When customers visit an online store, it's important to track their real-time behavior—such as browsing pages, viewing products, adding items to the cart, and placing orders. By capturing these actions as they happen, brands can send timely emails or SMS messages to encourage order completion or drive return visits. This is where automated marketing becomes a powerful tool.
SmartPush’s automated marketing offers a variety of pre-built scenarios with an intuitive setup process. These include welcome messages when a customer subscribes, abandoned cart reminders, checkout abandonment follow-ups, and win-back campaigns triggered after a purchase or a period of inactivity.
In This Article
- Overview of Automation Flows
- How Automation is Triggered (Triggers, Filters, and Exit Conditions)
- Trigger Differences Across Platforms
- Flow Structure and Breakdown
- Using Delays in Flows
- Available Actions Within a Flow
- Tracking Performance Metrics
- Accessing Automation Reports
- Using Prebuilt Automation Templates
Overview of automation flows
Automation flows in SmartPush consist of a series of components, including: Trigger, Filter Conditions, Exit Conditions, Flow Steps, Delay, and Actions.
Each flow must include at least one trigger to start the automation and one action to respond to it (e.g., sending an email or SMS).
An automation flow can have one of three statuses: Draft, Active, or Paused. Only Active and Paused flows will generate performance data and reports.
For flows that have already been activated, each time you enter the flow's detail page, you'll see the latest published version of that automation process.
How Automation is Triggered (Triggers, Filters, and Exit Conditions)
1. Trigger
It is used to configure different trigger events, which define what kind of event will initiate each automated process.
After the trigger data is generated, the system will query the sendable information of the trigger object in real time, usually the email address or mobile phone number. If neither is found, or if the queried email or phone number is in an invalid format (for example, an email like "example@"), the sending request will fail, and the trigger will not proceed to the next step in the process.
2. Filter conditions
Trigger filter conditions are not required to be configured. If not configured, no filtering will be performed. If configured, only triggers that meet the configuration conditions can enter the subsequent process.
Each trigger has its own filtering conditions, which can be used to determine whether the process can actually be entered. Take the order creation trigger as an example. The order amount is used as a filter condition, and the order amount is set to be greater than 50. It means only when the order amount is greater than or equal to 50, the process will be triggered. Otherwise, the process will not be triggered.
Up to 3 conditions can be added to each process, and the conditions can have "and" or "or" relationships.
3. Exit conditions
The exit condition determines when a user who has entered the process should exit without continuing to receive messages. Before each sending action is executed, the system checks whether the user meets the defined exit condition. If the condition is met, the user will stop receiving emails or text messages from all subsequent nodes and will exit the process.
Trigger Differences Across Platforms
The availability of triggers, filter conditions, and exit conditions may vary depending on the store's platform. Please refer to the platform-specific details below:
- Trigger for all platforms: date type, contacts enter groups.
- For stores using SHOPLINE (admin link contains shoplineapp.com): View supported triggers here.
- For stores using Shopify (admin link contains shopify.com): View supported triggers here.
We recommend reviewing the available triggers for your platform before setting up your automation flows to ensure proper configuration and expected behavior.
Flow Structure and Breakdown
The Process Breakdown node allows you to split the automation flow into two branches: "YES" and "NO"
- If the defined condition is met, the contact continues down the "YES" branch.
- If not, the contact will proceed along the "NO" branch.
1. Split conditions
There are three types of split conditions available:
- Trigger Filtering: Similar to the trigger’s filter conditions, this evaluates the data captured when the trigger is activated.
- Basic Contact Attributes: This condition checks attributes such as name, gender, region, or membership level. The system will retrieve the most up-to-date contact data at the time this node is executed.
Note: If the contact or attribute doesn't exist, the system considers the condition unmet and proceeds down the "NO" branch. - Recipient Behavior:
Splits the flow based on how the recipient interacted with the previous message (e.g., opened or clicked).
