Automations allow you to quickly and easily stay in constant communication with customers by either email, SMS or both. This guide contains answers to frequently asked questions around Automations

Q: When does the expiry of rewards sent in Automations happen? Is it days after the email has been sent or days after the email has been opened?

A. All email discount expiry is based on the sent date.

Q. Is there a way to offer customers multiple promo codes at one time in an automation?

A. It is not recommended to add multiple promo codes in a single email. If you wish to send out multiple, please create a custom automation with multiple emails and add a separate discount to each email.

Q. What information does the loyalty block open for customers who click on this in an email?

A. The Loyalty button is available for Automations as a drag-and-drop block. This button works as a check rewards button that leads to the loyalty widget.

Q. Is there an email prompt to remind customers that their rewards are about to expire?

A. Generally customers do not receive an email Automation reminding them to use their rewards before they expire. However, certain Automations in Marsello do contain an email step reminding customers that their code expires in "x" days. this feature. These Automations include Say Happy Birthday.

Q. When a discount is sent via email, does the customer need to claim this before the coupon is generated and will appear under their profile? Or can they claim and redeem email discounts at POS?

A. The customer needs to claim the discount on their email for it to generate

Q. Who does the Shop Now button work for?

A. The Shop Now button will work for those merchants who have an eCommerce site connected to Marsello. Please note the Shop Now button is hardcoded to link the customer to the merchant's store site.

Q. Is it possible to a upload a PDF file with multiple images into my automation and have each image on the file have its own product link?

A. Currently, the image block and the product block support just one link per image. You can look at adding multiple image blocks and formats with the columns feature. From here you can add a link to each image. Please note that having an email predominately containing images does increase the likelihood of the email going to spam.

Q. Does the footer mailing address need to be the mailing address or my store's physical location? My store's mailing address is a PO Box and the in-store location is different.

A. P.O. Boxes are fine to use for the footer mailing address as long as your physical location is accessible on your website.

Q. Is it possible to use merge tags in my automation's subject line?

A. Yes, it is possible to add merge tags into your automation's subject line. To access the merge tags, all you'll need to do is double-click in an existing text box in the automation body and a secondary email editor will appear with a drop-down menu containing the merge tags. Select the merge tag you are after and copy and paste this into the subject line.

Q. What is the default expiration for discount codes in automation?

A. By default the expiration date of discount codes in automation is set to 30 days.

Q. I've updated my logo in my Marsello marketing settings, and now my logo isn't appearing in my automated emails flows.

A. If your logo has stopped appearing in your Automations, please check the following settings:

Q. Is it possible to create a custom automation using a product tag?

A. Yes, it is possible to create a custom automation using a product tag. First, you will need to create a segment of customers who have purchased items from a particular category, then make automation that triggers when customers enter that segment.

Q. Can I exclude products/collections from being recommended via the Product Recommendations block if they are under a certain stock count?

A. Currently, there isn't a feature that will exclude specific products/collections from being recommended in the Product Recommendation block. If you have an out-of-stock collection that will need to be excluded, please contact our support team for further assistance.

Q. I need to disable one of my automation, however, there are still several customers in the flow. Will those customers receive the remaining messages in the flow once I disable the automation?

A. Once an Automation is disabled, all customers exit the flow immediately without any further messages from this particular flow.

Q. Will customers receive a notification email if there is a manual update on their account (points, rewards, tier status)?

A. If the customer's account has a manual update in terms of rewards or VIP tier status), they will not receive automation indicating a change has been made through the app admin.

Please note if there is a manual points adjustment on a customer's account, you do have the option to send an email to the customer indicating this change has been made.

Q. If I run a bulk points import via the CSV importer and have the Earned Points Automation enabled, will an email be sent to all customers automatically?

A. No, the bulk points import will not trigger the automation to send. However, if you would like this email to be sent, please reach out to our support team and they will be able to assist you further.

Q. I'd like to send out a custom automation offering my customers a visit challenge. Ideally, I'd like to reward customers after their third purchase in-store during the week. can I set up a custom automation to run this?

