Brevo Automation: Build Your First Workflow Step by Step

Short answer. A reliable Brevo automation starts with five decisions: who enters, what each contact receives, how long the workflow waits, what changes the path, and what makes the contact exit. Build those rules before designing the emails, test every route with controlled profiles, then activate the workflow gradually.

This tutorial builds a four-email welcome workflow in Brevo's new automation editor. The example includes a list-based trigger, fixed delays, a customer branch, a purchase exit condition, and prelaunch testing.

The scope is intentionally narrow. For domain authentication, contact architecture, forms, ecommerce events, SMS, transactional email, and account-wide reporting, use the complete Brevo setup tutorial.

Brevo can change interface labels as the editor evolves. The instructions below follow Brevo's current new automation editor overview, verified August 10, 2026.

The workflow you will build

Use this starting architecture for a prospect welcome sequence:

Subscription to the selected list
  -> Email 1: deliver the promised value immediately
  -> Wait 1 day
  -> Email 2: explain the brand and next best action
  -> Wait 2 days
  -> Customer-status check
       -> Customer: exit or move to a customer path
       -> Prospect: Email 3 with product or service proof
  -> Wait 3 days
  -> Email 4: address objections and present one clear CTA

This is a blueprint, not a universal cadence. A lead magnet, retail newsletter, B2B consultation request, and existing-customer subscription should not all receive the same content.

Before opening the builder, complete this one-page specification:

That document prevents the most expensive automation error: building attractive messages around undefined audience logic.

1. Open the new Brevo automation editor

In Brevo, go to Automations > Workflows, then click Create an automation. You can start from a predefined workflow or a blank one. Choose a blank canvas if your goal is to understand and control every rule. Note that Brevo does not label any screen "Workflow Builder": the drag-and-drop panel is simply the Builder section of the editor.

The editor opens on a top bar, a sidebar, and a canvas, and it organizes workflow elements into three groups:

• Triggers start the automation when a contact meets an event or condition.
• Actions send a message, update data, or perform another operation, such as Send an email or Update contact attribute.
• Rules add timing, logic, or routing. There are exactly four: Time delay, Conditional split, Percentage split, and Wait until an event happens.

Settings holds the audience rules (re-entry after exit, exit conditions, restart conditions) and Activity holds the statistics after testing or launch. Triggers can only sit in the first row, and at least one trigger is mandatory before the automation can be activated.

Brevo's trigger, action, and rule reference is useful when an element shown in a legacy tutorial is no longer available under the same name.

2. Configure the welcome trigger

Open the Triggers tab and add Contact added to list, then select the exact list that receives confirmed newsletter subscribers. Only contacts added to that list after you activate the automation will enter it.

Then refine the entry logic. A useful welcome trigger should answer all of these questions:

1. Is the contact joining the correct list?
2. Does the contact have the required channel permission?
3. Should existing customers receive this sequence?
4. Can a contact enter again after leaving?
5. Could an import accidentally trigger the workflow?

For a first-time welcome, disable re-entry in most cases. If a contact unsubscribes and subscribes again months later, decide whether they should restart this workflow, receive a shorter reactivation message, or simply return to regular campaigns. Do not let the platform make that policy decision by default.

Other automation use cases require different triggers:

Ecommerce triggers, including Cart updated and Order created, require the Brevo tracker to be installed on your website. Without it, the canvas looks right and nothing enters.

Brevo lets you refine a trigger with event filters (event properties) and contact filters (attributes, previous email activity, subscription status, website interactions), but a filter is only as reliable as the data behind it. Generate a test event or profile change before assuming the rule works.

3. Add the first email

Open the Actions tab and place a Send an email step immediately after the trigger. The first email should deliver whatever the sign-up promise offered. Do not make a new subscriber wait for a guide, discount, confirmation, or next step that was described as immediate.

In the Content section, click Add message and choose whether to create a new automation message or sync with an existing one. Then review, section by section:

• the event data used for personalization, if the message contains event variables;
• subject line and preview text;
• sender name and sender address, on a domain authenticated in Brevo with the Brevo code, DKIM, and DMARC records;
• recipient filtering by consent group, visible only on the Professional and Enterprise plans;
• template content and mobile rendering;
• links, tracking, and destination pages;
• additional settings: sending time, frequency cap, reply-to, tags, attachments, and unsubscribe page.

The official Send an email action guide documents the current configuration options.

Personalization without broken greetings

Use a contact attribute only when it is populated consistently and has a sensible fallback. Test at least two profiles:

• one with every expected field;
• one without a first name or optional attribute.

Hi {{ first name }} is not meaningful personalization when it produces an empty greeting. A natural generic opening is better than unreliable merge data.

A practical role for each welcome email

Give each message one primary job. A welcome email with five unrelated calls to action makes both conversion and diagnosis harder.

