Ready to send better email?
Brew is the AI-native ESP. Define your brand once, ship on-brand email in minutes.
Brew is the AI-native ESP. Define your brand once, ship on-brand email in minutes.
Triggered email automations include both lifecycle marketing flows and transactional messages. Learn how they work and which ones to build first.
Triggered emails are some of the highest-value emails a company can send. They arrive because something happened: a user signed up, added an item to cart, requested a password reset, upgraded, canceled, or missed a payment.
In Brew, these are called automations.
Automations cover both marketing flows and transactional emails.
Marketing flows are sequences designed to drive activation, engagement, and retention.
Common examples:
These usually include multiple emails, waits, filters, and splits.
Transactional emails are functional messages the user expects immediately.
Common examples:
These are often single emails, but they still start from an event.
Marketing emails must respect unsubscribes. Transactional emails usually still send because the user needs the information to use your product.
The FTC CAN-SPAM guide and the primary-purpose test in 16 CFR 316.3 are how US law draws that line.
That is why a password reset can go to someone who unsubscribed from your newsletter. It is not promotional. It is functional.
Every automation has two parts.
The trigger event tells Brew when to start.
Examples:
user_signupcart_abandonedpassword_reset_requestedorder_placedinvoice.payment_failedcustomer.subscription.createdEvents can come from your own backend or from a connected source like Stripe.
The flow defines what happens after the event fires.
A simple transactional automation might be:
password_reset_requestedA marketing flow might be:
user_signupMost automations are built from four nodes:
This structure is flexible enough for welcome flows, abandoned cart, onboarding, and transactional notifications.
Start with the moments closest to revenue or activation.
| Business goal | Automation to build |
|---|---|
| Activate new users | Welcome or onboarding flow |
| Recover revenue | Abandoned cart or payment failed flow |
| Reduce support load | Password reset, account alerts, receipts |
| Improve retention | Usage nudges and re-engagement flows |
| Drive expansion | Upsell and plan milestone flows |
Traditional automation builders are powerful but slow. You need to decide the structure, write every email, design every email, wire every condition, and test every branch.
AI changes the starting point. You describe the outcome, and the system drafts the flow.
A prompt like this can become a real workflow:
Build a three-step onboarding flow for new trial users. Trigger on
user_signup. First email welcomes them and explains the main value. Wait two days. Second email shows the fastest path to success. Wait four days. Third email asks them to book a demo if they have not activated.
The marketer still reviews and edits. But the blank page is gone.
Brew builds automations from prompts. It writes the emails, creates the flow, uses your brand, and lets you edit both the emails and the automation logic.
For teams that want to do more lifecycle marketing without hiring a dedicated lifecycle team, triggered automations are the highest-leverage place to start.
The longer playbook is the email marketing automation guide. Inbox rules still apply when the trigger fires. See email deliverability and Gmail's sender requirements. To contact us about this article, write Brew support.
A triggered email automation is a flow that starts because an event happened.
A marketing flow is welcome, cart, trial, or win-back mail that still has to honor unsubscribe.
A transactional message is the functional note the user already asked for, such as a reset.
For example, a failed payment can start a short recovery sequence the same hour.
| Move | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Start near revenue | Welcome, cart, and payment-failed beat a vague nurture |
| Keep the legal split | A reset that sells is still commercial |
US commercial mail still follows the FTC CAN-SPAM guide and 16 CFR 316.3. Bulk sending still has to meet Gmail's sender requirements. To contact us about this article, use the support link above.
A triggered automation starts because something happened: a signup, a cart, a password reset, an upgrade, a cancel, or a failed payment. It is not a newsletter you scheduled on Tuesday. In this product those flows are called automations, and they cover both marketing sequences and transactional emails.
Marketing flows drive activation, engagement, and retention: welcome, onboarding, abandoned cart, trial nudges, win-back, upsell. They often have waits and splits. Transactional mail is the functional message the user already expects: reset, receipt, payment failed. Usually one email, still started by an event.
Yes, in the split this guide describes. Marketing must honor the unsubscribe. A reset is not a promo. The reader needs it to use the product. If you sneak an offer into that same message, 16 CFR 316.3 can treat the whole thing as commercial.
Start with the moments closest to activation or revenue. New users get a welcome or onboarding flow. Lost checkouts get abandoned cart or payment-failed. Support load drops when resets, alerts, and receipts are automated. Retention and expansion come after those are live.
Four nodes cover most flows. Send Email delivers the message. Wait pauses for a set time. Filter checks a condition. Split sends people down different paths. A reset can be trigger then send. A welcome can be send, wait, send, wait, then a split on the last click.
