Automations

What this does

Composes a sequence of emails that responds to an event — a checkout abandoned, a payment still due, an order delivered, a lot certificate published — with delays between the steps.

Before you start

• Sending set up and your domain verified.

Steps

1. Open Email → Automations.
2. Start from one of the ready-to-use sequences, or build your own.
3. Choose the trigger and write each step, with the delay before it.
4. Switch it on when you are happy with it.

What comes with your plan

Every plan sends the emails a customer needs to know what happened to their money: the order receipt, the payment confirmation, how to pay when you take bank transfers, a reminder if that payment has not arrived, the shipping notice, a refund confirmation, and one abandoned-checkout reminder.

Growth adds the sequences that build a relationship: the first-order welcome, the delivery follow-up, a review request, an explainer on how to read a certificate of analysis, the three-step abandoned-checkout recovery, and campaigns. It also turns on the three that start from your storefront rather than from an order: Back in stock emails the people who pressed "Notify me" on a sold-out option, once, when it returns; Newsletter welcome greets someone who joined your list from the footer signup; and Browse reminder follows up once with a known customer who looked at a product and left without adding it to their cart.

Command adds the four that need purchase history to be worth anything: a replenishment reminder timed from what each customer actually bought, a winback, a note when somebody passes your lifetime-spend mark, and an alert to past buyers whenever you publish a new lot certificate. Affiliate notices come with the partner programme.

A sequence your plan does not include still appears in the gallery, with the plan that unlocks it. It is never hidden and it never just errors.

These start switched on for a new store. If any your plan includes are not on — a store opened before they existed, or one that has just upgraded — Email → Overview lists them by name with one button to switch them all on. Nothing sends until your email domain is verified.

The replenishment reminder, the winback and the other marketing emails reach only customers who ticked "Email me about new products and offers" at checkout (or joined from your footer signup).

What happens next

Once an automation is switched on and your email domain is verified, it sends by itself. Torva checks for new events every few minutes, so the first email goes out within minutes of the event, then each later step follows its delay.

Marketing emails only go to customers who agreed to hear from you, and every one carries an unsubscribe link. Receipts, payment reminders, shipping notices and refunds are not marketing and always go out.

Two limits apply to marketing emails, both under Email → Sending. There is a cap on how many marketing sequences one customer can get in a week — a three-step recovery counts as one, not three — and marketing emails are held overnight rather than arriving at 3am. A one-off campaign can never take the place of a triggered email: if a customer is at the limit, the campaign is dropped and the automation still sends.

Common problems

My automation is on but nothing has sent. Check that your email domain is verified in Settings → Email. Until it is, nothing sends.

A message says "Not sent". Open it under Email → Sending. It says which rule stopped it: withdrawn consent, a suppressed address, the customer reaching your weekly limit, or a checkout that was paid before the reminder went out.

The replenishment reminder feels early or late. It is timed as the number of units on their order multiplied by how long you say one unit lasts, minus a few days so it arrives before they run out. Both numbers are yours to set under Email → Sending.

Can I send something right now instead? Yes — send a campaign to the customers you want to reach.