4. Add delays with intent

Open the Rules tab and add a Time delay step after Email 1. Brevo separates two waiting rules: Time delay pauses the journey for a fixed duration in months, days, hours, or minutes, while Wait until an event happens pauses until the contact performs a defined action, then routes them to a Yes or a No branch. The documented maximum for both is 60 months.

For this first workflow, use simple fixed delays:

Email 1: immediately after entry
Wait: 1 day
Email 2: brand story and useful next step
Wait: 2 days
Email 3: proof or product guidance
Wait: 3 days
Email 4: objection handling and CTA

This cadence is a starting point, not a Brevo recommendation: Brevo publishes an example welcome series but explicitly declines to fix the intervals, and asks you to adjust them to your industry, product life cycle, and audience engagement patterns. Note too that if you start from the predefined welcome automation instead of a blank canvas, Brevo inserts a 2 or 3 minute Time delay before the first email. Delete that step if you want a genuinely immediate send.

Confirm the account timezone and consider when the trigger usually fires. A fixed 24-hour wait preserves elapsed time, while a send-time window can change the local delivery hour. Choose deliberately and document it.

Do not optimize cadence from open rate alone. Apple Mail Privacy Protection and other privacy features can inflate or obscure opens. Evaluate clicks, replies, conversions, unsubscribes, complaints, and total message pressure as well.

5. Add a conditional customer branch

The Conditional split rule sends contacts down different paths based on data or behavior. Brevo does not label the paths Yes and No: it creates a Branch A and a Branch B, both renamable, and every contact who matches no filter falls into the default branch, which carries no condition. Under each branch, click Add a filter to define who enters it. Adding branches beyond the default pair is a Professional and Enterprise feature, up to 10 branches.

For a first production workflow, a customer-status decision is usually more durable than resending to everyone recorded as a non-opener.

Place the split before Email 3 and ask whether the contact has converted since entering. Keep the Time delay before the split: Brevo warns that if the decision depends on an action performed within a period, the delay must come first. The exact condition depends on your implementation:

• a verified purchase event;
• an order-count attribute maintained by the integration;
• membership in a dynamic customer segment;
• a qualified-lead or booked-call status for a service business.

Route the two branches separately:

• Converted: stop prospect-oriented promotional messages, or send the contact to an appropriate customer path.
• Not converted: continue to Email 3 and Email 4.

Do not copy an event name or attribute from this tutorial into production without checking it in your account. Brevo integrations can expose different event names and payloads. The complete Brevo tutorial explains how to inspect ecommerce events before using them.

Should you resend Email 1 to non-openers?

A controlled resend can sometimes produce incremental clicks, but it also increases pressure and relies on an imperfect signal. If you test one:

1. wait long enough to avoid an immediate duplicate;
2. change the subject and preheader, not the promise;
3. suppress contacts who clicked or converted;
4. cap the experiment to a defined audience;
5. judge success on clicks, conversions, complaints, and unsubscribes, not opens alone.

Treat the resend as an experiment, not a required workflow block.

6. Set re-entry, exit, and restart conditions

Trigger logic answers how a contact starts, and it is also where entry is filtered. The Settings tab does not hold an entry condition: it holds three audience controls, Re-entry after exit, Exit conditions, and Restart conditions.

Open Settings and configure all three. Brevo's audience entry and exit documentation distinguishes workflows that should run once, such as a standard welcome, from recurring use cases such as cart recovery, which is also the main case for a restart condition.

For this welcome workflow, consider exit conditions for:

• a completed purchase or the defined business conversion;
• removal of the required email permission;
• invalid or blocked email status;
• movement into a customer or excluded segment;
• an internal test or employee profile.

Use a conditional branch when the converted contact needs a different message. Use an exit condition when the contact should leave the workflow entirely. These are related controls, but they are not interchangeable.

Also decide what happens after the final email. The contact may become eligible for regular newsletters, enter a longer nurture sequence, or remain inactive until another relevant trigger occurs. Avoid automatically stacking workflows without a contact-pressure policy.

7. Verify consent before allowing entry

The automation editor does not create permission to send. The form, import, CRM, and integration paths must provide contacts who are eligible for the intended message and market.

Requirements differ by country, audience, channel, and message type. Double opt-in can improve list quality and provide additional confirmation evidence, but it is not universally required in every jurisdiction. Confirm the applicable rules with qualified counsel.

If you use double opt-in, test the complete path:

Form submitted
  -> confirmation email sent
  -> confirmation link clicked
  -> contact added to the confirmed list
  -> welcome workflow starts once

Check that an unconfirmed address cannot enter through a second integration or direct list import. Also retain the acquisition source and available consent evidence. Brevo's GDPR form guidelines explain its form and confirmation options, but your implementation still needs jurisdiction-specific review.

8. Test every route before launch

Use the editor's Test function before activating the automation. A preview email is not enough because it does not prove that the trigger, branch, wait, or exit behaves correctly.

