Before you start
A few things to have ready:
An email automation always includes a trigger (what causes the email to send), the email itself (what your customer receives), and optionally a discount code.
Emails are sent from your store's sending domain. If you haven't set one up yet, see Connecting a sending domain — you only need to do this once.
All automations send at your store's scheduled send time. During the preview period the send time is fixed for all stores.
Step 1 — Create a new automation
Go to Automations in your admin dashboard.
Select New automation.
You'll be taken into the automation builder. The builder uses a step-by-step layout: the sidebar on the left shows each step, and the footer at the bottom has the buttons to move forward and back. You can click back to any step you've already completed at any time.
Step 2 — Configure
Choose a trigger
The trigger decides when an email gets sent. Currently there are 2 triggers available:
Days since last transaction — sends the email once a customer hasn't purchased for a set number of days. Enter the number of days (for example, 30). This is great for win-back campaigns that re-engage lapsed customers. The value can't be empty or zero.
Customer birthday — sends the email on (or around) your customer's birthday. Ideal for a birthday treat or discount.
Select the trigger you want, fill in any required details, then continue.
Add filters
Filters allow you more control over which customers receive your automation. In the preview version of automations you have access to 2 filters:
Lifetime Spend - Target customers based on their total lifetime spend with you
Last Used Location - If you have multiple locations, target only customers who were last active at a specific location. Each customer can have only one last active location.
Select An Action
Current actions:
Send a notification - send an email to the user with a templated email.
Send a discount code - include a generic or unique discount code in the message sent to customers. This discount can be used with online orders in the Carrot store.
Sending a discount code
When sending a discount code you will need to chose if it will be a generic code or a unique code. You can create a new discount code and configure its settings directly inside the automation builder.
Step 3 — Content
Build your email
This is where you create the message your customer receives.
Typically you'll set:
Subject line — what your customer sees in their inbox.
Email content — your headline, body text, and image. The email uses your store's branded colors, so it'll match your look and feel automatically.
Preview — use the preview to see exactly how your email will look before it goes out.
Sending a test email
Before going live, send yourself a test to check everything looks right. Enter an email address and Carrot will send a one-off copy of the email exactly as a customer would receive it.
Step 4 — Review and publish
The final step shows a summary of your automation. If anything's incomplete, the footer will show a count of the items that still need attention — click into the flagged step to fix it.
When everything looks good, select Launch. Your automation is now live and will start sending at your store's scheduled send time whenever a customer matches the trigger.
After publishing
You can come back and edit a published automation at any time. When editing, you can jump directly to any step.
Emails go out at your store's scheduled send time, not the instant a customer matches the trigger. This is to avoid notifying customers at odd hours of the day.
Customers can unsubscribe from any email.