Automations Overview
The Automations dashboard in Delivra is your central hub for creating, managing, and monitoring automated workflows that enhance engagement with your contacts. Through this dashboard, you can set up personalized, time-based, and behavior-triggered messages that keep your audience connected with relevant content and drive actionable results. This guide will walk you through the main features of the Automations dashboard and provide step-by-step instructions on building a new automation, helping you make the most of your contact interactions with minimal manual effort.
Automation Dashboard
To access the Automations dashboard, click the Automations icon on the left sidebar. Here, you’ll see a list of all your automations, regardless of status.
- Edit or Manage: Hover over any automation to reveal an Edit button, or click the dropdown arrow for options like renaming, changing status, saving as a template, or deleting.
- Expand Emails: If an automation includes emails, an arrow will appear next to its name. Click this to expand the list and directly edit each assigned email.
- View Templates: Use the toggle to switch between viewing your automations and saved templates.
- Folders: Navigate your folders by clicking on them in the left navigation menu. You can also check Search in subfolders to see all of your automations in a single view.
- Search: Type in the search bar to search any aspect of your automations. Click on the options icon to filter your automations by status and type.
To start a new automation, simply click the blue button in the top-right corner.
Creating an Automation
- Name and Description: First, give your automation a name and add a description if desired.
- Starting Template: Choose a template to begin building your automation. You have three options:
- Stock Templates: Available by default to all Delivra accounts, including templates for simple workflows and more complex setups, like re-engagement campaigns or event reminders.
- Site Templates: Shared templates accessible across all accounts within your organization (if applicable).
- Account Templates: Custom templates created within your account and only visible within that specific account.
By default, Stock Templates will be shown first. Simply select the template that best matches your needs to start creating your automation.
Building your Automation
The Automation Builder may seem complex at first, but let’s simplify it by focusing on the main components and setup steps.
- Building Area: The central area of the screen is where you’ll drag blocks to build out each step of your automation.
- Automation Settings (right panel): When setting up your automation, you’ll choose how it begins and key options like Allow Re-entry, which determines if contacts can enter the automation multiple times. Starting options include:
- Event: Set criteria that qualify contacts for entry into the automation. Once active, the automation monitors your contact data, entering contacts as they meet the criteria.
- Email/SMS: Initiate the automation with an email or SMS message; all contacts receiving this message are automatically entered.
- Triggered: Start the automation based on a Triggered Segment, which checks contact data on a set schedule, entering contacts as they meet the criteria. Triggered automations are helpful for using multiple custom tables or complex segmentation.
Once your selections are made, click the X to close the settings panel. To add building blocks, click the + on the screen, and if you need to revisit settings, click the gear icon at the bottom left.
- Building Blocks: These are split into Actions and Conditions:
- Actions: Blocks that initiate an action, such as sending an email, updating data, or creating pathways for branching or merging contacts.
- Conditions: Blocks that evaluate data, like checking for opens, clicks, or other engagement.
To get to know each block better, check out our Glossary of Automation Actions and Conditions here.
Testing your Automation
It’s a good idea to test your automation regularly to make sure it’s working as expected. In the Test step, you can choose a contact to test with, along with specific settings for a smoother testing experience:
Select a Contact: You can choose any contact with an email address associated with an Account or Site administrator who has access to your account. The selected contact will move through the automation, using their profile data, and will respond to any interactions, such as opens or clicks.
Pause Override: This option allows you to shorten any pause or wait times set in your automation, speeding up the testing process. Setting this to 5 minutes is recommended so you have enough time to interact with the email before the contact progresses further.
By testing in this way, you can ensure that each step in the automation is functioning as intended.
Scheduling your Automation
When you’re ready to schedule your automation, follow these steps:
- Set Automation Status: For most automations, simply set the Status dropdown to Scheduled, then choose your start date and time.
- Triggered Automations: These have additional scheduling options:
- Schedule Start Date: Choose the date and time for your triggered automation to begin running.
- Lookback Date: Set a past date if you want the automation to check for contacts who would have qualified in previous periods.
- Send Frequency: Select how often the automation should run based on the initial start time (e.g., setting a 1-day frequency for a 5:15 pm start means it will run daily at 5:15 pm).
- Timing of Message Delivery: Adjust this if you need messages sent before or after an event. For example, setting it to run 3 days before your event will automatically send attendees a reminder 3 days in advance.
These options ensure that your automation runs precisely when and how you need it to.
Automation Best Practices
- Allow Time for Interaction: Give your contacts time to engage with your messages by adding pauses or using the re-evaluate function in Evaluate conditions, ensuring ample time for responses.
- Keep Automations Manageable: Avoid creating overly complex automations. Instead, split them into smaller sections and use the Next Automation tool to smoothly transfer contacts from one automation to the next. This will make troubleshooting easier and reduce potential issues.
Resources
Related Articles
Glossary of Automation Actions and Conditions
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