For small businesses and online retailers, email serves as a vital communication tool. However, managing marketing campaigns, order confirmations, user notifications, and customer inquiries can quickly become overwhelming.
At CanadaCreate and our partner sites, we utilize email automation to save time, maintain consistent communication, and enhance our outcomes.
In this article, we will guide you on how to send automated emails in WordPress, helping you streamline your operations and expand your business.
The Importance of Automated Emails in WordPress
Whether you operate an online store, a membership platform, or a small business website, email is essential for fostering growth and ensuring smooth operations.
For instance, you can use email to welcome new users and inform them about new content or product releases. Additionally, email is effective for marketing campaigns and keeping customers updated on their order status.
You can also set up email notifications for yourself when there’s a new post ready for review or when a WordPress update is available.
Given the numerous tasks that rely on email within your WordPress site, automating as many emails as possible is a smart way to save time and reduce effort.
In this guide, we will explore how to effectively send automated emails in WordPress. Here are the key topics we will discuss:
- Ensuring Reliable Delivery of Your WordPress Emails
- Setting Up Automated Drip Emails with Constant Contact
- Configuring Automated Transactional Emails Using FunnelKit Automations
- Automating Your Marketing Emails with Uncanny Automator
- Bonus: How to Send Automated Notification Emails
- Comprehensive Guides on WordPress Email Management
1. Ensuring Reliable Delivery of Your WordPress Emails
Before diving into email automation, it’s crucial to verify that your website’s emails are being delivered consistently.
Typically, many WordPress hosting providers do not configure the mail function correctly. To avoid server abuse, some even disable it entirely, which can result in your WordPress emails not reaching their intended recipients.
Fortunately, you can easily resolve this issue by using WP Mail SMTP. This plugin allows you to send your WordPress emails through a dependable SMTP service, specifically designed for email delivery, such as SendLayer, Gmail, Outlook, and others.
The free version of WP Mail SMTP is typically sufficient for most websites. For further information, check our guide on resolving WordPress email sending issues.
2. Sending Automated Drip Emails with Constant Contact
A great starting point for email automation is to consider how you promote your store or business. One of the most effective methods for automating marketing is through a drip campaign.
What Is an Automated Drip Campaign?
Automated drip campaigns consist of email messages that automatically lead your users through a defined journey. They are highly effective for enhancing user engagement on your WordPress site.
For instance, these messages can welcome new users, highlight key content, upsell products, target specific locations, and motivate users to sign up for events.
To send automated drip email notifications, we recommend using Constant Contact, as it is one of the leading email marketing services available. However, you can also utilize other major email marketing platforms such as Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), HubSpot, and more.
To get started, visit the Constant Contact website and create an account. The service offers a 60-day free trial, allowing you to explore its features before choosing a premium plan.
Pro Tip:Use our Constant Contact coupon code to receive a 20% discount on your upfront purchase.
Building Your Contact List
After signing up, access the Constant Contact dashboard to create your contact list.
Constant Contact provides a default contact list, but you can create a custom list by navigating to the ‘Contacts’ tab in the top menu and clicking the ‘Create List’ button.
A popup will appear for you to enter a name for your new list.
Once you’ve named your list, click the ‘Save’ button.
To add contacts to your list, go to the ‘Contacts’ tab.
Then, click the ‘Add Contacts’ button.
A popup will present various options for adding new contacts.
You can manually enter contacts, upload them via a spreadsheet or CSV file, or import them from other applications.
Setting Up an Automated Drip Campaign
After adding your contacts, it’s time to create your drip campaign.
Navigate to the ‘Campaigns’ tab and click the ‘Create’ button.
Constant Contact will then display several options for creating a campaign.
Select the ‘Email Automation’ campaign option.
Here, you can choose between single-step automations or multi-step automations.
Single-step automations send one email, like a welcome message, while multi-step automations allow you to set up a sequence of emails that are automatically delivered to your subscribers, keeping them informed about your products, services, special offers, and more.
In this guide, you will set up a multi-step automation for new subscribers who join your email list. Select the ‘A contact joins a list’ option to get started.
Next, you will need to provide a name for your campaign.
