Email automation builder
The Email Automation Builder is a visual editor for two things: templates (the email content) and automations (the flows that decide when an email goes out and to whom).
In this guide:
- Create an email template
- Build an automation flow
- Test before activating
- Monitor send health
Prerequisites
- Customer Hub access in your subscription tier.
- Verified sender email address (set under Settings → Integrations).
Step 1: Create an email template
Go to Customer Hub → Templates and click New template.
The template editor supports:
- Subject line with merge fields (
{{buyer.first_name}},{{order.id}}). - Body in either rich-text or HTML mode.
- Merge fields drawer with the full list of variables you can drop in.
- Preview mode that renders against a sample buyer record.
Save the template. You can use it from any automation or from the Message Center for one-offs.
Step 2: Build an automation flow
Go to Customer Hub → Automations and click New automation.
An automation has three parts:
- Trigger — the event that starts the flow. Options: Order placed, Order shipped, Order delivered, Review received, Refund requested, Manual (you trigger it from a buyer page).
- Conditions — filter when the trigger fires. Options: marketplace, SKU, order value, repeat-buyer, country.
- Steps — what happens, in order. Options: Send email (pick a template), Wait (delay X hours/days), Branch (if/else), Tag buyer.
Drag steps in, configure each, save.
Step 3: Test before activating
Click Send test on the automation detail page. Hilal runs the flow against either a sample buyer record or a real recent order — without actually sending anything. You see exactly what would have been sent, when, and why.
Activate when the test reads correctly.
Step 4: Monitor send health
The automation detail page has a Sends tab showing every email sent by the flow with status: queued / sent / delivered / opened / bounced / complained.
Bounces above 5% or complaints above 0.1% triggers an in-app warning — Hilal pauses the automation if it crosses Amazon’s communication-policy thresholds, so a bad send can’t get your seller account flagged.
Troubleshooting
- Emails aren’t being sent. Check the sender email is verified under Settings → Integrations. If verified, check that the trigger event actually fires (Test mode).
- High bounce rate. Likely outdated buyer email addresses. Hilal automatically suppresses emails to addresses that bounced once.
- Amazon-related automations: are these even allowed? Use the Amazon automations page for review-request and post-purchase flows that respect Amazon’s policies. Don’t roll your own.