A new user signs up for your product. You want to welcome them, help them get started, and follow up if they need support.
Sending the first email is straightforward. Managing the next few messages becomes harder as more users join. Some finish their setup immediately. Others need time or a reminder.
Mailofly Automations lets you build email workflows that respond to these actions. You connect steps in a visual builder, choose when messages should go out, and create different paths based on customer data or events.
Here’s how it works and how to build your first welcome email automation.
What is email automation?
Email automation sends messages when a defined event happens or a set of conditions is met.
For example, a signup event can start a welcome sequence. A purchase event can trigger an order follow-up. A workflow can also wait for a customer to complete an action before deciding what happens next.
Instead of manually sending every message, you define the workflow once. Each contact then moves through it individually.
With Mailofly Automations, these workflows can include emails, waiting periods, conditional branches, and contact updates.
How Mailofly Automations works
Every workflow starts with a trigger. From there, you connect the steps that should follow.
Start with an event
An event tells Mailofly that something happened in your application. You can use names such as user.signup or order.completed.
Your application sends the event with an email address or contact ID. It can also include extra details, such as the customer’s first name, plan, or product purchased.
These details help you personalize messages and choose which path a contact follows. The custom events guide explains how to send them from your application.
Control timing and choose different paths
Mailofly provides three useful steps for controlling an automated email workflow:
Delay: Pause for a set number of minutes, hours, or days.
Condition: Check event data, contact properties, or segment membership, then follow a true or false branch.
Wait for Event: Pause until a specific event happens, with a separate path if the waiting period expires.
A delay works well for a scheduled onboarding lesson. Wait for Event is useful when the next message depends on something the user does.
Send emails and update contacts
The Send Email step lets you choose a saved template or write custom content. You can personalize the subject and message using event data and contact information.
For example, {{payload.first_name}} inserts the first name supplied with the event.
Workflows can also add contacts to segments, update their properties, or delete a contact when that action is appropriate. You can explore the available actions in the automation steps guide.
How to create a welcome email automation
A welcome sequence is a practical place to start. Keep the first version focused on helping users complete one important action.
1. Create your workflow
Open your Mailofly dashboard, select Automations, and click Create Automation.
Choose a clear name, such as “New user welcome.”
2. Choose your signup trigger
Select an event such as user.signup.
Connect your application so it sends this event when someone registers. Include any details your messages need, such as the user’s first name.
The visual builder defines the workflow; your application supplies the events that start it.
3. Add a welcome email
Add a Send Email step and configure the sender, subject, and content.
Use an address from a verified sending domain. Keep the message simple: thank the user for joining, explain the next step, and give them a way to ask for help.
4. Add a follow-up
For a basic sequence, add a Delay of two days, followed by an email with a short setup guide.
For a workflow that responds to user behavior, use Wait for Event. For example, your application could send a custom setup.completed event.
You could configure the workflow to:
Send a next-step guide when setup is completed.
Send a helpful reminder if the event does not arrive within two days.
Choose and implement event names that match your application.
5. Test and enable it
Use Test Automation with your own email address and sample event data. Check the message content, personalization, and branch behavior.
Once you are satisfied, save and enable the workflow. The creation guide covers the dashboard setup.
More email automation ideas
Once your welcome sequence is working, you can build workflows for other parts of the customer journey.
Customer onboarding: Space out tutorials with delays and tailor instructions using contact properties.
Purchase follow-ups: Start a workflow when your application sends an order event, then send useful product information or a later feedback request.
Cart reminders: Have your application identify an abandoned cart and send the relevant event. Design the workflow around purchase updates so reminders remain relevant.
Plan upgrades: Use an upgrade event to send a getting-started guide for paid features and update the contact’s segment.
Start with one useful workflow. Add more when you have a clear reason to contact the customer.
Track each contact’s progress
Mailofly’s Runs panel shows individual journeys through an automation.
You can inspect a contact’s status, review their step history, and see whether they are waiting, completed, or encountering a failure. This helps you understand why a follow-up has or has not happened.
See the automation runs guide for details.
Where automations fit in your email setup
An email API or SMTP integration handles sending messages from your application. Email automation adds the sequence around those messages: when to follow up, which conditions to check, and what should happen next.
This makes automations useful alongside transactional email for onboarding and customer communication.
Email deliverability still matters throughout the workflow. Use an authenticated sending domain, send relevant content, and respect subscription preferences for marketing messages.
Build your first Mailofly automation
Start with a signup event, one welcome email, and one helpful follow-up. Test the journey yourself, then use the Runs panel to understand how contacts move through it.
You can expand the workflow with conditions, segments, and event-based waiting as your needs grow.
Follow the Mailofly Automations guide to build your first automated email workflow.