A. Although you can send out custom automation to customers announcing the visit challenge, you would not be able to track visits or purchases for the week through this automation. Keeping track of visits and purchases would need to be done manually and a separate campaign or automation would need to be set up to send a reward to these customers. However, if this is a feature that would benefit your store, please reach out to our support team and they will be able to submit a feature request on your behalf.

Q. When will a customer exit the automation?

A. Customers exit the automation when a customer make a purchase or when they receive all the emails within the flow.

Q. If a customer is subscribed to emails and is currently in an automated flow, then unsubscribes from email marketing after receiving the first email, would they immediately exit the flow?

A. If a customer unsubscribes from email marketing while in an automated flow, they will not receive any further emails. Please note that if you have a delay step in the flow, the customer may not exit the flow until just before the next email is sent when the flow checks to see if the customer still accepts marketing.

Q. I've created a custom segment with the trigger "when an order is completed" for my custom automation. Will customers re-enter the segment every time they place an order and meet the audience conditions?

A. Customers will continue to re-enter the custom automation flow when the trigger is set to "when an order is completed".

Q. If an automation is paused will the delay steps in the automation also pause? For example, if I pause the automation on day 2 and the delay is 5 days will the automation continue 3 days after the automation is re-enabled?

A. The delay does not get paused when automation is paused. The delay when it gets initially set sets the date/time when the workflow, the customer will continue through the flow regardless of if it gets paused.

Q. Can we manually un-enroll a customer from an Automation?

A. Currently, there isn't a way to manually un-enroll a customer from a specific Automation. You can unsubscribe the customer from email marketing, however, this affects all marketing.

Q. If I use a segment as part of an automation trigger from the automation library, will it be sent to all customers historically and future?

A. No, triggers in the automation library are "going forward" triggers meaning they will only be sent to customers when they meet the trigger in the future. If the trigger, such as ‘entered a segment’, the merchant has the choice (existing functionality) to choose if past customers can enter as well, however by default it’s only customers going forward.

Q. How do customers enter the welcome automation?

A. The welcome automation uses the “Customer created at” as the trigger. Customers enter this flow when they’ve been created in Marsello. Customers can be created via sign-up form, creating a store account, and making a purchase online or in-store. The most common use case for this automation is as a newsletter signup & haven’t made a purchase.

To ensure this automation is only sent to customers who haven’t made a purchase, there is a 1 hour delay in sending by default. This delay is present to check that there are no orders associated with this customer. If you prefer to provide customers with an instant discount code for signing up, it is recommended to create a blanket discount code in your integration and include that code on the successful submission page of the form. The benefit of this is that the customer is already on your online store and can easily use that code on their next sale within that session.

Please note that if a customer creates an account through the widget and then signs up via the popup form using the same email, the system will not add the customer to the welcome automation a second time.

Q. If an existing POS customer signs up online for an online account, will they receive the welcome newsletter customer custom automation?

A. No, only brand-new customers will receive the welcome automation If you would like to provide existing customers with a welcome automation, it is recommended to create a custom segment for your sign-up form using the condition "when the customer completes the form" and create custom automation which uses that segment as the trigger.

Q. I've designed my welcome automation to have a one-minute delay before emailing customers. Is it expected behavior for some customers to receive this automation after an hour?

A. Yes, this is possible as it can take up to 15 minutes for the customer to sync across into the segment. The system also checks every 6 hours for new customers and sends them the automation so it would depend on where in that 6-hour cycle the customer synced across.

Q. I have two automations enabled for new customers (one welcome and one custom) and have noticed that most customers are receiving one automation and not both.

A. Please confirm the sending times for both automations to be sure they are not set to send at the same time. Marsello has safety measures in place that prevent more than one email from going to an email address within an hour. Make sure the sending times for the different automations are at least one hour apart.

Q. What does the welcome automation trigger " when a customer signs up" mean?

A. This automation is triggered when a customer is created in Marsello. This could be through a form, pos, online store email footer, creating an account etc. This flow isn’t exclusive to the Marsello sign-up form.

Q. Is there any way to set the Welcome Newsletter automation to only send to those new sign-ups who signed up online and not through the POS?

