Automations
Business → Automation → Automations. An automation (the screen calls each one a sequence) is one sentence: when this happens, wait this long, then do that.
It is the part of the job that is the same every time. Photographers who set these up once stop writing the same four emails before every wedding.
Making one
- Press New sequence.
- Give it a Name — just for you; clients never see it.
- Choose what starts it under Runs when (see the list below).
- Under Applies to, choose Every session or one session, so a wedding
sequence does not fire for a headshot booking.
- Leave Turn it on straight away ticked, and press Create sequence.
- On the next screen, add the steps (see below).
To pause a sequence, untick This sequence is on under Settings and press Save.
What can start one
| Runs when | |
|---|---|
| A booking is confirmed | The moment the booking is paid for, or a quote with a date is accepted |
| A contract is fully signed | Every signature needed is in |
| A gallery is delivered | When you send it |
| A client opens their gallery for the first time | — |
| A gallery goes a week without being opened | A week after delivery, if they still have not looked |
| A client favourites a lot and orders nothing | Five or more favourites, and no order |
| A gallery is a fortnight from closing | If they have downloaded nothing |
| It is nearly a year since a shoot | In the fortnight before the first anniversary, once per booking |
| A client has not booked for a year | Their last shoot was 12 to 24 months ago and nothing is booked, once per client |
| A shoot has happened | Listed, but not started by anything yet — see below |
| An invoice is paid in full | Listed, but not started by anything yet — see below |
The gallery and anniversary ones are about what the client does, or does not do. "Has not opened it in a week" is not a moment — it is the absence of one — so these are checked regularly in the background, and a sequence can start a little after the thing itself.
A shoot has happened and An invoice is paid in full can be chosen, but at the moment nothing in Meridian sets them off, so a sequence built on them will not run. Until that changes, use A booking is confirmed with a step counted from the shoot date instead (for example, 3 days after the shoot).
Adding steps
On the sequence's screen, under Steps:
- Choose Do what:
| Step | What happens |
|---|---|
| Send an email | You write the subject and message |
| Send a contract to sign | Choose Which contract from your templates. Skipped if the booking already has one |
| Raise an invoice | Raises and sends an invoice for the booking. Only works on sequences started by a booking, and only once per booking |
| Send a questionnaire | Choose Which questionnaire |
| Remind me to do something | Nothing goes to the client — type What to do, and it appears in the sequence's history |
- Set How many days and Counted from (see timing below).
- For an email, fill in Subject and Message. Or choose one of your
email templates under Start from an email template (optional) and leave Subject and Message empty to use its words.
- Press Add step.
A step made from an email template keeps its own copy of the words. Changing the template later does not change what the automation sends. To have email templates to choose from, press Use on one of ours, or write your own, under Business → Paperwork → Templates (see templates).
Press Remove beside a step to take it out.
Send a questionnaire: choose the questionnaire under Which questionnaire. You need at least one first, under Business → Paperwork → Questionnaires. See questionnaires.
Text reminders are not steps; they are set up separately under [text reminders](/texts).
Timing
Each step is a number of days, Counted from one of two places:
- The trigger — 0 for straight away, 3 for three days later. It cannot be negative: nothing can be sent before the thing that caused it.
- The shoot date — which can be negative. −14 is a fortnight before the shoot, which is how "send the questionnaire two weeks out" is written.
A step counted from the shoot date that is already more than a day overdue is dropped rather than sent late: it was meant to arrive before the shoot. One that is only just overdue is sent straight away.
Every step runs at most once
However things happen — a payment confirmed twice, two people pressing a button at once — the same step can never send twice for the same thing.
That is the difference between an automation you trust and one you turn off after it embarrasses you.
What stops a step from sending
Each step is checked again just before it goes, because things change between scheduling and sending. It is skipped if:
- the booking was cancelled — cancelling a booking stops everything still waiting for it in one go;
- the invoice was voided — a client must not be chased for it;
- the gallery or booking no longer exists;
- the client has no email address, or their details have been erased;
- they have booked again, for "has not booked for a year";
- for an email step, they have unsubscribed from your marketing.
Placeholders you can use in emails
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
{first_name} |
The client's first name |
{client_name} |
The client's name |
{studio_name} |
Your studio name |
{when} |
The date and time of the shoot, in your timezone |
Only those four. Contracts have a longer list, but it does not apply here — {total} in an automation email arrives as nothing rather than as a price.
Checking what it will send
Each email step has What this sends beside it. Open it to see the subject and message filled in with an example client. Worth doing once for every step.
A placeholder that is not on the list is called out by name — for example *unknown token: {location} — it will arrive as nothing* — so you can fix it before a client sees a gap in the middle of a sentence. Some email templates use placeholders an automation cannot fill, such as {location} or {gallery_link}; the template list under Start from an email template names them, so you can see before you pick one.
Steps that are not emails say what they do instead.
What it has done, on each sequence's screen, and Lately, on the main Automations screen, show what has run, what it did, and anything that was skipped and why.
Unsubscribing
An automation email is where a photographer writes "shall we make an album?" — which is marketing, so every automation email carries a working unsubscribe link, and a client who has unsubscribed is skipped.
Booking confirmations and gallery links are not marketing and do not carry one.
A year on, and "it has been a while"
It is nearly a year since a shoot starts in the fortnight before the first anniversary of a booking, once for each booking. Count the step from the shoot date if you want it to land on the day or a few days before.
A client has not booked for a year starts for a client whose last shoot was between 12 and 24 months ago and who has nothing booked, once for each client.
Turning either on does not email your whole history: clients whose last shoot was more than two years ago are left alone. Cancelled bookings are never counted, and a step stands down if the client books again before it goes.