Automations
Automations (My Automation inside any campaign) let you run multi-step follow-up sequences for enrolled leads. Each step pairs a configurable wait delay with either an AI-personalized email or a predefined template email.
New campaigns start with an empty sequence. Add at least one step before starting automated sequence execution.
Building an automation sequence
Open a campaign, select My Automation in the left sidebar, and click Add step to define each node in order:
| Setting | Options & limits | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Step Name | Up to 100 characters | Internal label shown in the sequence timeline and execution inspector. |
| Delay | Minutes, Hours, or Days (0 = Immediately) | Wait duration measured after the previous step completes (or after activation for Step 1). |
| Email Format | Text or HTML | Controls output formatting for the step's generated email. |
| Content Mode | Personalized with AI or Predefined template | Personalized with AI drafts follow-up copy with full context of prior campaign emails and earlier steps so messaging never repeats itself. Predefined template renders fixed subject/body copy using {{lead_name}} and {{company_name}} without requiring an AI key. |
| Attachments | Per-step files + Include campaign attachments toggle | Combines step-specific files with inherited campaign/global attachments when drafts are generated. |
You can Duplicate, reorder, edit, or delete steps at any time while the campaign has no running or paused executions.
Adding, editing, reordering, or deleting any step automatically clears existing unactivated draft executions for that campaign so stale sequence drafts can never be activated accidentally. Regenerate drafts before starting the campaign.
Starting a campaign sequence
Clicking Start Campaign launches automated sequence generation and review:
- Check prerequisites — the campaign must have at least one eligible enrolled lead (not opted out, already replied, hard-bounced, or blocked by verification strictness) and at least one automation step. Hovering a disabled Start Campaign button displays a checklist of missing requirements.
- Generate sequence drafts — Aimly streams draft generation across all eligible enrolled leads.
- Review and edit — inspect generated per-lead subjects and bodies in the review modal and edit individual step drafts if needed.
- Click
Activate (N)— transitions reviewed drafts into live Active executions. Every eligible enrolled lead must have a generated draft before activation proceeds.
Once activated, steps dispatch automatically as their delays elapse, while still respecting the mailbox's daily rate limit and the campaign's Sending Calendar.
Managing live executions
On the campaign overview, the Campaign Running or Campaign Completed button opens the execution view, with Active, Paused and Completed tabs (plus Draft before activation):
- Active — leads currently progressing through scheduled sequence steps.
- Paused — leads temporarily held: manually paused, paused after cancelling a queued sequence email, paused by archiving the campaign, or auto-paused when a sequence email fails to send.
- Completed — leads who finished every step, replied (Engaged), opted out, hard-bounced, were blocked by tightened verification strictness, or were manually marked complete.
Execution actions
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pause | Holds upcoming sequence steps for selected Active leads without discarding progress. |
| Resume / Retry & Resume | Resumes Paused leads or re-queues a failed sequence step through the automation runner. |
| Mark as Complete | Permanently ends Active or Paused executions for selected leads without sending remaining steps. |
| Restart | Available once no Active or Paused executions remain; resets completed leads for a fresh sequence run. |
Sequence ownership and lock rules
- Campaign structural lock — while any lead is in Active or Paused state, enrolling new leads into the campaign and modifying sequence steps are locked. To add leads or change steps mid-campaign, allow current executions to finish or select Mark as Complete on remaining active and paused leads.
- Sequence-owned emails — emails belonging to a live automation execution are managed through the automation runner rather than ad-hoc Drafts/History actions: cancelling a queued sequence email pauses that lead's execution, and bulk email deletion skips live sequence emails automatically.
- Automatic stop on reply — when Aimly detects a response from a lead on the campaign's mailbox (any non-automatic mail, even outside the thread), any Active execution for that lead completes on the engine's next 30-second cycle. A Paused execution stays paused until resumed, then completes without sending.