A. Currently, there isn't a way to automatically target those customers who have signed up at one location and not the other. However, you create a custom segment to locate those customers who signed up online vs. POS and change the trigger of the automation to this segment.

Q. What is the expiry time set on the default discount code within the Welcome Newsletter Automation?

A. The expiry time set on the default discount code for Welcome Newsletter Automation is 30 days. If the retailer wishes to edit this, they can follow the steps for updating the expiry in the discount block here

Q. If a retailer has the welcome automation switched on and not the thank first-time customers automation and a customer signs up then immediately places an order, can this also cause the customer to bypass the welcome automation?

A. Yes, it is recommended to update the exit conditions of the automation to "when the customer completes all steps" as opposed to "when the customer places and order and completes all steps".

Q. I have enabled the welcome automation and have it set to reward all new signups/customers 100 points as the first delay. What happens to those new customers who create an account at checkout and do not accept marketing? Will they still receive these points?

A. No, new customers who do not accept marketing will not receive points. However, if you would like to ensure all new customers receive sign-up points, you can enable the create an account earn option under loyalty settings. This feature automatically awards all customers regardless of marketing status points upon account creation,

Q. Can you set the trigger for the Say Happy Birthday Automation to send on the customer’s birthday?

A. Yes, if you set the trigger to 0 days, the email flows will send on the customer’s birthday.

Q. Does the Say Happy Birthday automation send to customers annually?

A. Yes, the Say Happy Birthday automation renews each year.

Q. What integrations is the Abandoned Cart Automation available on?

A. The Abandoned Cart Automation is available for Shopify eCommerce merchants.

Q. Can the Abandoned Cart Automation also look for "browser abandonment" and send customers an email relating to the product they were looking at?

A. Currently, the Abandoned Cart Automation sends out emails for those carts that have reached the checkout page and has recorded the customer's email and physical mailing address. The Automation is not able to look for browser abandonment. However, if this is a feature you would like to see, please reach out to our support team and they will be able to submit a feature request on your behalf.

Q. Is it possible to test the abandoned cart automation without enabling the automation?

A. The best way to test the abandoned cart Automation is to enable and to go through the abandoned cart process. You will need to add items to a cart on your eCommerce store and be sure to leave both your email address and physical address at checkout before abandoning the cart. This will ensure you enter the Automation's flow.

Q. If a customer falls into an abandon cart automation, and then purchases in-store, do they exit the flow?

A. Yes, if a customer who receives an abandoned cart automation completes their cart instore they will exit the flow.

Q. Are loyalty Automations considered marketing or transactional emails?

A. The first communication step, email or SMS is considered to be transactional, any following steps are considered marketing.

Q. Do customers get notifications when rewards are going to expire?

A. Customers are not notified when rewards are going to expire. Customers are notified when points are about to expire provided the points expiry automation is enabled. However, if you are interested in seeing a rewards expiry automation, please reach out to our support team and they will be able to put through a feature request for you.

Q. The win-back lapsed customers automation showcases "top sellers". How are these items selected?

A. The product recommendation algorithm selects the products that appear in the win-back lapsed customers flow. Currently, there isn't a way to personally choose the dynamic content that pulls through. However, you can edit the text from "Top Sellers" to something like "We think you'll like these!"

Alternatively, if you'd prefer to personally choose the products recommended in this flow, you can remove the product recommendation block and replace it with individual product blocks. please note that if you choose to do this, all customers will receive the same product recommendation.

Q. Does the win-back flow look for layby orders that may be in the system but not complete prior to adding customers back into the flow?

A. The win-back flow is based on the last closed transaction. This means that any layaway, layby or on-account orders won't trigger the flow as they are not counted as "closed".

Q. I've created a segment of customers for my custom automation and used a custom tag. What happens if a customer in this segment unsubscribes from email marketing? Will they automatically exit the segment?

A. Any customer who unsubscribes from marketing while in a custom segment will remain in the segment, however, they will not longer be able to receive marketing messages.

Q. How long does it take for an automated email to send once the customer enters the segment?

A. Once the customer enters the segment for the custom automation, the email will send right away unless a delay step has been added.