Turn on your first flow

A flow is a set of messages that sends itself when something happens. Someone leaves a cart, and an hour later they get a reminder. Someone joins a list, and they get a welcome. You set it up once.

Every flow starts switched off. Nothing you build sends anything until you turn it on.

#Take one from the library

1. In the sidebar, open Email & SMS, then Flows. You can also press Turn on your first flow on the Home checklist.

   On screenEmail & SMS › Flows

2. Press Create flow. You land on a page of ready-made flows. At the top is a strip, Recommended flows for your brand. Below it, flows are grouped under headings such as Prevent lost sales, Nurture subscribers, Build customer loyalty and Update customers on their order status.

3. Use Search flows to narrow the list.

4. Click a card. A panel opens on the right with What it does (every step, top to bottom) and What it needs.

5. Read What it needs. It lists things like One email design or A list of contacts. Each one shows a tick or a dash. If something is missing, the panel says: Make the missing piece above first, then come back. The Use this flow button stays grey until you have it.

6. Press Use this flow. The panel says it plainly: It is created switched off. Nothing goes to anybody until you turn it on.

There are more than eighty flows. Most shops start with Welcome series or Abandoned cart.

Some cards say Your store doesn't send this yet. Your shop does not report the event that flow starts on, so there is no Use this flow button. You can still read the steps.

To start from nothing, press Build your own, name the flow, and press Create flow.

#Check the trigger

The trigger is what puts someone into the flow. A flow from the library arrives with its trigger already chosen. Once a flow has been saved with a trigger, it cannot be changed. The editor says why:

If you picked the wrong one, make a new flow. See "Choose a trigger and who gets in" for what you can still change.

#Point the emails at your designs

A flow does not hold its emails. Each email step points at a design, and your designs live under Templates in the sidebar (in Tools). One design can serve several flows.

1. In the flow editor, click an email step.

2. In the panel on the left, under Which design, choose a design. If you have none, the note says you must build one first.

3. Leave Subject line (optional) empty to use the design's own subject. Fill it in when the same design is sent twice in one flow.

4. Press Save in the top bar.

To change what an email says, open the design from Templates and edit it there.

#Switch it on

1. Press Update status in the top bar. If the flow is not ready, a box titled Not ready to go live lists what to fix. The usual one is Pick a trigger first.

2. A box asks Turn this flow on? It tells you that anyone this happens to from now on enters the flow. It does not go back over the past, so nobody who did it yesterday is enrolled.

3. Save any unsaved changes first. Turning it on runs the version that is stored, not the one on your screen.

4. Press Turn it on.

You get this message: On. Only things that happen from now on can put anybody into it.

The badge in the top bar changes to Live.

#Turn it off again

On the Flows list, open the ⋮ menu on the flow and press Turn off. Inside the editor, use Update status, then Turn it off. On a flow's report page the same button reads Pause.

Nobody new enters. People already inside stay where they are and carry on when you turn it back on.

#If it didn't work

• The box lists problems. Every line is something to fix in the editor. Audit flow, at the bottom of the actions list, shows the same list at any time.
• "Your trial ended. Pick a plan to keep sending." Choose a plan under Settings, then Billing. Flows are part of every plan.
• "Your card didn't go through." Update the card under Settings, then Billing.
• "You've used your … emails this month." Your plan's monthly emails are used up. Move up a plan.
• "Turn the flow off to edit it." A live flow is read-only because people are standing inside it. Turn it off, change it, turn it back on.
• You turned it on and nobody entered. Flows do not look backwards. Only things that happen after you switch it on enrol anyone.
• People entered but no email left. Nothing can send until a sending domain is verified.
• "Your role cannot switch flows on or off." Ask an owner or admin on your team.