Automated email workflows let you set up a series of pre-written emails that are sent on their own when user actions trigger them (like signing up for a newsletter or abandoning a cart).
With the right setup, you can nurture leads, close deals, and keep your customers coming back without lifting a finger. Sounds good, right?
Read on to learn more about:
- What automated email workflows are
- Why they are important
- 7 steps to set up automated email workflows
What are automated email workflows?
Automated email workflows are sequences of pre-scheduled emails that are triggered by specific user actions or behavior — like signing up for a webinar, buying something, or leaving an abandoned cart.
The major elements of email flows (cool band name, eh?):
- Triggers: The action or behavior that gets the ball rolling (e.g., clicking a link or filling out a form).
- Emails: Pre-written emails personalized for each step of the user journey.
- Timing: Setting the right intervals between emails to keep users engaged without overwhelming them.
Why are they important?
Automated email workflows help you stay top-of-mind for your audience while helping you massively scale up your marketing efforts.
You can set them up once and let them run on autopilot — yup, no manual follow-up emails, no missed opportunities, and sleeping better at night (hopefully).
And with a well-crafted workflow, you can deliver the right content at the right time — a major win if you’re looking to get that conversion juice flowing.
The net benefits:
- Much more engagement: You send relevant emails to users based on their actual behavior.
- Higher conversions: On-time, targeted emails are more likely to convert leads into customers.
- Increased efficiency: Automating your emails means no more manual follow-ups — the AI starts doing the heavy lifting for you.
7 steps to set up automated email workflows
Ready to build your email automation workflow? Follow these seven steps to the letter:
1. Identify your email marketing goals
Before you start automating emails left and right, you’ve got to know why you’re sending them in the first place.
Setting clear, measurable objectives is priority #1 for any email automation workflow, and it will help you design the whole thing much better.
Some key goals are:
- Lead nurturing: Move potential customers down the funnel by delivering educational content or special offers.
- Converting those subscribers: Turn those newsletter sign-ups into paying customers with targeted, value-packed emails.
- Customer retention: Keep your existing customers engaged with updates, loyalty rewards, or helpful tips to reduce churn.
Why it matters: Without defined objectives, you’re just sending random emails — and that’s not how you drive results.
2. Segment your email audience for personalized workflows
Once you’ve nailed down your goals, it’s time to get personal — and no, we don’t mean sending cringe-worthy “Hi [First Name]” emails.
Real personalization starts with audience segmentation. Break down your audience into bite-sized segments so you can write emails that speak to them, not at them.
Techniques for audience segmentation include:
- Behavior-based segmentation: Focus on what your audience does — did they open your last email, click a link, or abandon a shopping cart? Use that intel to tailor your next move and hit them where they are in the buyer's journey.
- Demographic segmentation: Group your audience by key traits like location, industry, or job title. Sending a CEO a "How to get started" guide? Probably not the right move. Demographics help keep your content relevant.
- Engagement-based segmentation: Not everyone’s going to be glued to your emails. Some will be brand loyalists, and others won’t click on them if their lives depend on them.
The segment is based on engagement, so you know who needs a nudge or who deserves a special thank you.
How Lindy’s CRM integration can help: With Lindy’s lead enrichment agents, you’re not just guessing. Pull data from your CRM, automatically segment your audience, and make sure each email hits the right inbox at the right time.
3. Design email workflows that match the customer journey
Email workflows are not one-and-done — they need to mirror the twists and turns of your customer's journey. If your emails don’t align with where your audience is mentally, you might as well be tossing flyers off a rooftop.
Think of this as plotting a roadmap. From awareness to post-purchase, you want your emails to guide customers through every stage.
How did they find you? What pain points are they experiencing? What questions do they have before hitting “buy”?
Some example workflows that align with this:
- Welcome series: You’ve got a new subscriber — it's time to pull out all the stops. A welcome series should introduce them to your brand, showcase your value, and give them a reason to stick around.
- Cart abandonment: Customers get distracted (Those darn Instagram Reels about cooking). A well-timed cart abandonment email reminds them of what they left behind — and a subtle nudge, maybe a discount, could be all it takes to bring them back.