2. Basic contact attributes that can be used include:
| Type | Field | Data acquisition source | Comparison operation | Target value |
| Options | gender | Basic attributes of the contact, gender | equal to, not equal to | Male, female, unknown |
| nation | Countries for all addresses of the contact | Drop-down country range: All countries covered by all contacts are used as drop-down options, displayed with country names, following language B | ||
|
Custom labels |
Contact tags (main site synchronized tags & SP imported tags), excluding imported batch tags |
Option range: All contacts override to label as drop down option | ||
|
Subscription status |
Get a contact’s real-time subscription status |
Subscribed email address, subscribed mobile phone number | ||
|
membership level |
Only stores whose Admin link is shoplineapp.com have this field |
All levels in the store as drop-down options | ||
|
Verification status |
Only stores whose Admin link is shoplineapp.com have this field |
Verified email, verified mobile phone number |
3. Recipient behavior condition options include:
| Type | Action | Result value |
| Open email | Supports selecting all email tasks upon the node. You need to specify an email task based on the email subject. | Proceed to the next step in the process based on whether the specifed email is opened by the recipient. |
| Click email | Supports selecting all email tasks upon the node. You need to specify an email task based on the email subject. |
URL supports specifying: 1. Any URL, indicating that upon clicking on any URL, customers will proceed to the next step in the process. |
| Click SMS | Supports selecting all SMS tasks upon the node. You need to specify an SMS task based on the email subject. |
| Note: To evaluate recipient behavior, a Delay node must be placed upstream to give the recipient time to act before the condition is checked. |
Using Delays in Flows
The Delay node is used to control the waiting time between two nodes in an automation flow. It determines how long the system should pause before moving to the next step.
SmartPush supports two types of delay settings:
1. Relative Time Delay
This delay is calculated from the completion of the previous node.
- The system waits for the amount of time you specify (e.g., 2 hours, 3 days) before continuing.
- You can set a maximum delay of up to 60 days.
2. Specified Time Delay
After the previous node is triggered, the system will wait until a specific day or time is reached before proceeding. This ensures the next message is sent at the most optimal time.
You can schedule messages based on three time granularities:
- Every Day: Set a specific time for the message to be sent daily.
- Every Week: Choose one or more days (up to 3) and a specific time.
Note: Only the nearest upcoming day will be triggered. For example: If the previous node is triggered on a Tuesday, and the delay is set for 10:00 AM every Wednesday and Thursday, only Wednesday will be triggered for that instance. Thursday will be skipped. - Every Month: Choose up to 3 days per month and a specific time.
The logic follows the same rule as "Every Week" — only the nearest upcoming date will be triggered for each flow instance.
Available Actions Within a Flow
In SmartPush automation, the following action types are supported:
- Send an Email
- Send a SMS
- Update Contact Tag
Notes:
|
Update contact tag
You can insert an “Update Contact Tag” node in your automation flow to label users for future segmentation or targeting.
How to set it up:
- Drag the node into the flow.
- Enter the desired tag name and click + Create Tag.
- Select the tag to complete the setup.
Once a tag has been assigned, you can create a segment of those tagged contacts:
- Go to [Contacts] > [Segments]
- Click Create Segment
- In the condition builder, select Others > Automation contact tag, then choose your tag.
Tracking Performance Metrics
SmartPush provides performance tracking for each automation flow to help you understand how it's performing at a glance.
- Data visibility is limited to the past 30 days within the automation flow view.
Metrics are only generated for flows that are in "Activated" or "Paused" status. Draft flows will not generate data. - For a complete view of long-term performance, including historical data, please refer to the Automated Data Report.
| Important Note: Once the flow is activated, each node begins accumulating its own performance data. If you move nodes around after activation, this can cause discrepancies in the top-down funnel view, potentially affecting how data is interpreted visually. |
Accessing Automation Reports
To review the performance of your automation flows, go to [Data Analysis] > [Automations]. Here, you’ll find detailed reports for each activated automation task.
The report consists of three main modules:
1. Task Information
Displays a preview of the automation flow and key configuration details
- Trigger Count: Shows the number of users who entered the flow after meeting the trigger and filter conditions.
| Note:A user is only counted if a valid email or mobile number is detected. |
2. Data overview
Presents real-time performance data for the overall task, such as how many users entered, how many emails/SMS were sent, and more.
3. Activities in the flow
Breaks down performance metrics by individual nodes (e.g., email or SMS sends) within the flow.
- Each node supports click-to-drill-down functionality, allowing you to view and export detailed user data.
Using Prebuilt Automation Templates
Setting up an automation flow is a key step in launching effective marketing automation. To simplify this process, SmartPush provides a variety of prebuilt automation templates that can be applied with just one click.
You can quickly customize these templates based on your store’s actual needs and publish them without building from scratch.
To get started, go to [Automations] > [Automation Templates] to browse all available presets.
| Note: Templates may vary depending on the platform your store is built on. Please refer to the templates shown in your system. The screenshot below is for demonstration purposes only. |
Once you’ve selected a template, click Create a custom task to enter the editing page. After making the necessary adjustments, simply publish the automation to complete the setup.
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