Mailchimp marketing automation allows you to create targeted emails that send when triggered by a specific date, event, or contact’s activity. We offer a number of automation options with pre-selected triggers and other settings, so you can quickly find and create the right campaign for your business needs. You can also create a custom automation from scratch.
In this article, you’ll learn about the different automation types available in Mailchimp.
Things to Know
- The default triggers and other settings listed for most automation types can be changed at any time. To learn more about different ways to customize your automation, check out All the Automation Triggers and Edit Automation Emails.
- Subscribers can only receive the emails in an automation once, with the exception of date-based automations, abandoned cart emails, order notifications, and product retargeting emails.
- Some automation types have email series listed in the default trigger settings. Depending on your plan, you may not have access to automation series. Choose the Single email option when you set up your automation. The trigger will default to the first email in the series.
About Automation Categories
When you create an automation in Mailchimp, here are the automation categories you’ll see.
- Featured
Recommended automations based on the details of your account. - Tags
Automation that sends when you add a specific tag to a contact. - Subscriber Activity
Automations that send based on signups and changes in audience data. - E-Commerce
Automations that send based on purchase activity in your online store. - Date Based
Automations that send based on data in a date or birthday audience field. - API
Automations that send based on an API call. - Custom
Automations that send based on the unique settings of your choice.
Featured
The featured automations tab highlights recommended automations from each category. You’ll see different featured automations depending on the details of your account, like whether you have an e-commerce store connected to Mailchimp. This is also where you’ll find the RSS campaign, which you can use to send blog updates to your subscribers.
Share Your Blog Posts with Mailchimp
Tags
Email Your Tagged Contacts
Use the tagged contact automation to send a targeted email after you add a specific tag to a subscribed contact. This message can be anything you want to communicate, like a special offer or a follow-up after an event.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Added tag Send an email when you add a specific tag to a contact. | Email 1 Trigger: Tagged contact Delay: 1 day after the contact is tagged. |
Subscriber Activity
Use subscriber activity automations to streamline communication with your subscribed contacts. Welcome new subscribers, help them get to know you, and send follow-up emails based on their activity.
Welcome new subscribers
These automations send when a contact subscribes to your emails.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Welcome message Greet people after they subscribe to your emails. | Email 1 Trigger: Signup Delay: 1 day after someone subscribes |
| Onboarding series Share tips and resources with a series of onboarding emails. | Email 1 Trigger type: Signup Delay: Immediately after someone subscribes Email 2 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 3 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 4 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 5 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email |
| Education series Manage an online course, or send a series of emails that engage and inform. | Email 1 Trigger: Signup Delay: 1 day after someone subscribes Email 2 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 3 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email |
Create an Automated Welcome Email
Respond to subscriber updates
These automations send when there’s a change in a contact’s group settings or audience field value.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Added to group Send an email when contacts join an audience group. | Email 1 Trigger: Joins audience group Delay: 1 day after a subscriber joins a select audience group Email 2 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email |
| Removed from group Follow up with contacts who leave an audience group. | Email 1 Trigger: Leaves audience group Delay: 1 day after a subscriber leaves a selected audience group Email 2 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 1 day after a subscriber is sent the previous email |
| List field change Send a message to contacts whose audience field data has been updated. | Email 1 Trigger: Changed audience field to value Delay: 1 day after a subscriber’s audience field value changes Email 2 Trigger: Changed audience field to value Delay: 1 day after a subscriber’s audience field value changes Email 3 Trigger: Changed audience field to value Delay: 1 day after a subscriber’s audience field value changes |
Thank pop-up form subscribers
This automation sends when someone subscribes to your emails from a Mailchimp pop-up form.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Thank pop-up form subscribers Send an email when contacts subscribe from a connected pop-up form. | Email 1 Trigger: Signup Delay: 1 day after someone subscribes |
E-Commerce
Personalize each customer’s buying experience with automation. Target new and repeat customers with custom messages or discounts, and re-engage those who haven’t purchased from you in a while. You can even send store-branded receipts, shipping confirmations, and more.
Recover abandoned carts
These automations send to customers who put an item in their shopping cart but don’t follow through on the purchase.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Abandoned cart email Encourage customers to complete their purchase if they leave items in their cart. | 6 hours after a customer abandons a cart in your store. |
| Abandoned cart series Encourage customers to complete their purchase with a series of reminders if they leave items in their cart. | Email 1 Trigger: Abandoned Cart Delay: 1 hour after a customer abandons a cart in your store Email 2 Trigger: Abandoned Cart Delay: 1 day after a customer abandons a cart in your store, and previous email was sent Email 3 Trigger: Abandoned Cart Delay: 3 days after a customer abandons a cart in your store, and previous email was sent. |
Create an Abandoned Cart Email
Create an Abandoned Cart Series
Product Follow-Up
These automations send after a contact purchases certain items from your online store.
