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Drip Sequences

A drip sequence delivers a series of emails (and other actions) over time on a schedule you define. It's how you build onboarding flows, educational courses, or re-engagement campaigns that unfold over days or weeks.

Building a Sequence

Every drip sequence starts with a trigger, then alternates between wait nodes and actions:

Trigger ──► Wait 1 day ──► Send Email ──► Wait 3 days ──► Send Email ──► Wait 7 days ──► Send Email
                              │                               │                             │
                          "Day 1"                         "Day 4"                       "Day 11"

The delay before each action is cumulative. In this example, the subscriber receives emails on day 1, day 4, and day 11 after enrollment.

Configuring Delays

Each wait node has a delay value and a delay unit:

Unit Example Delay
Minutes 30 minutes Quick follow-ups or test sequences
Hours 12 hours Same-day spacing
Days 3 days Multi-day cadence

Consecutive wait nodes are accumulated. If you place a 2-day wait followed by a 6-hour wait before an action, that action fires 2 days and 6 hours after the previous step.

Tip

Start with longer delays (days) and shorten them if engagement data suggests subscribers want content sooner. You can edit delays while the automation is paused.

How the Engine Schedules Nodes

When a subscriber is enrolled, MailJawn walks the node list and schedules the next action:

  1. Start at the trigger node (position 0) — it has already fired.
  2. Walk forward through the nodes, accumulating delay from any wait nodes encountered.
  3. Schedule the first action node for now + accumulated delay.
  4. When that action completes, repeat from step 2 for the remaining nodes.

This means MailJawn only schedules one action at a time. After each action completes, it looks ahead, sums up any waits, and schedules the next action. This approach keeps scheduling accurate even if an action takes a while to complete.

Available Actions

You're not limited to sending emails. Mix and match actions in any order:

Action What It Does Config
Send Email Sends a draft to the subscriber Select a draft
Set Tag Adds a tag to the subscriber Tag name (created if it doesn't exist)
Clear Tag Removes a tag from the subscriber Tag name

Example: Onboarding with Tags

On Subscribe ──► Send Email ──► Wait 3 days ──► Send Email ──► Wait 7 days ──► Set Tag
                    │                               │                            │
             "Welcome!"                     "Getting Started"              "onboarded"

After the sequence finishes, the subscriber has the onboarded tag. You can then use this tag to target campaigns differently — for example, skipping onboarded users from beginner content.

Exit Conditions

Exit conditions let a subscriber leave the sequence early when a condition is met. They're checked before every node executes.

Has Tag

Exit when subscriber has tag: "purchased"

If the subscriber acquires the purchased tag at any point during the sequence, they exit immediately. Useful for stopping a sales drip when someone converts.

On Event

Exit when event: "app_opened"

If the subscriber triggers the app_opened event after enrollment, they exit. This is ideal for re-engagement sequences — once the subscriber comes back, there's no need to keep nudging them.

Note

Only events that occur after the enrollment was created are considered. Events from before enrollment don't trigger an exit.

Any Of (OR Logic)

Combine multiple conditions so that any one of them triggers an exit:

Exit when ANY of:
  - event: "app_opened"
  - has tag: "purchased"

If the subscriber opens the app or gets the purchased tag, they exit. You don't need to pick just one reason.

Draft Snapshots in Multi-Step Sequences

Draft snapshot behavior differs between the first and subsequent emails in a sequence:

Email Position Behavior
First Send Email Uses the draft snapshot captured at enrollment time. Content is frozen — edits to the draft don't affect already-enrolled subscribers.
Subsequent Send Emails Fetches the draft fresh from the database at execution time. Edits to the draft affect subscribers who haven't reached that step yet.

This design balances consistency (first impression is locked in) with flexibility (later emails can be updated for everyone who hasn't received them yet).

Warning

If you delete a draft that a later step references, that step will fail when it tries to fetch it. Make sure all drafts referenced by active automations still exist.

Limits

Each automation supports a maximum of 20 nodes (including the trigger, waits, and actions). This is more than enough for most sequences — a typical onboarding series uses 5–10 nodes.

What's Next