Send an email from an automation to welcome new contacts, remind customers about abandoned carts, or trigger messages based on other specific events. These emails are sent automatically when the defined conditions are met.

You can set this up by adding a Send an email step to your automation and designing the email:

1. In an automation created using the new editor, open the Action tab and add the Send an email step to the canvas.
   
2. After adding the step, you can either create a new automation message or select an existing one. Use the following tabs to see detailed instructions for each option:
   
   💡 Good to know

   If you only see the Add message button and no options to create or select an automation message, it means you have not created any messages yet. You will need to create a new one.
   Create a new messageSelect an existing message

   If you haven't created an automation message yet or don't want to sync your message across steps, you can create a new one.

   1. In the Content section, click Add message and select Create new message to access the list of templates for creating a new message.
   2. Browse the available templates and select the one you want to use in your automation.
      ❗️ Important

      A new automation message with a unique ID will be created. If you selected your own template, only the original template’s design, subject line, preview text, and profile update form are reused in the new message. The new message won’t appear on the Templates page but will be available on the Messages page.
   3. Design your email by updating its content and adding any blocks as needed. To learn how to use the Drag & Drop editor, check our dedicated series of articles.
   4. (Optional) Preview and test your email to make sure it displays correctly. To learn more, check our dedicated article Preview and test your email.
   5. In the What event data to display section, choose which event to retrieve data from based on whether your email includes event-related personalization. Expand the following accordions to learn when to use each option:
      
      The email doesn’t have variables

      Select this option if your email does not include event-related personalization, such as a product name or price.

      Event that triggered this automation

      Select this option if your email includes personalization related to the event that triggered the automation. For example, an order confirmation email personalized with product details would use data from the "Order Created" event, which is the trigger of the automation.

      Latest instance of an event

      Select this option if you want to pull data from the most recent occurrence of a specific event, even if it’s different from the event that triggered the automation. For example, if you're sending a follow-up email about a customer’s most recent purchase, this option ensures the email reflects the latest order details rather than the one that triggered the automation.

      
   6. Under the Subject section, configure your subject line and preview text. You can customize them with: 
      
      • Emojis using the smiley icon 🙂.
      • Variables for contact attributes, event data, or data feeds using the double curly brackets icon {}. 
        
   7. Under the Sender section, configure your sender email address and name. Ensure your recipients can easily recognize your business by using sender details associated with your company.
      

   8. Under the Additional settings section, click Edit settings to configure more options for your email template. Expand the following accordions to view the available settings:

      🛑 Frequency cap

      ❗️ Important

      The frequency cap feature is only available on an Enterprise plan. For more information, check our website or get in touch with our Sales team.

      The Frequency cap option allows you to reduce the number of emails you send and limit the marketing pressure on your contacts.  ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Limit your marketing pressure with sending cadence (Frequency cap and Email overload prevention).

      ⏲️ Email sending time

      Activate this option to choose when to send your automated welcome email. You can choose to send it based on:

      A custom timeframe (only during certain days and hours of the week), or At the best time calculated by Brevo to maximize the open rate by delivering your emails at the optimal time for each recipient over a 24-hour period.

      💡 Good to know

      If you added a delay before sending the email but choose to schedule the sending time, the delay may not be applied.

      📫 Email copy

      Activate this option to send a copy of your email to a designated recipient each time a contact receives it.

      Both CC (Carbon Copy) and BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) options allow you to send a copy of your welcome email. The main difference is that CC recipients are visible to others, while BCC recipients are not.

      📨 Sending and tracking

      Use a different Reply-to address

      By default, the Reply-to address is the same as the sender’s. Activate this option to override it by entering another email address in the field.

      Activate Google Analytics tracking

      Activate this option to track your email in Google Analytics.

      You can specify a custom UTM name, such as the name of your automation, or use the name of your email template by default. You can also track the ID of your email. ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Integrate Google Analytics with your Brevo account.

      Add a tag

      You can use descriptive tags to find your email more easily.

      Add an attachment

      Activate this option to add an attachment to your email. You can add one file with a limit of 5MB.

      💡 Good to know

      Your file name should only contain alphanumeric characters.

      📄 Subscription

      Use a profile update form

      Activate this option to select an existing profile update form to add to the footer of your email or create a new one. ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Update your contacts details and preferences (Update Profile form).

      Use a custom unsubscribe page

      Activate this option to select an existing unsubscribe page to add to the footer of your email or create a new one. ➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated article Customize an unsubscribe page to integrate into your email campaigns.

   9. Click Save.

   You can select an existing automation message to keep your email steps consistent. When you reuse a message, its design and settings stay synced across all steps that use it.

   1. In the Content section, click Add message and select Select existing message.
      
   2. Browse the list of available messages and click Select message next to the one you want to use. The email design and settings are applied automatically.
   3. (Optional) Edit the message design or settings. Any updates you make are synced across all steps that use this message.
   4. Click Save.

That's it, you've added a Send an email step to your automation. You can now finish setting up your automation before activating it. The email will then be automatically sent to contacts who reach this step.

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo Agency partner.