Available with the following plans, except where noted:
With Copper's email automations, you can effortlessly guide current and potential customers through the stages of your deal and project pipelines.
The number of steps you can include in your automation depends on your Copper plan:
Professional customers can create automations that send a single email
Business customers can create automations that send up to 3 emails
You can easily create an automation using one of our pre-configured options in the gallery:
By default, only Admins and Account Owners can manage email automations. However, individual Users can be granted permission.
This article will walk you through creating email automations associated with a pipeline, including:
Overview of pipeline email automations
👉 First, be sure you've reviewed the feature overview to understand the use cases and limitations.
With pipeline email automations, you can:
Reduce manual work and free up your time for higher-value tasks
Deliver timely, personalized follow-ups to close deals faster and more effectively
Build stronger customer relationships through consistent, relevant communication
Enforce consistent messaging and timing to improve efficiency and predictability
Automated pipeline emails are sent to the primary contact on the pipeline record. If a pipeline record does not have a primary contact, the email(s) will not be sent, and you will see a message in the Errors tab of the details panel.
Ok, ready to go? Great, let’s get started! Navigate to Automations > Email Automation. You’ll select from one of the pre-built options in the gallery and then set some fields to create your email automation.
Automating email(s) based on pipeline stage
💡 Good to know
You can create one email automation per pipeline stage.
If a pipeline stage already has an email automation, you cannot create a second one. This ensures you don't send conflicting communications.
The automated emails will only be sent for pipeline records that move into the stage after the automation is saved and activated.
Pipeline records that are currently in the selected stage will not receive the automated emails. Additionally, only open pipeline records can enter an email automation based on a pipeline stage.
The automated emails will only be sent when a pipeline record moves into the stage for the first time.
If a Pipeline record moves back to a stage it was previously in and had already received automated email(s) for, the record will not receive those same automated email(s) again.
Follow these steps to create the automation:
Give your automation a unique Name
If you plan to create multiple automations, you’ll want to edit the pre-filled Name we’ve populated.Give your email automation a Description
Select the pipeline
Once you've selected a pipeline, you'll be able to select the stage
Select which user the email should be sent from
You may select Pipeline Record Owner or a specific user.
If you select Pipeline Record Owner and a particular pipeline record does not have an owner, the email(s) will be sent from the user who is the Owner of the contact record for the pipeline's primary contact.
Note the Sending Schedule
Automated emails will only be sent during these hours, which will adhere to the Company time zone set in Settings > Workflow Automation
Select the email template you would like to send or create a new one
Select a waiting period
We've set a period of 3 days for Step 1, but you can change it. This is how long Copper waits after sending an email. For a single email, it’s the time Copper waits to see if the activity defined in 'Stop sending if' occurs. In a multi-step series, it’s the delay before Copper sends the next email.
Business plan only: Add step(s)
To add a step, click Send Email
You can choose to send up to 3 emails as part of the automation
You can only add or delete steps when creating an automation. Once the automation is saved and active, you cannot add or delete steps.For each individual step, you can choose:
A different email template
A different waiting period
Select which 'Stop sending if' activity qualifies as a ‘successful’ exit from the automation
Pipeline records that meet this criteria will appear in the Replied section of the automation details panel, while those who don’t remain in the Sent section when the automation ends.
Click Save & Activate.
Automated emails will only be sent for records moved into the stage after the automation is saved. When a record moves into the stage, the automated email will be sent within the hour.
The stop sending if criterion applies to the entire automation. Contacts who meet this criterion appear in the Replied section of the automation details panel, while those who don’t remain in the Sent section when the automation ends.
Automating email(s) based on pipeline closed status
💡 Good to know
You can create one email automation per pipeline per status.
If a closed status for the selected pipeline already has an email automation, you cannot create a second one. This ensures you don't send conflicting communications.
The automated emails will only be sent for pipeline records that are closed after the automation is saved and activated.
Pipeline records that are already closed will not receive the automated emails. Additionally, only closed pipeline records can enter an email automation based on a pipeline status. You cannot create an email automation for the status of New. Instead, create an email automation for the stage in which your new records are created.
