Manage your marketing automations

Marketing automations are pre-programmed workflows in your Marketing Suite that help you engage clients and manage follow-ups without manual effort. Instead of reaching out to clients one by one, you set up a flow that runs automatically when specific conditions are met.

For example, a new lead fills out your sign-up form (trigger), gets a welcome email three minutes later (step 1), then an SMS two days later inviting them to book a class (step 2). If they book before step 2 fires, they exit the automation automatically (exit criteria). All of this runs without any action from you.

Your Marketing Suite includes a library of pre-built marketing automations written by marketing professionals, proven across thousands of successful studio owners, and personalized for your business using AI. You can get started in minutes without building anything from scratch. No copywriting, no design, and no scheduling required.

Every automation is made up of the following parts:

• Trigger – The event or condition that starts the automation. For example, a client books a service, a lead is created, or a session pass is nearing expiration. Each automation has one trigger.
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• Steps – The actions that occur after the trigger fires, such as sending an email, delivering an SMS, or creating a staff task. You can add multiple steps and include time delays.
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• Audience filters – Optional conditions that narrow who enters the automation. For example, limit a flow to clients in a specific client group or clients with no upcoming bookings.
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• Exit criteria – Optional conditions that remove clients from the flow early when it's no longer relevant.

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Before you begin

Before creating automations, make sure the following are in place:

• Marketing Suite subscription – Automations require an active Marketing Suite subscription. For more information, see Manage your Marketing Suite subscription.
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• Message Center subscription – Sending SMS steps in automations requires an active Message Center subscription with a dedicated phone number assigned to your account. For more information, see Manage your Message Center subscription.
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How to use marketing automations effectively

For marketing campaigns

Automations take the manual effort out of client communications, allowing your campaigns to run in the background while you focus on your business. Here are some ways you can use them:

• Reconnect with inactive clients by sending a personalized offer after 30 days with no visits.
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• Recover lost revenue by reminding clients to complete abandoned checkouts.
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• Nurture new leads as soon as they enter your system with a welcome email and booking invitation.
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• Reward loyal clients with a special offer after they reach their 10th class.
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• Promote new classes or events as soon as they're added to your schedule by sending a message to your client list.
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With other WellnessLiving features

Automations become more powerful when combined with other WellnessLiving features:

• Purchase options – Prompt clients to repurchase when their visits are running low, helping maintain consistent revenue.
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• Client groups – Send tailored messages to specific segments, such as VIP members or new clients, when they're added to a group.
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• Rewards – Notify clients when they've earned enough points to redeem an offer and encourage them to book again.
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• Lead management – Automatically assign follow-up tasks to staff as leads move through your pipeline so no one is missed.
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• Reviews – Send a review request after a client attends a service, then follow up with a thank-you message.
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Create an automation

You can create an automation from scratch or start with a pre-built automation designed for common scenarios. Pre-built automations come with a trigger, steps, templates, and settings already configured. You can personalize the content before activating.

To create an automation:

1. Open the App Drawer then click View All > Marketing Suite.
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2. Click Create Automation.
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3. Choose how you want to start:

   • Pre-built automations – Start with a ready-made automation for common scenarios. Select one from the list, review and personalize the content, then activate.

   • Start from scratch – Build a custom automation by choosing your own trigger and adding your own steps.
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4. If you selected Pre-built automations:

   1. Select a pre-built automation from the list.

   2. Enter the Automation name and complete the remaining fields.

   3. Click Continue.
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5. On the Create automation page:

   • On the left side of the screen, update the Automation name and Description as needed.
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   • In the center of the screen, build your automation flow:

     • To configure the trigger, click it in the flow to open its settings panel on the right side of the screen. Set your trigger options, then add any audience filters or exit criteria you need.

     • To add a step, click Add, then select the type of step you want to add.

     • To edit or remove a step, click Action, then click Edit or Delete.
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6. When you're done, click one of the following:

   • Save – Saves the automation as a draft. It won't run until you activate it.

