longer exists. The built-in Newsletter Agent permission preset grants Newsletter, Campaigns and Email automations together. There is no per-plan count: an organisation that holds the permission can keep up to 50 automations at once — one fixed ceiling for every plan — and the create button tells you so if you reach it.

Start with the Automation builder if you're new to this, or open Automation reports to see how the sequences you already run are performing.

Automate with AI: You can also create whole automations from a description, update existing ones, and configure individual email nodes using Copilot or any MCP-compatible client. Try "Create a welcome automation that sends 3 emails over 2 weeks after someone subscribes" — the AI builds the full node structure. See the Newsletter Tools reference for details.