The automated emails will only be sent when a pipeline record is closed for the first time.
If a pipeline record is closed and receives the automated email(s), then is reopened, then is closed again, automated email(s) will not fire again.
For revenue pipelines, the closed statuses are Lost, Abandoned, and Won. For non-revenue pipelines, the closed statuses are Won't Do, On Hold, and Done.
Follow these steps to create the automation:
Give your automation a unique Name
If you plan to create multiple automations, you’ll want to edit the pre-filled Name we’ve populated.Give your email automation a Description
Select the pipeline
Once you've selected a pipeline, you'll be able to select the stage
Select which user the email should be sent from
You may select Pipeline Record Owner or a specific user.
If you select Pipeline Record Owner and a particular pipeline record does not have an owner, the email(s) will be sent from the user who is the Owner of the contact record for the pipeline's primary contact.
Note the Sending Schedule
Automated emails will only be sent during these hours, which will adhere to the Company time zone set in Settings > Workflow Automation
Select the email template you would like to send or create a new one
Select a waiting period
We've set a period of 3 days for Step 1, but you can change it. This is how long Copper waits after sending an email. For a single email, it’s the time Copper waits to see if the activity defined in 'Stop sending if' occurs. In a multi-step series, it’s the delay before Copper sends the next email.
Business plan only: Add step(s)
To add a step, click Send Email
You can choose to send up to 3 emails as part of the automation
You can only add or delete steps when creating an automation. Once the automation is saved and active, you cannot add or delete steps.For each individual step, you can choose:
A different email template
A different waiting period
Select which 'Stop sending if' activity qualifies as a ‘successful’ exit from the automation
Pipeline records that meet this criteria will appear in the Replied section of the automation details panel, while those who don’t remain in the Sent section when the automation ends.
Click Save & Activate.
Automated emails will only be sent for records that are closed after the automation is saved. When a record is closed, the automated email will be sent within the hour.
The stop sending if criterion applies to the entire automation. Contacts who meet this criterion appear in the Replied section of the automation details panel, while those who don’t remain in the Sent section when the automation ends.
How a pipeline looks to users when there are email automation(s)
To ensure all users know that moving a pipeline record will trigger an email automation, we've placed visual indicators and messaging in all pipeline views.
On the pipeline board view
If there is an email automation associated with a pipeline stage, users will see:
A lightning bolt ⚡ next to the stage in the board view
A gold highlight on the stage when dragging a card into the stage
If there is an email automation associated with a pipeline closed status, users will see a message on the closed modal.
On the pipeline list view and record detail view
In these views, changing the stage or status is done via a dropdown menu. If there is an email automation associated with a pipeline stage or status, users will see a lightning bolt ⚡.
FAQs
What happens if the primary contact is changed?
If the primary contact on an opportunity/item changes, automated emails will go to the new primary contact moving forward. Previously sent emails will not be resent to the new primary contact.
What happens if an opportunity/item moves back into a stage?
The automated email(s) will not be resent. If an opportunity/item has already entered the automation, it cannot be reentered.
What happens if a person is a primary contact on multiple opportunities in the same pipeline?
If those opportunities move into the stage simultaneously, yes it’s possible that person gets multiple separate emails simultaneously.
How do I automate an email based on how long an opportunity/item has been in a stage?
Business plan customers can create a series of emails and set the “wait period” after step 1 to their desired “days in stage” reminder
Professional plan customers can create a separate stage to capture this part of your process and create an email automation for this stage
If an opportunity/item jumps from stage 1 to stage 3, and stage 2 has an email automation, will those emails fire?
No, the opportunity/item must land in the given stage for the email automation to fire.
What happens if an opportunity/item moves into a different stage before the rest of the series has been completed?
Subsequent emails (including retries and/or additional steps) will not continue to send. An opportunity/item moving into a different stage exits that opportunity/item from the automation.
Have a question? Contact our Customer Success Team using the in-app chat 💬
Have a suggestion? Check out the Ideas board in our Community 👥