Retention automation: triggers that fire on behavior

Retention automation isn't more emails; it's a map of triggers that fire on what a customer does. First order starts a welcome track, a missed reorder flags at-risk, high spend earns a VIP invite. Design the logic here; the email flows live in marketing.

The best retention runs itself: the customer's behavior pulls the right lever automatically. A first order kicks off a welcome track, the end of a usage cycle sends a replenishment nudge, an engagement drop raises an at-risk flag, crossing a spend threshold triggers a VIP invite. This note is where you design that trigger logic, the event, condition, action and cooldown, so it fires reliably and never spams. AI can draft the whole map from your product and order data.

Good retention automation isn't sending more; it's a map of triggers where the customer's behavior pulls the lever.

The design work is the logic, not the copy. For each trigger you decide the event that fires it, the condition that qualifies, the action it takes, and the cooldown that stops it repeating.

This note owns that map. The email flows themselves live in email-flows and segmentation under marketing; here you decide what should fire and when.

What you'll learn

List the moments worth reacting to
Write each trigger as event -> condition -> action -> cooldown
Time the reorder nudge to your real cycle
Hand the map to the flow builder