Create controlled QA profiles for at least these cases:

For each message, verify:

• From name, From address, and reply handling;
• subject, preheader, and personalization fallbacks;
• desktop and mobile layout;
• every link and tagged destination;
• required footer and preference controls;
• branch result and exit behavior;
• event variables with both complete and incomplete payloads.

Shorten delays in a separate QA copy if waiting several days would slow testing. Restore and independently review production delays before activation.

9. Avoid the four most common launch failures

Activating before a large import

If list membership is the trigger, an import can send an immediate welcome email to every imported contact. Keep the workflow off during migration, use a non-triggering staging list, or define a safe import procedure. Historical presence in another email platform does not by itself establish current eligibility.

Ignoring messages sent by other systems

Map transactional emails, ecommerce notifications, sales follow-ups, campaigns, and other automations. A contact can meet several triggers at once. The problem is not simply sending two emails on one day; it is sending messages with conflicting purpose, timing, or offers.

Using unverified purchase data for exits

A workflow can look correct on the canvas while its order event never arrives. Complete a test purchase and inspect the contact timeline or automation logs. Confirm the event name, timing, identity match, and payload before relying on it.

Launching every route without a controlled check

Review the readiness of every message, condition, and route before activating the workflow. For a higher-volume audience, begin with controlled entries and monitor activity before expanding exposure.

10. Monitor the first seven days

Go to Automations > Workflows, open the automation, then open the Activity tab and compare real behavior with the specification you wrote before building. The side panel reports Started, Completed, Contacts in progress, and Suspended; each Send an email step reports opens, unique clicks, and unsubscribes, with a link to the full email report.

Do not react to a handful of opens after one day. First confirm that tracking, links, events, and audience logic are valid. Then evaluate message performance over a meaningful sample and business cycle.

A safe optimization order

Improve the workflow in this sequence:

1. Fix eligibility, consent, and exits.
2. Fix event and attribute reliability.
3. Fix broken links, rendering, and fallbacks.
4. Clarify the job and CTA of each message.
5. Test cadence, content, and offers one variable at a time.

Once the foundation is reliable, use the Percentage split rule to test one meaningful hypothesis. Define the primary metric and decision threshold before starting. For example, compare two versions of Email 3 on qualified clicks or purchase conversion, while watching complaints and unsubscribes as guardrails.

When Brevo automation is the right fit

Brevo is a practical choice when your team wants email, automation, transactional messaging, SMS, contact management, and sales features in one platform, especially when pricing is driven more by sends than by active-profile count. As of August 10, 2026, Brevo's Free plan includes multi-channel marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts, subject to the plan's other limits. Verify current allowances in Brevo's official pricing plan guide.

Platform fit still depends on ecommerce depth, reporting needs, data quality, team capability, and total cost at your volume. If you are choosing between two common options, see Brevo vs Klaviyo in 2026.

If your first lifecycle sequence still feels fragile, an expert can pressure-test it live during a free 30-minute Brevo audit.

FAQ

Is Brevo Automation available on the Free plan?

Yes, within plan limits. As of August 10, 2026, Brevo says its Free plan includes multi-channel marketing automation for up to 2,000 contacts, alongside 300 emails sent per day and storage for up to 100,000 contacts. Automation for an unlimited number of contacts starts at the Standard plan, so confirm the current plan details before building a production workflow.

How many triggers can a Brevo automation have?

Brevo's new editor supports multiple triggers in one automation. A contact can enter when at least one configured trigger and its filters are satisfied. Keep the logic easy to audit. Separate workflows are often safer when triggers represent different promises, audiences, or exit rules.

Can a contact enter the same Brevo workflow more than once?

Yes, when restart or re-entry is enabled. A welcome sequence normally runs once, while a recurring cart or behavioral workflow may allow re-entry. Configure this explicitly and test the repeated event before launch.

Can Brevo wait for an event before continuing?

Yes. Wait until an event happens pauses the contact until they perform a defined action within a set period, then routes them to the Yes branch if they do and the No branch if they do not. The documented maximum wait is 60 months. Confirm that the event actually reaches Brevo and define what should happen if it never arrives.

Should a welcome automation stop after a purchase?

Usually, prospect-oriented welcome promotions should stop or change once the contact converts. Use a verified purchase event, customer segment, or maintained status to route the contact. A customer may still need brand education, but the message and offer should reflect the new relationship.

How do I test a Brevo workflow without sending to customers?

Use Brevo's Test function and dedicated internal profiles. Test every branch, fallback, and exit. If needed, duplicate the workflow for QA and shorten delays, then restore and review production settings separately before launch.

Build the workflow with a second set of eyes

A canvas can be logically wrong while looking complete. Our Brevo implementation agency can audit the trigger model, consent path, event data, customer exits, content sequence, and production QA before your automation reaches the full audience.

Discuss your Brevo automation with Deliver.

Charlotte Rodrigues, CRM Lead at Deliver.