What Automations do
Creators lose sales and subscribers at the same few moments: an abandoned checkout, a free trial that ends without a payment, a monthly subscriber who's never offered annual, a first workout that never becomes a second. Automations step in at each of those moments with a short series of messages, personalized with your name, avatar, branding and program details.
Convert more. Bring back people who left checkout, and turn free trials into paying subscribers.
Expand what subscribers spend. Invite one-time buyers to subscribe, and move monthly subscribers onto your annual plan.
Reduce churn. Reach monthly subscribers before they renew, including those who've switched off auto-renew, and help new subscribers build the habit that keeps them around.
Playbook writes and manages every message. Nothing sends until you turn it on.
Where to find Automations
Automations live in Marketing > Automations in your Creator Dashboard.
Each one shows what it does, when it starts, how many messages it sends over how many days, and its results so far, such as recovered carts or annual upgrades.
An Email + push tag marks the ones that include push notifications.
Select an automation to see every message in order, with its timing, subject line and preview text.
Not seeing Automations yet? We're releasing Automations to every creator over the next few weeks. If you'd like it sooner, ask your Creator Management contact or our support team.
The five automations
1. Abandoned cart recovery
Goal: convert. Brings back people who started checkout for one of your products but never paid.
Who gets it: anyone who enters their email at checkout for a subscription, one-time product or offer, then leaves without paying successfully.
When it sends: 3 emails over 3 days. The first goes out about an hour after they leave checkout, the second a day later and the third two days after that. It stops the moment they buy.
Channel: email only.
Setup: none. When you first turn it on, it also picks up anyone who left checkout in the 48 hours before.
What goes out
2. Free trial nurture
Goal: convert. Encourages new trial subscribers to do their first workout and become paying subscribers.
Who gets it: anyone who starts a free trial of your subscription.
When it sends: 4 emails and 3 push notifications over 5 days. The first email goes out when the trial starts and a push follows 30 minutes later, then one message a day through day 5. It stops as soon as they start paying, or when the trial ends or is refunded.
Channels: email and push. You can switch the pushes off (but we recommend to leave it on the most impact).
Setup: choose the one workout new trial subscribers should start with. Every message links to it.
What goes out
3. One-time buyer to subscriber
Goal: expand. Invites people who bought one of your programs or bundles to join your subscription.
Who gets it: anyone who buys one of your one-time products and doesn't already have an active subscription with you.
When it sends: 2 emails and 2 push notifications over 5 days. The first email goes out 4 hours after the purchase, then a push the next day, an email on day 2 and a push on day 5. It stops when they subscribe, or if the purchase is refunded.
Channels: email and push. You can switch the pushes off.
Setup: usually none. It points to your main subscription. If we can't tell which subscription that is, you'll be asked to choose.
It starts with purchases made after you turn it on. Past buyers aren't contacted.
What goes out
4. Monthly to annual upgrade
Goal: expand and reduce churn. Invites monthly subscribers to switch to your annual plan before their next renewal.
Who gets it: any subscriber on your monthly plan, at any point in their subscription. That includes subscribers who've switched off auto-renew, so you get one more chance before they leave.
When it sends: 2 emails and 2 push notifications over 6 days: an email 7 days before their renewal, a push the next day, an email 3 days before and a push the day before. It stops if they switch to annual or their subscription ends.
How often: at most twice per subscriber, at least 80 days apart.
Channels: email and push. You can switch the pushes off.
Setup: your subscription needs a monthly and an annual price. The emails show the saving from your own prices, so the offer works best when your annual plan costs less than 12 monthly payments. No coupon is applied, and it runs separately from Black Friday or other coupon campaigns.
What goes out
5. First workout congrats
Goal: reduce churn. Celebrates a subscriber's first completed workout and points them to the next one.
Who gets it: anyone who completes their first workout in your app. Once per person.
When it sends: 1 email, right after that first workout.
Channel: email only.
Setup: none.
What goes out
How to turn an automation on or off
Every automation starts off, so you choose which ones run.
Go to Marketing > Automations.
Use the switch next to an automation to turn it on. If it shows Needs setup, select it and fill in the detail first.
To turn one off, use the same switch and confirm.
Turning an automation off stops it for everyone partway through, and they won't pick up where they left off. If you turn it back on later, it starts fresh with new people.
To keep an automation running without push notifications, select it, untick the box under Push notifications and save.
Already running similar campaigns through another tool?
Turn off your own version first. If you already send abandoned cart or trial emails through a tool like Mailchimp or Flodesk, running both means subscribers get the same nudge twice, and you won't be able to tell which one worked.
We recommend Playbook's built-in automations. There's no separate tool to pay for or manage, and they can send push notifications in your app, which outside email tools can't do.
What subscribers receive
Every message is written and managed by Playbook and personalized with your name, avatar, branding and program details, plus the subscriber's first name. When we improve a message, the update reaches your account automatically.
Some people are skipped:
anyone who hasn't agreed to marketing emails, or has unsubscribed
anyone who has already done what the automation asks, like buying, subscribing or upgrading
anyone who got the same automation from you in the last 14 days
invalid email addresses
Every email includes an unsubscribe link. A subscriber can stop that one automation or all your automated messages. Unsubscribing doesn't affect your other emails. Push notifications only reach subscribers who allowed notifications.
What reporting is available
Select View insights at the top of the Automations page to see what your automations have done since you turned them on.
For each one that's running, you'll see:
how many people it reached, how many emails were sent, opened and clicked
and how many converted.
A conversion counts when someone who got one of these messages goes on to do what it asked: buy, subscribe, switch plan or come back. Insights update every morning and show counts for now.
Revenue reporting isn't available yet. But will be included in the upcoming analytics improvements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to write or set up anything?
There's nothing to write, and most automations need no setup. Free trial nurture asks you to choose a starting workout, and Monthly to annual upgrade needs a monthly and an annual price.
Can I see the messages before they go out?
Yes. Select any automation to see every message in order, with its timing, subject line and preview text. To see a full email, ask your Creator Management contact to send you a test.
Who do subscribers see as the sender?
You, for four of the five automations. Abandoned cart recovery emails show Playbook as the sender. Replies go to a Playbook address that isn't monitored, so subscribers should reach you through your usual channels.
Can I turn off a single message in a sequence?
Not yet. You can switch off an automation's push notifications and keep its emails, or turn the whole automation off.
Can I edit the wording?
Not yet. Playbook writes and improves every message, and improvements reach your account automatically.