Updating or Adding Steps To an Existing Automation Flow

QUESTION 1:

Can you "Add Steps" or add extra emails onto the end of an existing automation flow that is already turned on?

Answer:

Yes, with some qualifications. Please read below:

1) If your SUBSCRIBERS HAVE ALREADY "COMPLETED" the Automation (meaning they have ENTERED the LAST STEP you have currently set in your sequence) BEFORE you add another step or email to the end, THEY WILL NOT FLOW thru any subsequent steps that are added. (ie: they will not receive those new emails ).*

2) If your SUBSCRIBERS HAVE NOT "COMPLETED" the Automation before you add another step to the end of the Automation, they WILL flow thru and receive additional steps or emails in the flow as long as they are "two steps above" the new additional steps when you add them.  

3) NEW USERS just entering the flow will get the full automation, including the new steps.

Example:

Let's say you set up and turn "on" a 5 step automation that looks something like this:

Trigger: Tag is added**

Step 1: Send Email #1

Step 2: Delay 1 Day

Step 3: Send Email #2

Step 4: Delay 1 Day

Step 5: Send Email #3

If Contact A gets a tag added via a form, purchase, booking, etc. they will get added to the automation flow and will immediately get sent Email #1.

Contact A will flow along, following the sequence of delays and email sends. Once this person enters Step 5 (ie: has Email #3 sent to them in this case) - they are considered "complete" - they have finished the automation. 

ADDING A STEP - EXAMPLE 1: If you decide to add "Step 6: Delay 1 Day" and "Step 7: Send Email #4" AFTER Contact A is "complete" with the automation - they will not get Step 6 or Step 7 because they are already done with their automation flow.*

ADDING A STEP - EXAMPLE 2: However, if you add "Step 6: Delay 1 Day" and "Step 7: Send Email #4" BEFORE Contact A has reached Step 5 (so if they are currently "in progress" somewhere between Steps 1-4) they will receive Steps 6 and 7.

If you have a new contact - Contact B - added to the flow and you add Steps 6 and 7 anytime BEFORE they reach step 5 - they WILL get the newly added steps. Again - new people WILL get the full flow. 

*IMPORTANT NOTE:

IF you think you may want to or need to add steps to the end of your automation flow in the future or Edit steps along the way, we recommend adding an "Add A Tag" step after each step - or at the very least - adding the "Add a Tag" step to the "end" or last step of your automation (or after each latest step as you add new steps).

Create and Add a Tag to these contacts to indicate the last email they have received in your flow. When your contacts have a tag added, you are able to use these tags as a marker to identify, filter and initiate future actions for these contacts.

Future actions for any tagged contacts can include adding them to a new list, creating a new segment, adding them to a new automation flow or sending them additional emails within the existing automation flow using an if/else step. 

**To learn more about setting up Automation Triggers using Tags, please see this article: 

QUESTION 2:

What happens if I delete a step in my current Automation Flow?

Answer:

For those that are past the step that gets deleted - nothing. They continue on with their flow.

For those that are before the step that gets deleted, they will simply skip to the next step ahead as if that deleted step was never there. 

QUESTION 3:

What happens if I alter or edit a step in my current Automation Flow? 

Answer: 

We caution agains making updates or changes to steps within an existing Automation flow if any subscribers are currently "in" that step.  

Any subscribers that are currently "on that step" will get "stuck" in the flow.  For example - if you change the timing of a Delay step - you will find that any subscribers who were in that delay will NOT move forward after the edit.  

You will need to manually identify any of those "stuck" contacts (by means of tags/lack of tags if you have added tags after each step of your flow - or by manually checking the "marketing details" within individual contact records to see who has received which emails.)  You could then create a duplicate automation flow and have these stuck contacts run thru that new flow to receive the additional steps. 

Any NEW subscribers entering the flow after you have made the step edit WILL flow thru the edited steps.