The Send an email step lets you automatically send emails to your contacts when they reach a specific point in your automation. You can use it to send a welcome message, follow up after a purchase, remind customers about an abandoned cart, or trigger any other message based on an event you define.

Step 1: Set up your email content

Add the Send an email step to your automation canvas and set up the message your contacts will receive. You can create a new message from scratch or from a template, or sync with an existing one to keep it consistent across multiple steps.

1. In an automation created using the new editor, open the Actions tab.
2. Add the Send an email step to the canvas. The step settings open in a left-side panel.
   
3. In the Content section, click Add message and select whether you want to create a new automation message or sync with an existing one. Use the corresponding tabs below to see detailed instructions for each option:
   
   💡 Good to know

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

   Create a new automation message with a unique ID. If you start from one of your own templates, its content and settings are reused in the new message, except for the title, tags, and Google Analytics tracking settings. The new message will be available on the Messages page.

   1. Browse the available templates and select the one you want to use in your automation. You can also start from scratch if needed.
   2. Design and personalize your email template. To learn more, check our dedicated articles about the drag-and-drop email editor and email personalization.
   3. Once you're done, click Use this design in automation.

   When you sync with an existing message, the email content and settings are shared across all automation steps that use it. Any change you make to the message is automatically reflected in every step it is linked to. Use this option when you want to keep multiple steps consistent without updating them one by one.

   1. 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.
   2. (Optional) Edit the message design or settings. Any updates you make are synced across all steps that use this message.
   3. Click Save.

Step 2: Configure your email settings

Once your message is set up, configure how and when it will be sent. You can personalize the subject line, set the sender details, and adjust additional options such as sending time, frequency cap, and tracking.

1. In the What event data to display section, select which event data to use for personalization in your email:
   • If your email does not include event variables, select The email doesn't have variables.
   • If your email includes event variables, select the event to retrieve data from. Expand the following accordions to learn which option to choose:
     Event that triggered this automation

     Select this option if your email uses data from the event that started the automation. For example, if your automation is triggered by an "Order Created" event and your email displays the order details, select this option to pull data from that same event.

     Latest instance of an event

     Select this option if your email uses data from the most recent occurrence of a specific event. For example, if you're sending a follow-up email and want to display the customer's latest order details, select this option and choose the "Order Created" event. Brevo will always pull data from the most recent "Order Created" event for that contact, regardless of which event triggered the automation.

   
2. Under the Subject section, configure your subject line and preview text. You can customize them with emojis using the smiley icon 🙂 and variables using the curly brackets icon {}. For the subject line, you can also click Write with AI to refine it (e.g., rephrase, shorten, or adjust the tone).
   
3. 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.
   

4. In the Recipient filtering for promotional messages section, select one or more consent groups to restrict this email to contacts who have opted in to the topics it covers. Contacts that are not part of the selected groups will skip this step and continue to the next one in the automation.

   ✅ Plan availability

   This section is only visible if you have activated the consent groups feature, available on the Professional and Enterprise plans. To learn more, check our dedicated article Create and manage consent groups.

   

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

   🛑 Frequency cap

   ✅ Plan availability

   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 lets you limit how often a contact receives emails from your automations and reduce marketing pressure. ➡️ 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 control when your automated email is sent:

   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, or On a specific date to send the email at a fixed date and time. This is useful for programs with fixed milestones, such as a training course with scheduled lessons.

   💡 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 (CC, BCC)

   Activate this option to send a copy of your automated email to a designated recipient each time a contact receives it. Use CC (Carbon Copy) if the copy recipient should be visible to others, or BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) to keep them hidden.

   📨 Sending and tracking (reply-to, Google Analytics, tags, attachments)

   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 (update profile form and unsubscribe page)

   Use a profile update form

   Activate this option to select an 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 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.

6. Click Save.

Your Send an email step is now configured. Once your automation is active, the email will be sent automatically to any contact who reaches this step.

⏭️ What's next?

• Test messages sent from an automation
• Review the statistics and email report of an automation

🤔 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.

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