# Automations

Set up trigger-based email workflows that run on autopilot.

Automations in SendBeam let you build email workflows that fire automatically in response to
contact events. Once an automation is active, it works around the clock — enrolling
contacts, sending emails, waiting, evaluating conditions, and applying tags without any manual
effort on your part.

> Automations are available on every plan. The number that can be **live** at once, **per workspace**, depends on the plan: 1 on Free, 5 on Starter, unlimited on Pro and Business. Emails sent by automations count towards your monthly email allowance.
> 

## What are automations?

An automation is a sequence of **steps** that executes for each contact individually,
triggered by a specific event. Every contact moves through the automation at their own pace —
a wait step pauses that contact's journey without affecting anyone else's.

Automations are made up of two building blocks:

- **Triggers** — the events that enrol a contact. An automation can have up to three.
- **Steps** — send an email, wait, branch on a condition, add or remove a tag, set a field, unsubscribe, or start another automation.

Only contacts whose status is **Subscribed** are enrolled, and a contact who
unsubscribes, bounces or complains part-way through leaves automatically (their run is marked
**exited**) before any further step runs. A contact who reaches the end of their
path — including the end of an empty branch — is marked **complete**.

By default a contact goes through an automation once (an anniversary automation is the
exception — it repeats yearly). Allowing them to repeat is a setting on
the automation, with a cooldown, because re-entry re-sends the whole sequence. See
[Letting contacts repeat](https://sendbeam.io/docs/automations/triggers#repeats).

## Automations vs. campaigns

Both automations and campaigns send emails through SendBeam, but they serve very different
purposes:

| Feature | Campaigns | Automations |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Timing | Sent once, now or at a scheduled time | Ongoing — triggered per contact |
| Audience | All contacts, a list or a segment | Individual contacts as events occur |
| Multi-step | No — single email | Yes — as many steps as you like |
| Personalisation | Merge tags | Merge tags + condition steps |
| Use case | Newsletters, promotions | Welcome series, onboarding, drips |

> Use **campaigns** for time-sensitive announcements and broadcasts. Use **automations** for relationship-building sequences that should run continuously as new contacts join.
> 

## Common use cases

Here are some of the most effective automation workflows:

- **Welcome series** — Greet new subscribers with a warm introduction email,
  followed by a brand story email two days later, and a first offer on day five.
- **Onboarding drip** — Guide new contacts through your product over their first
  two weeks with tips, tutorials, and check-in emails timed from the day they joined.
- **Post-purchase follow-up** — Send a thank-you email when a `purchased`
  tag is applied (by hand or via the API), then a review request three days later.
- **Lead magnet delivery** — Send the download the moment someone submits a
  signup form, then a short series of educational emails.
- **Tag-driven hand-offs** — End one sequence by adding a tag that starts the next,
  so contacts flow from onboarding into a nurture track automatically.

## Automation statuses

Every automation in SendBeam has one of three statuses:

- **Draft** — The automation has been created but is not yet active. No contacts
  will be enrolled. You can freely edit all settings, steps, and the trigger.
- **Active** — The automation is live and enrolling contacts as the trigger fires.
  Contacts already enrolled continue progressing through their steps.
- **Paused** — The automation has been stopped. Contacts already enrolled are held
  at their current step and carry on when you re-activate the automation. No new contacts are
  enrolled while paused.

> Deleting an automation removes it together with its steps and enrolments. Pause it first and check the **Enrolled Contacts** list for contacts mid-sequence before deleting.
>

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Source: https://sendbeam.io/docs/automations