Most teams start automation with what seems important — complex, branching chains with dozens of conditions. They launch them two months later, look at the numbers, and can't tell what's working and what isn't. Meanwhile, simple scenarios that deliver results in a week stay unconfigured.
Launch order matters more than scenario complexity. Let's break down where to start and which mistakes to avoid.
Scenario 1. The post-registration email
Welcome emails consistently show open rates above 50% — this is confirmed by email marketing research from recent years. The reason is simple: the person just left their email and is expecting a response. After 24 hours, that moment is gone.
A common mistake. The welcome email is written like a corporate introduction: company history, values, team. What the user actually needs is one thing: what they got and what to do next.
What works. One email, one call to action: registration confirmation, the product's core value, a specific next step. It all fits on one screen.
Scenario 2. Abandoned cart
Around 70% of carts are abandoned without completing the purchase — a figure that's stable and barely changes year to year. Some of these come back through an email, which makes this the fastest-paying-off scenario for e-commerce.
A common mistake. One email sent 24 hours after the cart was abandoned. By then, the user has either already bought from a competitor or forgotten about the product.
What works. A chain of three emails:
Timing | Content | |
|---|---|---|
1 | After 1-3 hours | A reminder about the product |
2 | After 24 hours | A reminder + reviews or ratings |
3 | After 48-72 hours | A reminder + an incentive to purchase |
The first email matters most. It should look like a personal reminder: the product with a photo, name, price, one button. No promotions or marketing copy.
Scenario 3. Onboarding new customers
A welcome email introduces the product. Onboarding leads the user to their first result — the moment they understand the value and won't churn.
A common mistake. One long email covering every product feature. The user doesn't read it — it's too much information at once.
What works. A chain of short emails, each closing out one specific step:
- Day 1: what to do right now
- Day 3: the key feature used most often
- Day 7: an advanced scenario or another user's case study
- Day 14: feedback — what's unclear, what's getting in the way
The day-14 email often gets skipped. That's a mistake: replies to it give more insight into onboarding than any analytics tool.
Scenario 4. Reactivation
Subscribers who haven't opened an email in 60-90 days lower your domain's reputation. Mail providers see that emails aren't being opened and start sending your campaign to spam even for active users.
A common mistake. A reactivation email with the subject line "We miss you" and a big discount. That's not reactivation, that's a promo. A user who hasn't opened an email in three months won't come back for a discount.
What works. A direct question: "Is this topic still relevant to you?" with two buttons — yes and no. Those who click "yes" stay. Those who don't respond to a second email a week later get unsubscribed automatically. A clean list beats a large one.
Scenario 5. Behavioral triggers
Behavioral triggers are emails sent in response to a specific user action: downloaded a resource, viewed a page multiple times, used a feature for the first time.
These are set up last, because they require integration with the website or CRM and an understanding of how users behave inside the product. Without that foundation, behavioral triggers behave unpredictably.
A common mistake. Starting automation with behavioral triggers because they seem the smartest. As a result, a month gets spent on setup while the welcome email still isn't even sending.
Launch order
Priority | Scenario | Why it comes first |
|---|---|---|
1 | Welcome email | Highest open rate, takes a day to set up |
2 | Abandoned cart | Fast payoff for e-commerce |
3 | Onboarding | Reduces early churn |
4 | Reactivation | Protects list deliverability |
5 | Behavioral triggers | Require mature infrastructure |
How Letteros helps with automation
Automation works better when every email in the chain looks equally professional — from the welcome email to the reactivation one. In Letteros, trigger email templates are built in the editor: brand style, responsive layout, correct display in Outlook.
If you need a ready-made system built for your brand, the Letteros team will design a master template with a consistent style for the whole chain. Welcome emails, onboarding, and reactivation will feel like a single communication rather than a set of unrelated emails.
Sender: sending campaigns right from the builder
The standard workflow looks like this: you build the email in the editor, export the HTML, upload it to a separate sending service, configure the audience there, and only then send it. Every hop between tools is an extra step and an extra point where something can go wrong.
Letteros Sender removes that gap. Building the email, configuring the audience, sending, and analytics — all in one interface. You build the email in the editor, pick the list segment right there, send it, and watch open and click stats without switching between tabs.
For teams just starting out with automation, this matters even more: fewer tools means fewer settings, fewer things to keep in sync. The first scenario — a welcome email or reactivation — can be launched the same day, with no third-party services needed.
Conclusion
Email automation doesn't start with complex scenarios. It starts with one email sent at the right moment. A welcome email, an abandoned-cart chain, reactivation — each of these scenarios delivers a measurable result within the very first week after launch.
The key is not to put off something simple in pursuit of something perfect. Launch one scenario, confirm it works, and move on to the next.