Automations overview
What an automation is, how the Automations page is laid out, what Paused and Live mean, and how Hailo keeps you from adding the same automation twice.
An automation is the whole run of a job in one list: what starts it (a lead lands, a proposal goes out, a couple books) and everything that follows. Send an email, wait four days, send another, tick a job off. Once it is Live, Hailo runs it for every couple who reaches the start, with nobody watching.
Nothing sends until you press Go live. Everything you add arrives switched off: a starter, a blank one, an automation brought across from the old editor.
Open the Automations page
- Click Templates in the sidebar.
- On the Automations tile ("The whole run of a job in one list, from inquiry to delivery."), click Browse.
There is one Automations page. It holds what you have built, the ready-made starters, and anything you built with the old editor.
Your automations
Each automation you have is a card:
| On the card | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Name and description | What you called it in the builder |
| Live or Paused | Whether it is running |
| Step count | How many things are in the run |
| Starts itself or Added by hand | Whether a trigger puts couples on it, or you do |
| "N couples on it" | How many couples are running it right now |
Click a card to open the builder. When you have none, the section explains what an automation is and points you at the starters below.
To build an empty one, click Build from scratch, name it, and click Create. You land in the builder with nothing on the canvas. See Build an automation.
Start from a ready-made one
Below your automations are the starters: automations that are already built and already worded. Five recommended ones are on screen; click Show all 11 starters for the rest, grouped by when they fire (Booking the job, Planning the wedding, Wedding day & production, Delivery & growth, Staying in touch).
Each card shows the name, a one-line description and + Add it. Click it and Hailo builds the automation, switched off, then opens it so you can read the emails before turning it on. Every starter is listed in Starter automations.
The duplicate guard
A starter you already have reads Added · open it → instead, and opens the copy you have. Two identical Live automations would send every email twice.
Built with the old editor
If you built automations before the current builder existed, they are in a strip at the bottom of the page. Live ones are listed; switched-off ones are behind a line saying how many.
The old editor stores a canvas and nothing else, so it has no list view. Click Open in the new builder to bring one across: Hailo rebuilds the same chain as an automation with both views, and switches the old copy off in the same move so nothing sends twice. The new copy arrives switched off. Afterwards the row reads Open the new copy.
Old editor still opens the original if you want to look at it. Switch off stops a live one without moving it.
Paused and Live
| State | What happens |
|---|---|
| Paused | Saved, editable, never runs. Safe to leave half-built |
| Live | Runs for every couple who reaches the start from now on. It does not go back and run for people who passed that point earlier |
Press Go live at the top right of the builder to start it, Pause to stop it. Pausing leaves couples already on it with the plan they have.
The email warning
If a Live automation sends email and no mailbox is connected, a banner appears at the top of the page: "A live automation wants to send email, but no email account is connected." Click Connect in Settings → and connect Gmail or a custom mailbox. Until then those sends fail and nothing arrives.
Delete an automation
Open it, click the ⋯ menu at the top right, and click Delete automation. Couples already on it keep their plan. Their copy is theirs, and deleting what you built does not reach it.