How to set up automations

What it actually is

An automation is a sentence: "when X happens, do Y". Nothing more.

• X is the trigger: something that happens in the academy, for example someone joined or someone bought a course.
• Y is the action: send an email, create a notification, add a tag.

You can also put a delay between them: "when someone joins, wait a day, then send an email".

You don't need to write any code. You choose from lists.

Where it is

Sidebar, Administration section → Automations. The address is /app/your-academy/admin/automations.

Only the admin and owner can see it. Trainers don't have it in their menu.

You're an admin but can't see Automations in the menu? The module is turned off. Turn it on in Settings, under "Features".

The easiest way: enable a ready-made template

1. Go to the Templates tab.
2. You will see 13 ready-made templates in four groups: Onboarding, Engagement, Completion and Retention. Each has a description of what it does.
3. Click Enable next to the one you want.
4. The template becomes a rule and moves to the Active rules tab. From that moment it runs.

To start with, "Welcome email" is usually enough. You don't need the "Enrollment confirmation" template for paid products, because the platform already sends a purchase confirmation and the buyer would get two emails.

Triggers

• New academy member: first contact, a welcome.
• Product enrollment: confirming an enrolment.
• Product purchase: a thank you after payment.
• Lesson completed: encouragement to do the next one.
• Upcoming event: a reminder before it starts.
• Inactive learner: winning back people who have stopped visiting.
• Certificate issued: congratulations.

Actions

• Send email: with your subject and text.
• Create notification: under the bell in the app, no email.
• Grant access: to a product or program, optionally for a limited time. Available in your own template.
• Add tag: a label on a person, for filtering later.
• Set lifecycle stage: for example active learner.

Changing the content of an enabled rule

1. The Active rules tab.
2. Click the pencil icon next to the rule.
3. You can change the name, description and delay and, depending on the action, the email subject and text or the tag.

The delay is given in minutes. Zero means immediately. The maximum is 10080 minutes, which is seven days. A day is 1440, a week is 10080.

A rule with the "Grant access" action can't be edited. You will see a message about this and can only change the name, description and delay.

Variables in text

In the email subject and text you can insert data from the trigger in double curly brackets. These work with every trigger:

• {{user_name}}: the name of the person the trigger is about, as shown in their academy profile,
• {{workspace_name}}: the name of your academy.

Some triggers add more:

• {{product_name}}: the product name, on enrolment, purchase, lesson completed, certificate issued and an event linked to a product,
• {{certificate_number}}: the certificate number, with the "Certificate issued" trigger,
• {{event_time}}: the start time, with the "Upcoming event" trigger,
• {{lesson_title}}: the lesson title, with the "Lesson completed" trigger,
• {{event_title}}: the event name, with the "Upcoming event" trigger,
• {{inactive_days}}: the number of days without activity, with the "Inactive learner" trigger.

A variable must be typed exactly like this, with two brackets on each side and no spaces inside. A variable with a typo, or one the trigger doesn't provide, won't break the email, but it leaves an empty gap where it was. Before you turn a rule on for everyone, check the email text on a separate account.

Your own template, when the ready-made ones don't fit

On the Templates tab, click New template. You build it from three blocks: trigger, delay and action. Then you give it a name and content.

Your templates appear at the top of the list with the label "Your template". Deleting a template doesn't turn off rules already created from it.

Turning off and deleting

• The switch next to a rule turns it off and on again. Its content and history stay.
• The bin deletes the rule permanently, together with its run history.

If you are only testing, use the switch. Deleting can't be undone.

How to check it's working

The Recent runs tab shows the last 50 runs, newest first. A coloured icon shows the status:

• green: it went through,
• yellow: waiting in the queue, not time yet or not processed yet,
• blue: running right now,
• red: failed after all attempts,
• grey: skipped.

A "retry 1/2/3" badge means the previous attempt failed and the system is trying again.

"I enabled it and nothing is happening"

This is the most common request, and it usually isn't a fault.

The queue runs every 15 minutes. Even with the delay set to zero, an email can go out a quarter of an hour later. That's normal; don't retry.

A rule reacts to what happens after it is enabled. People who joined yesterday won't get a welcome you enabled today. The exceptions are "Inactive learner" and "Upcoming event": on their first run they also pick up people who are already inactive and events already scheduled.

Inactivity has its own threshold. The "Learning reminder" template fires after 7 days without a visit, and your own inactivity rule after 30 days.

Testing on your own account? You are already a member of the academy, so the "New academy member" trigger won't fire for you. Test with a separate address.

A red icon, what now

The system tries three more times. The queue runs every quarter of an hour, so the retries happen roughly every 15 minutes. Only then does it give up.

The most common causes: the person is no longer a member of the academy, has no email address, or the rule has no tag or product set for it to grant access to.

If the same rule fails every time, turn it off with the switch so it doesn't clog the queue, and write to us.

When to write to us

• The same rule fails every time it runs.
• The "Recent runs" tab has been empty for several days, even though people are joining and buying.
• An email went to the wrong person or with the wrong content.

Write to support@cohorta.pl with the academy address, the rule name and the date from the run list.