Automation email preferences

Every automation series has its own sending settings, separate from your regular newsletter settings. Open a series from Automations to control how that series behaves — a gentle re-engagement series and a time-sensitive alert series can each be configured differently.

What you can control

The exact options vary by series type:

• Every email step in a series has its own Subject and Preview Text, and its own Template. For each of the two you pick one of three ways to fill it, and the choice is remembered for every send that step makes:

  • Manual — you type the words, and they stay the same every time.
  • Dynamic — Letterhead writes them from the email itself each time it sends: the subject from the first heading, the preview text from the first paragraph.
  • AI Text — the assistant writes them from that send’s content, taking its cue from the subject lines that have performed best for you.

  Dynamic and AI Text are what make a repeating email feel written rather than reused — the subject follows whatever that day’s lead story turns out to be, without you touching the series.

• Recurring Email series set their own Frequency (daily, weekly, every 2 or 3 weeks, or your publication days), Publication Time, and Audience — and you receive a preview of the email before it goes out. How far ahead is configurable, from 15 or 30 minutes up to 23 hours before send; it defaults to one hour.

• Workflow automations control timing with Delay steps (minutes, hours, or days) between actions.

Repeating emails send that day’s content

A series email is rebuilt from its blocks at the moment it sends, not frozen as it looked when you set the series up. So a weekly digest built on a feed of your stories carries that week’s stories, polls and promotions — you build the shape once and every send fills itself in.

Journey-specific unsubscribes

Emails sent from an automation series include a journey-specific unsubscribe link. A reader who clicks it leaves only that running journey — their subscription to your newsletter stays intact. This keeps a heavy-touch series from costing you subscribers entirely.

Changes and existing subscribers

Setting changes take effect for messages the series sends going forward; they don’t retroactively alter what already went out.

Next steps

• Automation triggers overview
• Manage an automation series
• Working in Automations

Tip

Penpal can report which of your automations are running, paused, or have errors. See how Penpal works.