| Automation type | Default trigger |
|---|---|
| Specific Product Follow-Up Send a follow-up message after a customer buys a specific product from your store. | Email 1 Trigger: Purchase specific product Delay: 1 day after a subscriber purchases a select product from your store |
| Any Product Follow-Up Send a follow-up message after a customer purchases any product from your store. | Email 1 Trigger: Purchase any product Delay: 1 day after a subscriber purchases anything from your store |
| Category Follow-Up Send a follow-up message after a customer buys a product from a specific category. | Email 1 Trigger: Purchase product from category Delay: 1 day after subscribers purchase a product from a select category |
Thank first-time customers
This automation sends to new customers who have made only one purchase. If they make a second purchase, they won’t receive the next email in the series.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings | Default segment |
|---|---|---|
| First purchase Send a follow-up message to new customers after their first purchase. | Email 1 Trigger: Purchase any product Delay: 1 hour after a subscriber purchases anything from your store Email 2 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 10 days after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 3 Trigger: Previous email sent Delay: 20 days after a subscriber is sent the previous email | Email 1 Total number of orders is 1 Email 2 Total number of orders is 1 Email 3 Total number of orders is 1 |
Create a First Purchase Automation
Reward your best customers
| Automation type | Default trigger settings | Default segment |
|---|---|---|
| Best customers Reward your best customers with sale announcements or special coupons. | Email 1 Trigger: Purchase any product Delay: Immediately after a subscriber purchases anything from your store Email 2 Trigger: Sent previous email Delay: 1 week after a subscriber is sent the previous email Email 3 Trigger: Sent previous email Delay: 1 week after a subscriber is sent the previous email | Email 1: Total amount spent is more than $100 and Total number of orders is greater than 2 |
Win back lapsed customers
This automation sends to customers who have made at least one purchase, but haven’t bought anything in a while. If they make a new purchase, they won’t receive the next email in the series.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Customer re-engagement Send an email to customers who haven’t purchased from your store in a specific timeframe. | Email 1 Trigger: Not purchased any product Delay: 120 days after a subscriber last bought something from your store Email 2 Trigger: Not purchased any product Delay: 240 days after a subscriber last bought something from your store, and previous email was sent Email 3 Trigger: Not purchased any product Delay: 360 days after after a subscriber last bought something from your store, and previous email was sent |
Create a Customer Re-Engagement Automation
Order Notifications
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Order Notifications Send receipts and invoices, and update your customers on shipping, refunds, and cancellations. | Triggered by contacts’ order status changes in your connected store. |
Retarget site visitors
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| Product Retargeting Email Encourage customers to purchase an item they viewed on your site. | Triggered after a subscriber clicks to your store from a Mailchimp email campaign to view a product. |
Create a Product Retargeting Email
Date Based
Date-based automations can help you engage with your subscribers throughout the year. Send email to your subscribers on their birthday, anniversary, or any other occasion that falls on a specific date that’s saved in a subscriber’s audience field. Subscribers can receive the same date-based automation emails more than once.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| List added date Send a series of emails when someone becomes a subscriber. | Email 1 Trigger: List Date Added Delay: 1 day after someone becomes a subscriber Email 2 Trigger: List Date Added Delay: 2 days after someone becomes a subscriber Email 3 Trigger: List Date Added Delay: 3 days after someone becomes a subscriber |
| Birthdays Send an annually recurring email based on a birthday field in your audience. | Email 1 Trigger: Birthday Delay: 1 day before a subscriber’s birthday Email 2 Trigger: Birthday Delay: On a subscriber’s birthday Email 3 Trigger: Birthday Delay: 1 day after a subscriber’s birthday |
| Specific date Send a one-time email based on a specific date in a subscriber’s audience field. | Email 1 Trigger: Date Delay: 14 days before the audience field date. Email 2 Trigger: Date Delay: On the audience field date Email 3 Trigger: Date Delay: 1 day after the audience field date |
| Recurring date Each year, send an email based on a subscriber’s date field. | Email 1 Trigger: Annually Recurring Event Delay: 1 day before the audience field date Email 2 Trigger: Annually Recurring Event Delay: On the audience field date Email 3 Trigger: Annually Recurring Event Delay: 1 day after the audience field date |
Create an Automated Birthday Email
API
Trigger the start of an automation with an API call. After you create the email series in the Mailchimp application or via the API, a subscriber can be added to an automation with a call to a URL we’ll provide to you. API requests can trigger an automation email when a single subscriber meets your sending criteria via the API delay settings.
| Automation type | Default trigger settings |
|---|---|
| API 3.0 Trigger the start of a workflow with an API call. | Email 1 Trigger: API 3.0 Delay: 1 day after an API call is posted with a subscriber’s email id Email 2 Trigger: API 3.0 Delay: 1 day after an API call is posted with a subscriber’s email id Email 3 Trigger: API 3.0 Delay: 1 day after an API call is posted with a subscriber’s email id |
Custom Automation
If none of our pre-built automations fit your needs, create an email or email series that works for your unique business needs with a custom automation. These automations can be based on a variety of criteria, and can be enhanced with API 3.0 and other integrations.
