How to Create an Automation in ActiveCampaign

Quick summary

ActiveCampaign's automation builder lets you create a triggered email workflow that sends a welcome email, applies wait conditions, and tags contacts based on behavior — all without writing code. This step-by-step walkthrough covers how to set up a full automation sequence from scratch, including If/Else branching and contact tagging.

Steps

1. Click Automations on the left menu to open the automations section.
2. Click Create an automation to start a new workflow.
3. Select Start from Scratch then click Continue.
4. Select a trigger to define what starts the automation.
5. Click the Send an email option from the Add a new action modal.
6. Provide a name for the email.
7. Choose between Start with a new template or Start with a past campaign.
8. Customise your welcome email then click Next.
9. Click Finish to confirm the email action.
10. Click Conditions and Workflow to add logic steps.
11. Click Wait to insert a wait step into the workflow.
12. Select Wait until specific conditions are met to define the wait condition.
13. After setting your condition, click Save.
14. Click the If/Else option to add a conditional branch.
15. Click Save to confirm the If/Else condition.
16. Navigate to Contacts to continue building the workflow paths.
17. Under the Yes path, add an action to Add tag.
18. Tag contacts as Clicked CTA link and click Save — repeat the same for the No path.
19. Your active automation is now live and will deliver a welcome email and opt-in incentive immediately after someone joins your list.