- Re-engagement sequences: Just like after high school, people fall off the radar. A re-engagement sequence helps you woo inactive subscribers back. If they ghost you after that, well, maybe it’s time to part ways.
Why it works: When your emails match the customer journey, they feel like a natural extension of the customer’s experience with your brand. They’re timely, relevant, and — dare we say it — helpful.
4. Build your first automated email workflow in Lindy
Alright, in step four, let's get that workflow up and running in Lindy. This is where you get to set the wheels in motion, and it’s smoother than you think.
Here’s how to get going:
- Set up your Lindy account: If you don’t already have one, you can sign up for Lindy here. Once you're all set, hop into the Flow Editor, where you’ll be building the workflow from scratch — choosing triggers, actions, and conditions that fit your email goals.
- Write engaging email content: This is where Lindy really shines. Use its AI-generated email templates to create content that matches your tone, brand, and style. Instead of starting from scratch every time, you'll get suggested templates for welcome emails, lead nurturing, or re-engagement. Just tweak to fit, and you're good to go.
You can do anything from qualifying leads, responding and triaging, post-meeting follow-ups after meetings, and even full-on negotiations.
5. Launch by setting up triggers and conditions
Now it's time to let your workflow fly by adding triggers and conditions that will automate the whole process. Triggers are the sparks that activate your email workflows, while conditions help fine-tune them so they run just right.
Setting up those triggers
With Lindy, you can create email workflows that are triggered by specific actions or events, like a customer opening an email, clicking a link, or even abandoning their cart.
Once you’re in the Flow Editor, it’s as simple as selecting the right event to “wake up” the workflow and send out your emails.
Common triggers to set up:
- Email opened: Automatically send a follow-up message when a subscriber opens an email, keeping the conversation going and moving them further down the funnel.
- Link clicked: If someone clicks on a product link, trigger a personalized follow-up with relevant offers or additional product details.
- Abandoned cart: Did a customer leave without purchasing? Automatically trigger a series of reminder emails to nudge them back to complete their purchase.
Using conditions for smarter workflows
Conditions allow you to get even more specific by setting rules about when the workflow continues or branches off into different paths.
Let’s take a look:
- Follow-up if no response: If a lead doesn’t respond to your first email, set a condition to trigger a gentle nudge — maybe offering a discount or helpful information.
- Response-based branching: Use conditions to segment people who have clicked a link versus those who haven’t, tailoring the next email based on their actions.
How Lindy helps with intelligent conditions:
- Sentiment analysis: Lindy can use its natural language processing to get a handle on email responses depending on urgency or sentiment. For example, if a response sounds urgent or frustrating, Lindy can escalate the workflow or alert a human to step in.
- Detecting behavior patterns: You can also use Lindy’s advanced AI capabilities to detect specific patterns in responses or interaction history to optimize your workflows even more.
How it looks in real life:
Let’s say a customer signs up for your newsletter. You can set a trigger for “new subscription” and have Lindy automatically send a welcome series.
Then, add a condition: If they click a product link in the first email, this triggers a follow-up email with similar products. If they don’t engage after three emails, Lindy can switch the workflow to a re-engagement series or tag them for special offers.
To learn more about setting up triggers with Lindy, you can check out this guide for step-by-step instructions on optimizing your workflow automations with triggers.
6. Test and optimize your workflows for better conversion rates
Creating an email workflow is just the beginning — optimizing it is where you’re going to start really cooking.
You can’t just set it up and call it a day; you need to regularly test and tweak it to make sure it’s performing at its best. Let’s talk about how to fine-tune your email workflows for maximum conversions.
A/B testing
This is one of the best ways to see what works and what doesn’t. You can test subject lines, email content, timing, or even different calls to action (CTAs).
With A/B testing, you can compare two variations of an email to see which one performs better in terms of open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
Some examples:
- Subject line testing: Try variations like “Don’t Miss Out on Our Latest Deal!” versus “Your Exclusive Offer Inside” and see which gets better opens.
- Timing optimization: Does sending emails in the morning lead to more engagement than sending them in the evening? Only testing will tell.
Use Lindy’s A/B testing integrations:
With Lindy’s integration with platforms like HubSpot, you can set up A/B tests within your marketing automation workflow and get detailed reports on what’s working and what needs a bit of refocusing.
