Sending Emails from Automations
Configure email send actions in automations
Sending Emails from Automations
The email send action is the core of most automations. It delivers a specific email to the contact who is currently moving through the workflow. This guide covers how to configure email send steps and best practices for automation emails.
Adding an email send step
- In the automation editor, click the + button where you want to send an email.
- Select Send Email as the step type.
- Configure the email details.
Email configuration
Subject line
Write a subject line for this specific email. You can use merge fields like {{first_name}} to personalize the subject line for each contact.
From name and address
Select the sending identity for this email. The from address must use a verified domain in your organization. If you have multiple verified domains, choose the most appropriate one for this automation.
Email content
Compose the email body using the built-in editor. Automation emails support the same features as campaign emails:
- Rich text formatting.
- Images and media.
- Buttons and links (with click tracking).
- Merge fields for personalization.
- AI writing assistance for content generation.
Preheader text
Set the preview text that appears next to the subject line in the inbox. A good preheader complements the subject line and can increase open rates.
How automation emails are sent
When a contact reaches an email send step, the automation worker queues the email for delivery. The sender worker then picks up the queued email and delivers it, just like a campaign email. This means automation emails benefit from the same infrastructure:
- Click and open tracking.
- Unsubscribe link handling.
- Bounce processing and contact suppression.
- Frequency capping enforcement.
Frequency capping and automation emails
Automation email sends respect your organization's frequency cap settings. If a contact has already reached their cap when the automation tries to send an email, the send is skipped. The automation continues to the next step — it does not stall or wait for the cap to reset.
This means a contact might skip one email in a sequence but receive the next one. If this is not desirable, consider adjusting your frequency caps or reducing the number of automations a single contact can be enrolled in simultaneously.
Verified domain requirement
You cannot activate an automation that contains email send steps unless you have at least one verified sending domain. The activation toggle will be disabled with a message indicating that a verified domain is required. You can still build and save the automation, but it cannot run until a domain is verified.
Best practices
- Write automation emails as if they are personal messages, not bulk sends. Contacts experience automations individually.
- Use personalization liberally — merge fields for name, company, and other contact data.
- Keep subject lines varied across the automation sequence to avoid a repetitive feel in the inbox.
- Include the Mailnaptic unsubscribe link in every email. This is required for compliance and added automatically.
- Test each email by sending to yourself before activating the automation.