Creating an Automated Email Flow

Create timely email automations that are automatically triggered by a specific action, for example, if a customer makes a purchase or abandons a cart. This helps maximize sales and increase repeat purchase rate by making sure your reach your customers at the ultimate point in the buying journey.

Choose a pre-set flow, or if you prefer to use your own rules, you can create a flow from scratch.

Types of flows

We've created a library of top-performing flows for you to use to boost your ROI. You've got email flows, SMS + email flows, and SMS-only flows that are divided into the following groups:

• Retention 
• Customer care
• Shopify Events
• Integrations

Step 1: Create your flow

Start by creating the outline of your flow:

1. Log into your Yotpo Email admin.
2. From the menu on the left, click Flows.
3. Click Create flow.
4. You can choose to use an out-of-the-box flow or you can create a new flow.
   • To select an out-of-the-box flow, find the relevant flow and next to it click Create flow.
   • To create a flow from scratch, at the top of the page click Create flow.
5. Give your flow a name.
6. Click Save.

Step 2: Choose a trigger (when creating from scratch)

Every flow must have a trigger. A flow's trigger is what sets it in motion. The following types of triggers are available:

• Order-related: triggers such as order placement, order shipping, delivery etc. 
• Shipping: order fulfillment and shipping confirmation 
• SMSBump: new subscriber confirmation, browse abandonment
• Customer-related: new registration, customer winback, etc. 
• Product-related: new product created, updated or deleted 
• Integrations-related: triggers based on integrations with our partners. You should activate the integration before using the trigger.

1. Click Choose Trigger.
2. Choose a trigger from the list of available triggers.

Step 3 (optional): Add a subscriber condition

If you want to split your flow based on the segment a subscriber belongs to, you can add a subscriber condition to your flow. 

For example, you could define that if you select the segment "All", and an email subscriber is in this group, they will receive an email. If your email subscriber is not in this group, they will receive an SMS instead.

1. Click Add step > Add condition.
2. From the conditions dropdown, select Email Subscriber.
3. Select the segment you want to send your email to. To send your email to all segments, select All segments.
4. Define your condition.

Step 4: Set up your email action

Add an email action to your flow:

1. Click Add step > Add action.
2. Select Email message.
3. Define your email attributes:

• Enter a sender name. This might be the name of your brand, your own name, or something else. We recommend you keep it catchy!
• Select the sender email address.
• (Optional) If you want to direct email replies from your recipients to a different email address, you can add it here. Click Add reply-to email, and then enter the email address.
• Add an email subject that will engage your recipients.
• Enter some preview text, to appear after the subject line.
• (Optional) Add a discount to your email. You can use this discount as a shortcode in the email subject, the email preview, and even in the email itself. Learn how to add a discount in Yotpo SMS & Email.

Step 5: Edit your email content

It’s time to design your email:

1. Click Edit Design. You’ll be directed to the email editor.
2. Follow the steps in Designing your email to apply a template and customize the look and feel of your email.
3. Test your email before you send it out to your recipients. At the top of the page, click Send test. In the popup that appears, enter the email address you want to send the test to. A test email will be sent out right away.
4. Return to the Flows page by clicking Save & go back.
5. To save and activate your flow, click Save.

Next steps

See our best practices guide to learn about getting the most out of automated email flows.