Be sure to click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
Constant Contact will prompt you to select the event that will trigger the email. For instance, the drip series is automatically activated when a user joins your email list, opens an email, clicks a link, or makes a purchase.
You can use the default ‘Contact joins a list’ option as your trigger type. Then, select the email list you created earlier. Click the ‘Save’ button when you’re finished.
Creating Emails for Your Drip Campaign
Now, it’s time to create the emails that will be sent in your automated drip campaign. The first email you create will be sent automatically when a user signs up.
To start, simply click on the ‘Create New Email’ option.
Constant Contact will now display a variety of email templates for you to select from.
In this tutorial, we will utilize the ‘Agent Welcome’ template.
You can personalize the email template using the intuitive drag-and-drop email builder.
Select multiple elements from the menu on the left and arrange them on the template as desired.
Be sure to replace the placeholder text with your own content. Once you’ve completed this, click the ‘Continue’ button located at the top right of the editor to add the email to the drip series.
To add a second email, click the ‘+ Add to series’ button followed by the ‘Create New Email’ button.
You will need to choose a template and customize the new email just like you did before. You can also set a delay for when the next email in the drip campaign is sent.
The default delay is set to 4 days, but you can modify this by clicking the ‘Edit’ button next to the section labeled ‘Wait 4 days.’
This will open the ‘Time Delay Editor,’ where you can specify when the next email in the drip campaign will be sent. Click the ‘Confirm’ button once you’re finished.
Now, you should see all your emails displayed in the campaign summary section.
Click the ‘Activate’ button located in the upper-right corner to start your email campaign.
Constant Contact will prompt you to confirm that you want to activate your campaign.
Just click the ‘Continue’ button, and the tool will verify that everything is functioning correctly before activating your campaign.
Congratulations! You have successfully launched your automated drip email campaign.
For more comprehensive instructions and to learn how to create a drip campaign using push notifications, check out our guide on setting up automated drip notifications in WordPress.
3. Sending Automated Transactional Emails with FunnelKit Automations
If you operate a WooCommerce store, your customers will receive various transactional emails. These emails provide order confirmations, track order status, send invoices, and offer additional information about your online store.
You can personalize and automate these emails using FunnelKit Automations, a widely-used WooCommerce plugin for marketing automation. It is a complementary product to FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels), a robust sales funnel builder for WooCommerce.
First, install and activate the FunnelKit Automations plugin. For further instructions, please refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Building Email Automation Workflows with FunnelKit Automations
After activation, navigate toCampaigns » Automations (Next-Gen)to create a new automation from your FunnelKit Automations dashboard.
Here, you’ll find a library of email types that simplify the process of creating new automations.
You can import an email automation workflow with just one click and then utilize the visual email automation builder for any necessary customizations.
For instance, here’s the workflow for an Abandoned Cart Reminder.
Personalizing WooCommerce Emails with FunnelKit Automations
FunnelKit Automations allows you to personalize any WooCommerce email and design new emails using a drag-and-drop email builder within WordPress.
You can accessFunnelKit Automations » Templatesfrom your WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Add New Email Template’ button.
Next, input a name for your email template.
Then, be sure to click the ‘Add’ button to proceed.
Now, the plugin will prompt you to enter a subject line and preview text for your email.
You can enhance the content of your WooCommerce emails using rich text, HTML, or the visual builder.
The visual builder allows you to choose various elements from the left menu and easily place them on the template using a drag-and-drop feature.
For example, the ‘Content’ tab enables you to add columns, buttons, headings, menus, text, and more to your email template.
The ‘Body’ tab allows you to further personalize each element.
You can modify the text color, alignment, font, size, and more.
When you’re finished, simply click the ‘Save’ button located at the top.
For comprehensive instructions, refer to our guide on customizing WooCommerce emails. Be sure to scroll down to the section titled ‘Customizing WooCommerce Emails using FunnelKit Automations.’
4. Automating Marketing Emails with Uncanny Automator
Additionally, you’ll need to send marketing emails outside of your drip campaign. These emails are most effective when they are personalized and timely.
