Can I rebuild my ActiveCampaign automation in bernard?

So the job is not “import my automation”. It is “tell Bernard what the automation does, and let Bernard find its nearest match”.

How to ask

Describe the automation the way you would to a friend: what starts it, what it sends, how long it waits between emails, and when it stops. For example:

When somebody confirms their sign-up, send a welcome at once, my best blog post two days later, and a note about my course three days after that.

Bernard first reads which automatic emails your site already has, then answers with one of three things.

The three answers

1. Rebuild it as an automatic email. When one of bernard’s eight starts on the same event, Bernard drafts it in your words. The example above becomes the welcome sequence. Bernard shows you the plain-English summary: what starts it, each email and its timing, what stops it, and the most emails anyone can get. It is saved as a draft and sends nothing. Switching it on is a second step that waits for your yes.

2. Replace it with a campaign you send yourself. Some automations are really a one-off with a timer attached, such as “email everybody tagged wholesale before the spring fair”. There is no trigger on a tag in bernard, but you can send a campaign to that tag when the time comes. Send an email campaign to my audience covers it.

3. Drop it. When bernard has nothing like it, Bernard says so in one sentence, so you know what you are giving up. That includes anything that:

• starts on a tag, a field, a date or anniversary, a page visit, an open or a click, or a deal;
• branches with if/else, or waits until something is true;
• adds or removes tags, changes a field, or starts another automation;
• sends a text message or calls another tool;
• lets the same person go through more than once.

What each automatic email starts on

What starts it	The automatic email
Someone signs up on a form but does not confirm	Remind people who didn’t confirm their signup
Someone confirms their sign-up	Welcome a new subscriber automatically
Someone buys from your shop	Thank people after they buy
Someone enrols on a course	Look after a new student automatically or Deliver a course by email automatically
Someone sends an enquiry	Follow up on enquiries automatically
Someone joins your waiting list	Announce to everyone on my waiting list
Someone finishes a course	Ask people for a review after they finish a course

A student you enrol by hand counts as enrolling, so a course sold somewhere else can still start your course emails once you add the student.

Before you switch it on

An automatic email reaches people from the moment it is on, never anyone who arrived before. So the safe order is:

1. Draft it in bernard and read the summary.
2. In ActiveCampaign, stop new people entering the old automation.
3. Let the people already partway through finish there.
4. Switch the bernard one on.

That way nobody gets the same welcome twice. Change or pause my automatic emails explains how to change timing or words later, and how to pause one.

For every other ActiveCampaign feature, What does bernard have for each thing I use in ActiveCampaign? puts bernard’s answer beside it.