Email and Communication Automations

The Email You’ve Sent 500 Times

Think about how many times you’ve sent variations of the same email:

• “Thanks for signing up! Here’s how to get started…”
• “Just checking in – did you get a chance to review my proposal?”
• “Reminder: your invoice is due in 3 days”
• “Welcome to the team! Here’s what to expect in your first week”

Each one takes 5-10 minutes to write, personalize, and send. But the structure is identical every time. The variables change – names, dates, specific details – but the template stays the same.

This is the most common and highest-impact automation category. Email and communication automations are where most people start, and for good reason: they save real time, they’re relatively simple to build, and the results are immediately visible.

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this lesson, you’ll design three types of communication automations: triggered single emails, drip sequences, and notification systems. You’ll use AI to create the email templates and define the logic.

From Design to Application

In Lesson 3, you learned to write detailed automation specifications. Now we’ll apply that process to the most common automation type. Communication automations are a perfect place to start because they have clear triggers, straightforward actions, and immediate feedback (you can see the emails being sent).

Type 1: Triggered Single Emails

The simplest communication automation: when X happens, send Y.

Examples:

• When a form is submitted → send a confirmation email
• When payment is received → send a receipt
• When a task is assigned → notify the assignee
• When a deadline is 3 days away → send a reminder

Design template:

Design a triggered email automation:

Trigger: [What event starts this?]
Recipient: [Who gets the email?]
Timing: [Immediately? Delayed? Specific time?]

Email content:
- Subject line (with any dynamic variables)
- Body (with personalization fields)
- Call to action (what should the recipient do?)

Conditions:
- [When should this email NOT be sent?]
- [Any variations based on recipient type?]

Data needed:
- [What information populates the template?]
- [Where does that data come from?]

Example: New customer welcome email

Trigger: Customer completes first purchase
Recipient: Customer email address
Timing: 5 minutes after purchase confirmation

Subject: Welcome, {first_name}! Your order #{order_id} is confirmed

Body:
Hi {first_name},

Thanks for your first order with us! Here's what happens next:

- Your order #{order_id} is being processed
- Estimated delivery: {delivery_date}
- Track your order: {tracking_link}

Need help? Reply to this email or visit our help center.

Best,
{company_name}

Condition: Only send if this is the customer's FIRST purchase
(don't send welcome email to returning customers)

Data: first_name, order_id, delivery_date, tracking_link
Source: E-commerce platform order data

Quick Check

Identify three emails you send regularly that follow a trigger → email pattern. For each one, what’s the trigger, what data does the email need, and when should it be sent?

Type 2: Drip Sequences

A drip sequence is a series of emails delivered over time, each building on the previous one. They’re powerful because they automate multi-step communication that would be nearly impossible to manage manually at scale.

Common drip sequence types:

Onboarding sequence (after signup):

1. Day 0: Welcome + account setup instructions
2. Day 2: First feature tutorial
3. Day 5: Tips for getting the most value
4. Day 10: Check-in – how’s it going?
5. Day 14: Advanced features introduction

Sales follow-up sequence (after initial contact):

1. Day 0: Thanks for the conversation + recap
2. Day 3: Relevant case study or resource
3. Day 7: Checking in – any questions?
4. Day 14: New angle – different value proposition
5. Day 21: Final follow-up – door’s always open

Re-engagement sequence (after inactivity):

1. Week 4 of inactivity: “We miss you” + what’s new
2. Week 6: Special offer or incentive
3. Week 8: Final check – should we stop emailing?

AI prompt for sequence design:

Design a [type] email drip sequence for [context].

Audience: [Who receives this?]
Goal: [What action do you want them to take?]
Duration: [How long does the sequence run?]

For each email in the sequence:
1. Timing (when it sends relative to trigger or previous email)
2. Subject line
3. Key message (1-2 sentences)
4. Call to action
5. Exit condition (what stops the sequence for this person?)

Also include:
- What happens if they take the desired action mid-sequence
- What happens if they don't respond to any emails
- Any conditions that should pause the sequence

Exit Conditions (Critical)

Every sequence needs clear rules for when to stop:

Without exit conditions, you get the horror scenario: sending “Welcome to our product!” emails to someone who already cancelled their account.

Type 3: Notification Systems

Notifications keep teams informed without requiring someone to manually update everyone. They’re internal communication automations.

Common notification automations:

Design template:

Design a notification automation:

Trigger: [What event triggers the notification?]
Recipients: [Who needs to know?]
Channel: [Email, Slack, SMS, in-app?]
Priority: [Urgent, normal, low?]
Content: [What information must be included?]
Action required: [What should the recipient do?]

Conditions:
- [When should this notification NOT fire?]
- [Different recipients or channels based on severity?]
- [Throttling rules -- max notifications per hour?]

Avoiding notification fatigue:

The biggest risk with notification automations is sending too many. When everything is a notification, nothing is. Build in rules:

• Throttle: No more than X notifications per hour/day
• Batch: Group low-priority notifications into a digest
• Escalate progressively: Start with the least intrusive channel, escalate if no action
• Snooze/mute options: Let recipients control their notification preferences

Quick Check

Does your team have any important information that’s currently communicated manually (or not at all)? That’s a notification automation candidate. But before building it, ask: will recipients find this genuinely useful, or will it become noise?

Making Automated Emails Feel Human

The goal of email automation isn’t to sound automated. It’s to sound like a thoughtful person who remembers every detail and always follows up on time.

Personalization beyond {first_name}:

• Reference their specific action: “Since you downloaded our pricing guide…”
• Acknowledge their context: “As a marketing team of 5-10 people…”
• Use appropriate timing: Don’t send “Happy Monday!” emails on a Saturday
• Match their communication style: Formal for enterprise, casual for startups

Tone principles:

• Write like a human, not a machine
• Use contractions (you’re, we’ll, don’t)
• Keep paragraphs short (2-3 sentences max)
• One clear call to action per email
• Avoid all-caps, excessive exclamation points, and marketing buzzwords

AI prompt for natural-sounding templates:

Write an automated email for [scenario] that sounds
like it was personally written.

Rules:
- Use conversational tone with contractions
- Reference the specific context ({variables})
- Keep under 150 words
- One clear call to action
- No marketing jargon ("leverage," "synergy," "optimize")
- Should pass the "would I reply to this?" test

Exercise: Design a Communication Automation

Choose one of these projects:

1. Onboarding drip sequence: Design a 5-email sequence for new users of a product or service you know well
2. Follow-up automation: Design a triggered follow-up system for after client meetings
3. Notification system: Design notifications for a team process that currently relies on manual updates

For your chosen project:

• Define the trigger and timing for each communication
• Write subject lines and key messages
• Define exit conditions
• Identify personalization variables
• Note where the data comes from

Key Takeaways

• Communication automations are the highest-impact, easiest-to-start automation type
• Triggered single emails handle one-time responses; drip sequences handle multi-step journeys
• Every drip sequence needs clear exit conditions – stop sending when the goal is achieved or the recipient opts out
• Notification systems keep teams informed, but throttling prevents notification fatigue
• Automated emails should feel personal, not robotic – personalize beyond just the first name
• Design templates with AI, but always test how they read from the recipient’s perspective

Next lesson: we’ll move beyond single-step automations to multi-step workflows that process data across multiple systems.