How to Create Automatic Emails

Automatic Emails vs Email Campaigns

In Get Shouting, automatic emails are always sent by a CRM Journey — not by an Email Campaign (blast). A Journey enrolls each contact when a trigger fires, then runs Send Email, Wait, and optional Condition steps on the Visual Journey Builder canvas (/email/journeys/{id}).

Before You Start

• Email sender configured — From Name and physical mailing address in CRM & Email Settings (Email DNS Setup). Activation is blocked until this is saved.
• Active paid subscription — Trial accounts can explore Journey canvases but cannot activate Journeys or deliver messages (Billing).
• Store triggers (Order Placed, Abandoned Cart, etc.) — Connect Shopify or WooCommerce with Email CRM enabled on the store connection.
• Custom Journey canvases — Creating new Journeys from scratch requires a Pro or Agency plan. All plans can configure built-in Journey templates with Set Up.

Where Journeys Live in the App

• Email → CRM Journeys in the main navigation (list view at /email/journeys)
• Campaigns → CRM Journeys tab in the Campaigns hub
• +CREATE → CRM Journey to start a new custom Journey (Pro or Agency)

Option A: Enable a Built-In Journey

When your store or subscribe form is connected, Get Shouting lists built-in Journey templates (Welcome, Abandoned Cart, Post-Purchase, and others) on the Journeys list. Store webhooks and form events are wired automatically — you choose templates and activate.

1. Open Email → CRM Journeys.
2. Find the journey card (for example, Welcome or Abandoned Cart).
3. Click Set Up.
4. Choose a Design Template (visual frame) and Content Template (copy layout) for each Send Email step.
5. Toggle the journey Active when you are ready to send.

On all plans you can assign templates to built-in journeys. Pro and Agency users can also open the canvas to edit steps, add Wait delays, or mix in SMS. See Automated CRM Journeys for the full e-commerce trigger matrix.

Option B: Create a Custom Journey (Pro or Agency)

1. Click +CREATE → CRM Journey, or on the Journeys list click Create Journey.
2. Enter a name, optional description, and choose a trigger (fixed after creation — see the trigger table in CRM Visual Journey Builder).
3. The Visual Journey Builder opens for that Journey.

Add Automatic Email Steps

1. Click Add step → Send Email.
2. In the Step Editor Panel, set subject, preheader, and body (same rich editor as Email Campaigns).
3. Apply a Design Template and Content Template; personalize with merge tags such as {{firstName}}, {{orderNumber}}, and {{cartUrl}}.
4. Add a Wait step between consecutive Send Email steps (back-to-back sends are blocked).
5. End every branch with an End step. Optional: Condition, Add Tag, or Send SMS when SMS is enabled.

Full canvas reference: CRM Visual Journey Builder.

Activate Your Automatic Emails

1. Confirm your email sender is complete.
2. Click Activate in the Journey header. Status becomes Active; the canvas becomes read-only.
3. When the trigger fires, Get Shouting creates an enrollment and advances the contact through each step. Each Send Email step counts toward your monthly send quota (500 free sends/month on all plans).

To edit a live Journey: Pause → edit the canvas → Activate again. Contacts already enrolled continue their current steps while paused; only new enrollments stop.

How It Works (Architecture)

• Trigger — Listens for events: subscribe form (Contact Added to List), Resend open/click webhooks (Email Opened / Email Clicked), Shopify webhooks, or WooCommerce plugin events when a store is connected.
• Enrollment — Each qualifying contact gets a journey enrollment record when the trigger fires.
• Step runner — Advances enrollments through Wait, Condition, Add Tag, Send Email, and Send SMS steps on the schedule you defined.
• Send Email — Renders your Design + Content templates with merge tags and sends through your configured sender identity (shared or custom domain).

Common Automatic Email Flows