   • Save & Activate – Saves and activates the automation immediately. Clients and leads who meet the trigger conditions will begin entering the flow. For some triggers, a popup may appear if existing clients already meet the trigger conditions. See the trigger descriptions below for details.
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Pre-built automations

Pre-built automations are written by marketing professionals who specialize in fitness and wellness businesses. They're proven across thousands of successful owners and personalized for your business using AI. You can activate one in minutes with no copywriting, no design, and no scheduling required.

Each one comes with a trigger, a sequence of email and SMS steps, pre-written templates, and recommended audience filters and exit criteria. You can personalize the content before activating.

Manage your automations

To manage your automations:

1. Open the App Drawer then click View All > Marketing Suite > Automations.
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2. To find a specific automation, use the search bar to search by name, or use the filter tabs.
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3. Click Action next to an automation and select an option from the table below.

View automation recipients

To view automation recipients:

1. Open the App Drawer then click View All > Marketing Suite > Automations.
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2. Click the name of the automation you want to review.
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3. Click the Recipients tab.
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4. Use the date filter to narrow the results to a specific time period.
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5. The summary cards at the top of the page show how the automation is performing. Click a summary card to filter the recipient list to that status:

   • Started – The total number of recipients who have entered the flow, including those currently in progress, finished, exited, and excluded.

   • In progress – Recipients currently working through the flow. A recipient can only have one active entry at a time. If the trigger fires again before they finish, they won't re-enter until their current run is complete.

   • Finished – Recipients who have completed every step in the flow.

   • Exited – Recipients who were removed from the flow early after meeting the exit criteria.

   • Excluded – Recipients who were manually removed by a staff member.

6. The recipient list shows each person's name, status, current step, lead stage, and the date they entered the flow. A client can appear more than once if the trigger fired on separate occasions. For example, a New class scheduled automation creates a new entry each time a qualifying class is added. The start date distinguishes between entries. Click a client's name to open their profile.

The Current Step column shows where each recipient is in the flow. Steps are numbered starting from Step 1 (the trigger isn't counted):

• Waiting [duration] – The recipient is waiting before the next step fires. If the delay is changed while the automation is active, this column shows the updated duration for all recipients, including those already in progress.
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• Email – [subject line] – The recipient is on an email step. The subject line identifies which email.
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• Task – [task name] – The recipient is on a task step. The task name identifies which one.
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• SMS – The recipient is on an SMS step. Hover over the step to see the message text.
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• Push notification – The recipient is on a push notification step. Hover over the step to see the message text.
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• Finished automation – The recipient has completed all steps.

The Lead Stage column shows each recipient's current stage. This reflects the client's current stage from their profile, not their stage when they entered the automation, and refreshes when you reload the page.

You can sort the list by Start date, Current Step, Status, or Lead Stage. Status sorts in the same order as the summary cards above the table. Lead Stage sorts in your lead pipeline order. Neither sorts alphabetically.

Manually enroll a client or client group in an automation

You can manually add an individual client, lead, or client group to an automation that uses the Lead Created or Client Hasn't Visited trigger, even if they don't meet the trigger conditions. This is useful when you want to re-enroll a client who previously exited a flow, include a specific client in a targeted campaign, or add someone who narrowly missed qualifying for the trigger.

Key tips for manual enrollment

• Duplicate enrollment – If a client is already active in the automation, they'll be skipped and you'll see a notification. This applies whether you're enrolling an individual client or a client group. A client can only have one active entry at a time.
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• Trigger and exit settings – Manual enrollment overrides the automation's enroll once setting, so you can add a client even if they've already gone through the automation and the trigger normally limits them to one enrollment. If a client has already finished or exited, the system displays a warning before you confirm. You can enroll them again or cancel. This applies to individual clients and to group members with a Finished or Exited status.
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• How variables populate – For manually enrolled clients, [DateAdded] reflects the date and time of manual enrollment. For automations using the Client Hasn't Visited trigger, [Delay] and [DurationDelay] calculate from the client's actual last visit date, or their profile creation date if they have no visit history.
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• Client groups are a snapshot – When you enroll a client group, WellnessLiving takes a snapshot of the group's membership at that moment. If the group's membership changes later, clients already enrolled aren't affected.

