Email Automation
Email automation is the use of triggers, rules, and scheduled workflows to send emails automatically based on subscriber actions or time-based conditions.
What Is Email Automation?
Email automation ranges from simple scheduled sends to complex multi-step workflows. Common automation types include welcome sequences (triggered when someone subscribes), re-engagement campaigns (triggered by inactivity), birthday or milestone emails, and behaviour-triggered messages (e.g., sending a follow-up when someone clicks a specific link). Automation allows you to deliver timely, relevant emails without manual intervention. The most effective automations feel personal and timely even though they're pre-configured. For newsletters, automation typically covers the subscriber lifecycle — welcoming new subscribers, nurturing engagement, and re-engaging lapsed readers.
Why It Matters for Newsletters
Automation allows newsletter creators to maintain consistent communication without being chained to a send schedule. It ensures that every subscriber gets the right message at the right time, regardless of when they joined your list. Welcome emails, for example, have 4x the open rate and 5x the click rate of regular emails — but only if they're sent automatically at the moment of subscription.
Best Practices
- Always have a welcome email or series that sends immediately upon subscription
- Set up re-engagement automation for subscribers who haven't opened in 30-60 days
- Keep automated sequences short and focused — 3-5 emails for a welcome series
- Review and update automated content quarterly to keep it fresh
- Monitor automation performance metrics separately from regular newsletter metrics
How Aldus Handles This
Aldus automates the key moments in the subscriber lifecycle: scheduled newsletter sends, automatic A/B testing, and AI-powered re-engagement campaigns. The platform's AI handles the content creation for automated messages, ensuring they're as high-quality as your regular issues.