Send an email from a workflow

Sending email from a workflow is the most common automation and the easiest one to get embarrassingly wrong, because the mistake reaches a customer rather than a log file.

The care goes in before you turn it on.

Who this is for

Anyone automating follow-up or notifications.

Before you start

• A connected sending mailbox.
• A template written for this purpose.
• A trigger that fires when you think it does — test that first, separately.

Test with yourself as the recipient first
An automated email with an unresolved merge token, or one that fires on the wrong trigger, goes to a real customer and cannot be recalled. Point the first version at yourself, fire the trigger, and read what arrives. Every automated email that has embarrassed someone skipped this step.

Build it

1. Write the template first
   Build and save it in the designer or as a plain template. Getting the message right is a separate job from getting the automation right — do it first.
2. Choose a trigger that genuinely fires
   Pick an event that really happens, like a form submitted or a deal won. A workflow on a trigger that never fires looks broken but is just never invoked.
3. Add a condition so it does not send to everyone
   Most automated email should be narrower than the trigger. A condition is what stops the flow reaching people it was never meant for.
4. Add the send action and pick the template
   Select the template and confirm which mailbox it sends from — that determines what the customer sees in the From line and where their reply goes.
5. Dry-run it
   Use the dry run to see what would happen without anything actually being sent.
6. Send one to yourself for real, then turn it on
   Fire the trigger with yourself as the recipient. Check every merge token resolved and the From address is right.

What you get

• Follow-up that happens reliably rather than when someone remembers.
• Personalised messages from one template.
• A tested flow rather than a hopeful one.
• Replies landing in the right mailbox.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if a merge token has no value?

It cannot fill in what is missing, which is exactly why a real test send matters — and why sentences that still read acceptably when a value is blank are worth writing that way.

Which mailbox does it send from?

The one configured on the action. This matters because it decides where the customer's reply goes — a shared team mailbox is usually right for automated mail.

Can I stop it once it is running?

You can disable the workflow, which stops future sends. Messages already sent cannot be recalled, which is why testing first is not optional.

Should automated email look automated?

It should be honest but not robotic. Write as a person would, and avoid pretending a bulk send is a personal note.