7. Scale up and integrate automated workflows across platforms
Now, you’ve got your email workflows humming along, but why stop there? If you want to really expand your reach, it’s time to scale up and connect those good old flows across all your platforms. That’s right — take that beautifully automated system and stretch it to cover email, SMS, chat, and whatever else your audience is using to stay connected.
Let’s get deeper into the magic of cross-platform workflows:
- Integrations: Whether it’s Gmail, Outlook, or something else entirely, Lindy’s got the integrations. Think of it as email automation on steroids. You’re creating a fully synchronized ecosystem of communication. Email leads to a Slack message, which triggers a follow-up text message.
- Cross-channel workflows: Why limit yourself to one platform? With Lindy, you can set up a workflow where an email leads to a text and then a Slack message to your team. Get your leads wherever they hang out and automate the whole process.
- Consistent messaging: Imagine this — no matter where your audience engages, they get the same polished message. Whether it’s email, a chatbot, or social media, the experience stays the same. Consistency builds trust, and Lindy makes sure your message doesn’t slip.
Automated email workflow template example
Here’s a practical template for automating emails using Lindy, based directly on Lindy’s Email Responder and Advanced Email Automation articles in our Lindy Academy.
Welcome series email workflow to steal
This email series is perfect for onboarding new users, introducing your product, or simply creating a warm and snuggly connection right after someone signs up.
Step 1: Set up the trigger
- Trigger event: The workflow begins when a new user signs up via your website or subscribes to your newsletter. Use Lindy’s Email Received Trigger to detect when a specific action — such as form submission — happens.
- Filter: Set up filters to make sure only the desired user types initiate this workflow, like new customers or trial users.
Step 2: Write a welcome email
- Email 1: Acknowledge the sign-up and briefly introduce your brand. With Lindy’s email drafting feature, you can automate this and even match your tone to keep it conversational. Add knowledge base data to personalize responses based on user details.
- Trigger event: When a user clicks the welcome email or responds with interest, the next step fires.
Step 3: Send a follow-up email
- Email 2: 3 days later, send an email providing additional resources or product features. Lindy can handle this through time-based triggers. Make sure to pull information from your knowledge base so the content is always relevant and up to date.
Step 4: Monitor for engagement
- If the user doesn’t engage, send another email with a final reminder or special offer. Use Lindy’s condition features to differentiate users who interacted with the previous emails from those who didn’t. Non-responders can use a more personalized push.
Step 5: Trigger human escalation if you need to
- Set a condition for Lindy to notify you via Slack if the user has questions or shows high intent (e.g., multiple email clicks or responses). This means the right leads get a little something extra when it actually matters.
Summing up
Automating email workflows allows businesses to tailor their engagement, boost conversions, and nurture relationships with very little effort.
With Lindy’s powerful AI automations, you can create workflows that handle everything from welcome sequences to lead qualification and even start negotiating deals on autopilot.
Automated email workflows are done right with Lindy
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Are you tired of endless manual emails and repetitive stuff? Meet Lindy, your AI-driven email workflow assistant designed to make every aspect of your inbox a pleasure.
Some of the things Lindy helps out with:
- Automated email sequences: Set up fully automated workflows to nurture leads, re-engage customers, and deliver targeted campaigns based on user behavior.
- Personalized email content: Lindy writes tailored email drafts that resonate with your audience, helping you maintain that personal touch — even at scale.
- AI follow-ups: Never miss a chance to close a deal or continue a conversation. Lindy automates smart follow-up emails to keep leads engaged.
- Inbox management: Stay organized with automated email triage that filters, labels, and organizes your inbox for maximum efficiency.
- Works like a charm with your software: Lindy integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and your favorite CRMs, so your workflows run like clockwork without extra effort.
- AI email optimization: Let Lindy integrate with a CRM like HubSpot for A/B testing to find out what email structures and tones work best, refining your strategy for higher conversion rates.
- More than just email: From lead generation to customer support, Lindy automates processes across the board, like coding, writing content, managing meetings, and more, leaving you free to focus on bigger things.
- Societies: You can set up different Lindies to handle various tasks and have them operate as a team to handle challenges much quicker and more efficiently.