For instance, you can use automated emails to highlight products similar to what your customer has previously purchased. Alternatively, you can automatically notify users via email as soon as you publish a new article on your website.
This can be easily accomplished using Uncanny Automator, the leading WordPress automation plugin that enables you to create automated workflows for your site.
The free version seamlessly integrates with popular email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and HubSpot, simplifying the process of automating your email campaigns.
In this tutorial, we will utilize the free version of Mailchimp, a widely used service that provides a forever free plan allowing you to send up to 10,000 emails each month to 2,000 subscribers.
Getting Started with Uncanny Automator
First, you need to install and activate the free Uncanny Automator plugin. For detailed instructions, refer to our step-by-step guide on installing a WordPress plugin.
After activation, navigate to theAutomator » Add Newpage to create your first automation recipe. In this tutorial, we will set up an automated email to notify subscribers whenever a new post is published.
You will be prompted to select the type of recipe you want to create. Choose ‘Logged-in users’ and then click the ‘Confirm’ button.
Setting Up the Automation Trigger
Next, you need to decide whether the automation will be triggered by Uncanny Automator or WordPress.
Since the goal is to send an automated email when a new post is published on WordPress, select the ‘WordPress’ option.
Now, you can select from a comprehensive list of available WordPress triggers.
Select the trigger labeled ‘A user publishes a post type with a specific taxonomy term.’
Utilize the search feature to quickly locate this trigger.
If desired, you can specify the types of posts that will trigger the email by selecting a post type and a specific category or tag from the dropdown menus.
For this tutorial, we will use the default settings.
Remember to click the ‘Save’ button after completing the trigger setup.
Configuring the Automation Trigger
Next, you’ll set up the action that will be triggered. To begin, click the ‘Add action’ button.
You will see a comprehensive list of available integrations for the action.
Click the Mailchimp icon to connect it to your website.
A popup will appear, guiding you to complete the connection by logging into your Mailchimp account or creating a new one. Once connected, you can select the action you want to perform in your Mailchimp account.
Then, choose the option ‘Create and send a campaign.’
Begin by entering a name for your campaign. Consider using tokens to ensure that each Mailchimp campaign name for new posts is unique.
For example, click the ‘*’ button next to the field and select the ‘Post title’ token.
Next, use the drop-down menus to select your target audience and segment, and fill in the subject line and other details for your email.
You can write your email in the ‘Email contents’ section. Be sure to use tokens so that the content updates for each email campaign.
For instance, you can add tokens for the post title, post author’s display name, post excerpt, post URL, and featured image URL.
When you’re done, change the status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Live.’
From this point forward, whenever you publish a new article on your website, Mailchimp will automatically send an email to your subscribers.
To learn more about creating an effective mailing list, check out our guides on using Mailchimp with WordPress and how to properly create an email newsletter.
You may also want to explore our guide on automatically sending coupons to users who leave reviews in WooCommerce. This is another great example of how to create automated emails with Uncanny Automator to enhance customer loyalty.
Bonus: Sending Automated Notification Emails
Now that you’ve set up automated emails for your users, you can implement the same system for yourself and your team.
For instance, you can create automated email alerts to monitor issues that need your immediate attention, like when an author submits a post for your review.
You can also disable unnecessary WordPress notifications that clutter your inbox, such as comment alerts.
To discover how to customize your notification emails, check out our comprehensive guide on enhancing custom notifications in WordPress.
Expert Guides on WordPress Email
We hope this tutorial has helped you learn how to send automated emails in WordPress. You may also find these related articles on WordPress email useful:
- How to Properly Configure Your WordPress Email Settings
- [SOLVED] How to Fix WordPress Email Not Sending Issues
- How to Use an SMTP Server to Send WordPress Emails
- How to Set Up WP Mail SMTP with Any Hosting Provider (Ultimate Guide)
- How to Send a Test Email from WordPress (The Easy Way)
- How to Change the Sender Name in Outgoing WordPress Emails
- How to Send Emails to All Registered Users in WordPress
- Notifying Authors When Their Articles Are Published in WordPress
- The Risks of Using WordPress for Sending Newsletter Emails
- A Beginner’s Guide to Automating Email Marketing in WordPress
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