What does Bernard do with my mailing list on his own?
A mailing list needs regular care: the email that is actually worth sending, the journey you wrote and never switched on, the addresses that were typed wrong. Bernard can take on this work at the level you choose, always to people who can lawfully be emailed.
The prompt
“Tell me which emails you have prepared for [my site], who each one would go to, and what is waiting for my approval.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
Who Bernard can email
Whatever your setting, Bernard only ever emails people who have agreed to hear from you. The check runs again immediately before an email goes, so anyone who has unsubscribed, bounced, complained or been put on hold since you said yes is left out.
Bernard also counts how often each person hears from you. One count covers your campaigns and your automatic journeys together, so the two can never flood the same person. An email Bernard prepared skips anyone who has already had one of your emails this week, a campaign or a journey email. A journey email waits a day for anyone who has already had one of your emails that day. Receipts, confirmations and other emails a person asked for are never counted.
Emails on your calendar
When your calendar has a mailing-list day coming up, Bernard can draft that email and put it on the calendar entry, ready for you. It goes to everyone who has said yes, and the draft shows you the email and exactly how many people will get it. It waits for your approval. You can change it or stop it from the entry: What is Bernard’s calendar of work? explains how.
Your yes covers exactly those people. Before it goes, people can drop out of it (for example, someone who unsubscribed), but nobody can be added. If the words of the email change after you said yes, it waits for a new yes.
Journeys you have already written
If you have written an automatic email journey and left it switched off, Bernard can prepare it for you to switch on. He checks that every email in it has real words first. It stays off until you approve it, and if the journey changes after you said yes, it waits for a new yes.
Addresses that look wrong
Addresses that bounce are stopped automatically the moment they bounce. Some addresses looked wrong when they were added: a mistyped domain, or one with nowhere to deliver mail. Bernard can tag those contacts “address looks wrong” so you can see them, and leave them out of a campaign if you choose. He never blocks them on his own, and taking the tag off is one click on the board.
What happens at each level
| Situation | Ask me first | Do the routine things | Get on with it |
|---|---|---|---|
| An email on your calendar | Suggests | Prepared, waits for your yes | Prepared, waits for your yes |
| Switch on a journey you wrote | Suggests | Prepared, waits for your yes | Prepared, waits for your yes |
| Tag addresses that look wrong | Suggests | Done, once he has earned it | Done, once he has earned it |
Holding an email and sending it unless you stop it is not switched on yet. When it is, the notice comes first, and How do I stop something before Bernard does it? explains how to stop it.
The setting behind this
One setting governs all of this. How Bernard looks after things for me explains the three levels and how to move between them, and What will Bernard never do without asking me first? covers what stays out of reach at every level.
Questions people ask
- Will Bernard email people who haven’t agreed to hear from me?
- No. The same check that decides who can receive your own campaigns runs again just before anything Bernard prepared goes out. Anyone who has unsubscribed, bounced or complained since you said yes is left out.
- Does Bernard send campaigns without my approval?
- Not today. Every email Bernard prepares waits for your approval, at every level, while his email work is in its pilot. Holding an email and sending it unless you stop it comes later, and only once the pilot has shown it is safe.
- If I approve an email, can more people end up getting it?
- No. Your yes covers exactly the people it showed you. People can drop out before it goes, never join. Someone who joins your list afterwards waits for the next email.
- Can Bernard turn on an automatic email journey by itself?
- He can notice a journey you have fully written and left switched off, and prepare it for you. It stays off until you approve it.
- What does Bernard do about addresses that look wrong?
- Addresses that bounced are already stopped for you the moment they bounce. Addresses that looked wrong when they were added, he can tag “address looks wrong” so you can see them and leave them out. He never blocks them on his own, and the tag can be taken off again.