To manually enroll a client or client group in an automation:

1. Open the App Drawer then click View All > Marketing Suite > Automations.
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2. Click the name of the automation you want to enroll the client in.
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3. Click the Recipients tab.
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4. Click Add client(s) manually.
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5. In the Add to automation popup, select Individual client or lead or Client Group(s).
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6. Search for and select the client, lead, or client group you want to enroll.
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7. Click Add to automation.

The client enters the automation at the first step, the same as any client who enters through the trigger automatically. Exit criteria still apply. Manually enrolled clients are marked with an Added manually badge in the Recipients tab. Hover over the badge to see more detail.

Exclude a recipient from an automation

Excluding a recipient cancels their current progress and prevents any remaining steps from running. The exclusion applies to that specific entry only. If the A lead or client can only be enrolled once setting is enabled, they won't re-enter the flow even if the trigger fires again. If it's disabled, they can re-enter the next time the trigger fires. To prevent a client from entering the flow permanently, adjust the automation's audience filters instead.
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To exclude a recipient from an automation:

1. Open the App Drawer then click View All > Marketing Suite > Automations.
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2. Click the name of the automation.
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3. Click the Recipients tab.
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4. Find the client you want to exclude.
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5. Click Action next to the client and select Exclude from Flow.
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Automation triggers

Every automation starts with a trigger. When a client or lead meets the trigger conditions, they enter the flow and move through the steps you've set up. For the full list of available triggers and their settings, see Automation triggers.

Audience filters

Audience filters let you add extra conditions to a trigger to narrow down which clients enter the automation. For example, you could limit a "client hasn't visited" flow to clients with no upcoming bookings, so you don't message someone who already has a class on the schedule.

You can add multiple filters to a single trigger. Clients must meet all active filters to enter the flow.

Exit criteria

Exit criteria automatically remove a client from the flow when they complete a specific action, even if the flow isn't complete. This keeps your messaging relevant. For example, if a client makes a purchase after your first reminder, they'll exit the flow and won't receive follow-ups that no longer apply.

You can add multiple exit criteria to a single trigger. A client exits the flow as soon as they meet any one of them.

Filtering by event type

When filtering by event, you can select an event type as well as individual instances. Event types with no scheduled instances are still listed and selectable. Select an event type to include every instance of that event, including ones scheduled later. Select individual instances instead if you only want specific dates.

Where this applies:

• Automation triggers – Client canceled booking, Client no-show, Service attended, Service booked
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• Audience filters – Bookings
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• Exit criteria – Client attends a service, Client books a service
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Grouping services by status

When choosing Specific service(s) in the Bookings audience filter or the Client attends a service and Client books a service exit criteria, the service selector groups services by status, with Active listed first and Inactive second. Within each status, services are grouped by service type (appointments, assets, events, gym visits, packages, and so on).

The Inactive group only appears if a service was already selected in this automation and has since been deactivated. If none of your selected services have been deactivated, the Inactive group doesn't appear. This keeps the list focused on what matters for this automation, instead of showing every retired service in your account.

If a service you've already selected later becomes inactive, its chip displays a small icon marking it as inactive. Hover over the icon to see the tooltip Inactive.

Search filters the list while keeping the Active and Inactive grouping intact. Select all selects every visible service. If a search filter is active, this selects only the filtered results, not the full list. Clear all removes all selections.

Where this applies:

• Audience filters – Bookings

• Exit criteria – Client attends a service, Client books a service

Automation steps

Steps are the actions your automation takes after the trigger fires. You can add a maximum of 50 steps, including the trigger, delay, and all action steps, and arrange them in any order. Use time delays between steps to pace your communications and avoid overwhelming clients.

Need help with what to write? For Send email, Send SMS, and Send push steps, click Writing Assistant to describe what you want to say and generate content automatically. Writing Assistant is available with Marketing Suite Pro. For more information, see Generate content with the Writing Assistant.

Next steps

Once your automations are running, they work in the background so you can focus on your business. Pair them with templates and campaigns for a complete marketing approach.

• What's changed with your marketing automations?

• Manage your marketing campaigns

• Manage your marketing templates

• Marketing Suite Overview page