Automation & sequences

Broadcasts vs. automation

A broadcast (or campaign) is a single email sent to a list or segment at a specific time — a newsletter issue, a sale announcement. Automation is a pre-built sequence that triggers off an event — someone subscribes, abandons a cart, or clicks a specific link — and sends without you pressing send each time.

Most ESPs bill these as separate capabilities in their feature comparisons: check the "Automation" column on /tools before assuming a cheap plan includes it.

The core sequence types

• Welcome sequence — triggered at signup, introduces your brand and sets expectations over 3–5 emails.
• Drip campaign — a fixed-interval sequence (day 1, day 3, day 7) that delivers a set curriculum or nurtures a lead regardless of behavior.
• Abandoned cart — triggered when a shopper adds to cart but doesn't purchase, standard in e-commerce tools like Klaviyo and Omnisend.
• Re-engagement (win-back) — triggered by inactivity, aimed at subscribers who haven't opened or clicked in a defined window.
• Post-purchase — triggered after a sale, covering receipts, shipping updates, and cross-sell timing.

See /glossary#drip-campaign for a self-contained definition.

How much automation you actually need

A single welcome sequence covers most small lists' entire automation need for the first several months. E-commerce and SaaS use cases justify branching, multi-trigger automation sooner because behavioral data (cart contents, plan tier, feature usage) is available to segment on immediately.

Build the simplest sequence that solves the actual problem first, then add branches once you have enough subscriber volume to tell whether a branch is worth the added complexity.