---
title: "Walkthrough: Create a welcome email message automation"
slug: "walkthrough--create-a-welcome-email-message-automation"
abstract: "How to create a welcome email message automation in Sitecore Send."
---
# Walkthrough: Create a welcome email message automation

When a new subscriber joins your email list, you can send them a *welcome* email message that informs them about the benefits they have gained from subscribing.

In Sitecore Send, you can automate this process to ensure that the welcome email message is sent immediately to new subscribers and create follow up activities for them depending on whether or not they opened the welcome email message.

This walkthrough tells you how to:

- Give the automation a name.
- Define the trigger that activates the automation.
- Specify the wait time.
- Create the email campaign.
- Filter the new subscribers to see who opened the email message.
- Tag the new subscribers who opened the email message.
- Send a follow-up email message to the new subscribers who did not open the email message.

## Give the automation a name

You can give the automation a name now or later in the process and you can change the name at any time.

To give the automation a name:

1. On the menu bar, click **Automation**.
2. Click **New** > **From recipe**.
3. In the **Automation recipes** list, navigate to **Welcome email sequence** and click ![arrow.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/arrow.png) to select the recipe.

    The automation designer displays the selected recipe on a new page, with the name, ID, status, and task list of the automation in the left pane, and the preconfigured workflow in the design pane.

4. Click **Welcome email sequence**, enter the name of your automation, and click **Save**.

    This pane also contains a description field. You can ignore this field for now. It is filled in automatically as you add elements to the automation. When you have finished designing the automation, you can edit the description.

## Define the trigger

Every automation requires a trigger to activate it.

To define the trigger:

1. In the design pane, click the **When someone subscribes to any list** trigger.
2. In the **Trigger only once?** field, in the drop-down list, select the **Yes - Trigger only on the first subscription** option.
3. Click **Save**.

## Specify the wait time

You must specify the amount of time you want to wait before you send the welcome email message.

To specify the wait time:

1. In the design pane, click the **Wait a specific time interval** step.
2. In the **Wait a specific time interval** dialog, you have the following options:
    - **Wait for some time** - specify the amount of time in minutes, hours, days, or months.
    - **Wait until a specific date** - Specify the time and the time zone. To make this action recur on a specific day, set the **Recurrency by day** toggle switch to *Yes* and then select the day that you want this action to recur on. To make this action recur on a specific date, set the **Recurrency by date** toggle switch to *Yes* and then in the drop-down menu select the day of every month, that you want this action to recur on.

        > [!note]
        > if you do not select a day, the action recurs every day.

3. Click **Save**.

## Create the email message

You can now create the welcome email message that you want to send to new subscribers.

To create the email message:

1. In the design pane, click the **Then send email campaign** action.
2. In the **Then send email campaign** dialog, enter all the appropriate values:

    | Field | Value |
    | --- | --- |
    | Subject line | The title of the email message. |
    | From name | The address that the email message is sent from. |
    | [Add the content that suits you](https://doc.sitecore.com/send/en/users/sitecore-send/using-automation/create-an-automation-from-a-recipe/using-content-in-an-automation.html) | Create a new email message or select one from an existing campaign. |
    | Emails per day | The number of email messages sent by this action every day. |

3. Click **Save**.

## Specify the wait time

After you send an email message to new subscribers, you must give them some time to open it.

To specify the amount of time you want to wait:

1. In the design pane, click the **Wait a specific time interval** step.
2. In the **Wait a specific time interval** dialog, specify the amount of time or specific date you want to wait.
3. Click **Save**.

## Filter the new subscribers to see who opened the email message

To filter the new subscribers and see who opened the email message:

1. In the design pane, click **Add flow step** ![add_flow_step.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/add_flow_step.png) below the previous wait step.
2. In the **Select action** dialog, click **Conditional/Control steps**.
3. Click ![arrow.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/arrow.png) next to the **Filter (If condition/Else)** step.
4. In the **Filter (If condition / Else)** dialog, in the **Apply this set of filters to** field, select the mailing list that this set of filters applies to. In this case is the list that the new subscribers signed up to.
5. Click **Add a condition** and a row of drop-down fields are displayed.

    For your *Welcome email* automation you need to determine if each new subscriber opened the welcome email message that you sent to them.

6. In the first drop-down list, select the *Specific Campaign Opened* criterion. This filters your automation into two groups:
    - *Yes* - the ones who opened the welcome email message.
    - *No* - the ones who did not open the welcome email message.
7. In the second drop-down list, select *is*.
8. In the third drop-down list, select your welcome email campaign.
9. Click **Save**.

## Tag the new subscribers who opened the email message

To tag the new subscribers who opened the email message:

1. In the design pane, click **Add flow step** ![add_flow_step.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/add_flow_step.png) below the *Yes* group.
2. In the **Select action** dialog, click **Actions**.
3. Click ![arrow.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/arrow.png) next to **Then set custom field value**.
4. In the **Then set custom field value** dialog, in the **Custom Field** field, select the field that you want to update.

    If the mailing list does not have a suitable field, you can create one.

5. In the **Custom Value** field, enter the value that you want the custom field updated with - in this case *Opened*.
6. In the **Create Member** field, specify if you want to create a new member. The options are:
    - Yes - Create the member if it does not exist.
    - Yes - Create the member if it does not exist as verified. I have consent from an external source.
    - No - Do not create a new member.
7. Click **Save**.

## Send a follow-up email message to the new subscribers who did not open the email message

To send a follow-up email message to the new subscribers who did not open the email message:

1. In the design pane, click **Add flow step** ![add_flow_step.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/add_flow_step.png) below the *No* group.
2. In the **Select action** dialog, click **Actions**.
3. Click ![arrow.png](https://doc.sitecore.com/api/markdown-image/send/en/users/sitecore-send/images/arrow.png) next to **Then send email campaign**.
4. In the **Then send email campaign** dialog, create the follow-up email message.
5. Click **Save**.
6. To activate the automation, in the left pane, set the **Inactive** toggle switch to *Active* status.

You have now created the *Welcome email* automation sequence.