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Automations

Automations let you send emails and manage tags automatically — without lifting a finger after the initial setup. Define a trigger, add one or more actions, and MailJawn handles the rest.

How Automations Work

Every automation follows a simple pattern:

Trigger ──► (Wait) ──► Action ──► (Wait) ──► Action ──► …
  1. A trigger starts the automation — a new subscriber joins, a subscriber goes quiet, or a scheduled time arrives.
  2. Optional wait nodes pause the sequence for minutes, hours, or days.
  3. Actions do the work — send an email, add a tag, or remove a tag.

Nodes execute in order, one at a time per subscriber. MailJawn tracks every step so you always know where each subscriber stands.

Triggers

A trigger is always the first node (position 0) in an automation. You choose one when you create the automation.

Trigger Fires When Use Case
On Subscribe A new subscriber is added to your project Welcome emails, onboarding sequences
On Inactivity A subscriber hasn't been seen for a configurable time window Win-back campaigns, re-engagement nudges
On Schedule A specific date and time arrives Product launches, one-time announcements

Tip

On Subscribe and On Inactivity automations can fire repeatedly for different subscribers. On Schedule automations fire once and then deactivate automatically.

Actions

Actions are the steps that actually do something. You can chain as many as you need (up to 20 nodes total per automation).

Action What It Does
Send Email Sends an email to the subscriber using a draft you select
Set Tag Adds a tag to the subscriber (creates the tag if it doesn't exist)
Clear Tag Removes a tag from the subscriber

Wait Nodes

Wait nodes add a delay between actions. Configure the delay in minutes, hours, or days. Consecutive waits are accumulated — if you place a 1-day wait followed by a 2-hour wait before an action, that action fires 1 day and 2 hours after the previous step.

Active vs. Paused

Every automation has an active/paused toggle:

  • Active — the trigger is live and new subscribers can be enrolled. In-flight enrollments continue advancing.
  • Paused — the trigger stops firing. Existing enrollments that are already in progress continue to completion, but no new enrollments are created.

Warning

You can only edit an automation's nodes while it is paused. Activate it again when you're ready to go live.

When you activate an automation, MailJawn records the activation timestamp. This powers the backfill guard — subscribers who existed before activation are not retroactively enrolled.

Exit Conditions

You can define conditions that pull a subscriber out of an automation early, before they reach the end. Exit conditions are checked before every node executes.

Condition Exits When
Has Tag The subscriber currently has a specific tag
On Event A specific event (e.g., app_opened) occurred after enrollment
Any Of Any one of multiple sub-conditions is met (OR logic)

For example, if your re-engagement automation should stop when a subscriber opens your app, add an on_event exit condition for app_opened.

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