Essential for your marketing automation strategies, automated flows allow you to create simple automated emails as well as complex multichannel automations.
These are sequences of actions that include sending emails and SMS, triggered by a specific action of a contact. For example, completing a newsletter subscription form, purchases, or abandoned carts. All the data synchronized with your magnews account can be used to trigger automated flows.
But where to begin? In this article, we'll explain what's inside an automated flow, provide tips, and guide you through the necessary tricks to use them successfully. Finally, we’ll walk through an example of a simple automated flow for a welcome flow.
Before you start
Here are a few things to keep in mind before you begin.
- Determine the goal. The first step to creating an effective automated flow is to think of an overall goal. Do you want to acquire new leads? Nurture the contacts already in your database? Or maybe design a reactivation flow? Having a clear goal helps guide your entire communication and makes it easier to create the flow. For this reason, you will also find templates already available in magnews organized by goal.
- Think about your strategy. Which contacts are engaged? Where does the flow start, and when does it end? What are the intermediate steps?
Answering these questions at the beginning of the process provides a clear direction for your automated flow, preventing it from becoming either too scattered or too small. Have you determined these aspects? Then it’s time to bring them to life in magnews!
Newsletter vs automated flow
We’ve seen what an automated flow is and what aspects to consider before creating one.
In the world of magnews, it’s important to distinguish between campaigns and automated flows.
| Campaigns | Automated flows | |
| Target | Sent to a known audience from the start | Sends one or more automated messages based on events and conditions applied to contacts. The target is not known in advance |
| Volume | Up to millions of contacts per target | One contact at a time |
| Timing |
Created manually and scheduled All contacts receive the communication at the same time |
Triggered whenever certain conditions are met Each contact receives their message when they take an action or an event related to them occurs |
| Example | Periodic newsletter, or the launch of a seasonal promotion or event | Automatic welcome email, or an SMS confirmation for those who signed up for a new service |
Create a new automated flow
You can create a new automated flow from Journey Lab > Dashboard using the Create button in the top-right corner.
If you want to start from a template, pick one from the available options. Otherwise, go ahead and build your automated flow from scratch.
The designer interface
When you enter the designer, you land on a clear layout that helps you move around with ease:
At the top, you see the header: on the left, you see the automated flow name, the colored chip showing its status, and the icon that opens the flow settings, where you can edit the name, entry limits, and other details.
On the right, you have the main actions such as Save, Publish, Start test, and Validate.In the center, you find the board, the space where you drag and connect automated flow components (called “nodes” in magnews) to design the flow step by step.
This area may be completely empty if you start from scratch, or it may already include a set of connected nodes when you pick one of the available templates during automated flow creation.
In the top-right corner, you also get navigation buttons you can use to adjust zoom, select multiple nodes, add post-its and access other shortcuts.On the left, you have the sidebar with all available nodes, organized into tabs and color-coded by type or behavior. Pick what you need and drag it onto the board.
When you select a node already placed on the board, a configuration sidebar appears on the right. Since each node has its own purpose and features, the content of this sidebar changes depending on the selected node.
For example, if you select the "Wait for message activity" node, the right sidebar shows a set of options, while selecting the "Send message" node displays a message preview along with additional settings.
All these elements guide you naturally, and the block-based visualization makes it much easier to follow the flow, see branching paths, and understand how each contact will move through the journey.
Automated flow nodes
As mentioned earlier, automated flows consist of a series of components, also known as nodes, that connect to shape the flow. There are several types:
- Events are the way to enter an automated flow.
- Actions are the steps necessary to achieve the goal.
- Decisions split a flow into "Yes" or "No" branches (there can be more than two exits).
- Wait nodes hold contacts at a certain stage of the automated flow.
- Exits take contacts out of an automated flow.
Events
An event starts the execution of an automated flow for a contact. This happens:
- when a new contact enters magnews;
- when a contact's field is updated, or a date or anniversary is approaching;
- when magnews detects a click on a button, a visit to a web page, or the completion of a survey;
- when it's triggered by another automated flow or an API call.
Additionally, the user can manually request and force certain contacts into the automated flow.
Each time a contact enters an automated flow, magnews creates a session for them: this starts the "journey" of the contact through the flow, moving from top to bottom along the path set by the nodes. The session ends when the contact exits the flow.
- Add an event: select it from the Events list and drag it into the design area.
Event filters
Open the event for editing by clicking on the "pencil" icon. Here, you can add a filter to the event and narrow down the contacts that will be engaged by the automated flow.
- For example, you can include in a welcome flow only contacts who come from a subscription form by selecting the source "Subscribed from Web."
Actions
Your contacts are guided toward the goal through actions. These can be anything: a communication, adding to an audience, or modifying a contact field.
For example, you can create a multichannel experience by sending a first email and then an SMS as a second touch point. A custom Facebook audience can also be used for this purpose.
To add an action, drag the action node from the Actions tab into the design area. Check the full list of available actions to learn more.
Decisions
Decisions split the flow into two branches, "Yes" and "No." They allow for personalized communications and different actions based on criteria such as:
- Contact actions: Did they open or click an email? Did they make a purchase or visit a web page?
- Contact attributes: How old is the contact? What are their interests?
Some nodes have more than two exits, like the "Message Interaction" node, which checks the events recorded on a communication.
Decisions are evaluated when the contact passes through the automated flow node, allowing for the appropriate response.
Check the full list of decisions.
Wait nodes
Wait nodes allow a contact's session in the automated flow to be paused for a limited period of time.
For example, you send an email with a coupon to encourage a contact to make a purchase. You wait a day to see if the email is opened, then three more days to check if they made a purchase.
Without wait nodes, the automated flow executes actions and decisions one after another, without giving the contact enough time.
Select a wait node (recognized by their orange color) from the list of decisions and set the time in configuration.
For further details, head to the dedicated page.
An automated flow example
In this automated flow example, you will use an event, an action, a wait, and an interaction check with a message. This will give you some context on the basic components of workflows that we previously introduced.
The goal of the flow is to use a recurrence as an event to bring contacts into the automated flow.
- Drag an "Contact Anniversary" event node into the design. Select the database where the contacts reside and the field that hosts the special recurrence. Alternatively to the birthday, you can use the date when the contact registered on your site. It's an important date for you as you want to remember each person who joined your community.
- Add a send message node, and personalize the content using the contact's data. Take advantage of this contact moment to celebrate the event; a discount coupon to use within the month can make the greetings more appealing.
- Drag a wait node. Set three days as the wait before proceeding; this is the time you’ll allow the contact to act before checking the outcome.
Add a message interaction check node from the Decisions section and two exit nodes.
- Set the first exit with a positive outcome and link it to the email click or open actions: the contact has interacted with your message!
- Otherwise, connect the node with the exit with a negative outcome.
This simple automated flow initiates a personal contact moment that is also important for the people in your community.
You can recreate the automated flow on magnews, following the steps outlined above, or select this pre-made workflow from the available templates on magnews. Especially at the beginning, it is easier to start from a flow already set up by magnews; it's up to you to add content that best represents you.