Automations are brief, triggered workflows that help you deliver links and start conversations automatically. They’re designed for connecting with your audience instantly, incentivizing engagement on your content, and kicking off conversations for your team to drive revenue in the Ellipsend Inbox.

Ellipsend Automations are intended to be:

The Automations section is your hub for viewing, organizing, and managing every Automation. To access this section, just click Automations in the Ellipsend sidebar.

When opened, you’ll see:

A purple “+" button by the "Automations” Header — for creating new Automations.

Search bar — allows you to find Automations by name.

Automation List View (From Left to Right in Each Row):

Proper organization becomes essential as your Automation library expands. Ellipsend’s organization features are designed to help you avoid clutter and find the right Automation quickly—especially once you have dozens or even hundreds of Automations running.

Use folders to organize Automations by theme, Campaign (recommended), or trigger type. Common folder setups include:

Folders ensure your team stays aligned and organized as your Automation library grows. They allow you to find specific triggers quickly, maintain visibility during busy campaigns or launches, and reuse proven templates without having to rebuild them manually.

To duplicate an Automation, click the Duplicate icon on the right side of any Automation in your list. Duplication copies the entire flow, trigger settings, and message steps. Use duplication when:

To delete an Automation, click the Delete icon on the right side of any Automation in your list. Deleting does not affect past reporting.

To create an Automation, Click the purple “+" by the "Automations” header to open the creation modal. This is where you will build the entire workflow.

Choose the type of event that activates the Automation. If you choose from one of the trigger templates, this will already be configured for you. The options for triggers are:

For Comment and Story Reply triggers, you also will choose whether you want the keyword to apply to all posts/stories or only specific posts/stories.

Keywords determine which word or phrase triggers the Automation.
You can add as many keywords as you like, but make sure to add common misspellings and abbreviations of each of your keywords. For example, if your keyword is "guide", also add "gide", "gudie", and "giude" so you never miss a match. Note that keywords are not case-sensitive.

There are two Keyword Match Modes to choose from:

Exact Match

Message Contains

Once you have added your keywords and selected your match mode, feel free to use the "Test your keywords" dropdown at the bottom of the setup window to make sure your keywords are set up correctly.

For Automations with an Instagram Comment trigger, you can choose if you'd like to automatically reply to comments on your post so commenters know to check their DMs. Add at least 3 comment reply variations so your comments look natural and don't get flagged as spam. One reply will be picked randomly each time someone comments.

This step has two main sections:

The first step of every Automation should be to select the Campaign and Pipeline Stage that each new contact should be assigned to. Assigning every Automation to a Campaign is essential for accurate tracking. It enables the Ellipsend Tracking Token to function correctly, ensures all link clicks and conversions are recorded, and allows you to segment contacts by their Pipeline Stage. This foundation is what powers reliable reporting across your entire workflow.

Every account starts with a default Campaign, and every new Automation starts with Set Campaign Stage already in place. To change your Pipeline Stages, see Pipelines in the Settings guide.

Learn more about how to automatically track contact activities and conversions in the How Tracking Works guide.

On an automation triggered by a comment, the Actions step has an Opening DM card under THEN SEND VIA DM. It's the first message the automation sends. Meta only allows one automated DM from a comment. To send more, or to let your team follow up by hand, the contact has to engage first by tapping a button, choosing a quick reply, or sending a message. The Opening DM is that first step. The actions under USER RESPONDS → THEN SEND THIS send once the contact responds.

Choose a type: Message + Button, Message + Quick Reply, Ask for Email, Ask for Phone, or Ask Question. Then write your Opening message, up to 999 characters.

If you only want to send one message, turn the Opening DM switch off and turn on Single Message. Without an Opening DM, Meta only allows one automated message per comment. If the contact doesn't reply to it, you can't send follow-ups and your team can't message them.

Although there are many different Action Steps you can add, they all fall into four main action types:

Message

A standard text message—use sparingly and keep it short.

Message + Button

Adds a clickable button under your message, which works especially well for resources, CTAs, and next steps. Links added to the button automatically include the Ellipsend Tracking Token and can be tested by clicking them in the Visual Phone Builder to the right.

Message + Quick Reply

Shows a single suggested reply button below your message (to your contact), which is especially helpful for sending as the first step in a Comment or Live Comment automation. Once your contact clicks the Quick Reply, you will be able to send further messages.

Gallery

Creates a carousel-style gallery featuring multiple images, each with its own link or CTA. It’s an excellent choice for highlighting webinars, showcasing products, or promoting events.

Voice Note

Sends an audio message. Upload an audio file or record one right in the builder. The phone preview plays it back with a play button, waveform, and length, so you can hear what your contact will get.

Ask Question

Pauses the Automation until the contact replies—if they don’t, the flow stops. It’s ideal for opening genuine conversations, gathering qualification details, and moving contacts into a warm Pipeline Stage.

Ask for Email / Ask for Phone Number

Automatically saves the captured information directly into the Contact Profile, ensuring clean, structured data from the start. To download the emails an automation has collected, open the automation, click the three dots next to Save, and choose Download Emails.

To send collected emails or phone numbers to another tool automatically, like your CRM, go to Settings → Integrations → Webhook, add a subscription, and choose the email_changed or phone_changed event.

Pro Tip: Use these early in the flow for higher response rates.

Add Label

Apply a Label for inbox filtering or segmentation.

Assign to Agent

Override round-robin and send to a specific team member.

Set Relationship

Add a high-signal identifier (e.g., “Current Client” or "Do Not Contact").
Rarely needed, but useful in specialized cases.

Set Campaign Stage

Moves the contact to a specific Pipeline Stage in your Campaign. If that stage has an activity mapped to it, the activity is not logged when an automation makes the move.

Delay

Makes the automation wait before it runs the next step. Without one, every message in the sequence goes out in the same second.

The longest a single Delay can be is 6 hours. For anything later, schedule a follow-up on the contact instead. See Schedule Follow-Ups.

The contact never sees the pause. In the inbox, the conversation shows a line while it runs, for example Automation delayed for 5 minutes · Scheduled to resume at 2:17 PM, on web and in the iOS and Android apps.

The automation keeps going if the contact replies during a delay. So keep delays short where a reply is likely. Between the resource and your positioning question, 5 to 30 seconds reads like a person typing. Minutes reads like a bot that didn't listen. A Delay waits for the clock and always continues; Ask Question waits for the contact.

Automations are automatically named based on the first keyword and trigger type you selected. This is best practice, but you can choose to rename it in this final review section. When you have reviewed all the details and settings of your Automation, choose whether to save it as active or inactive. An automation only runs while it's active, so it has to be active when you test it. The steps are under Testing Your Automation below.

We recommend testing all automations before publishing the post or story that your contacts will respond to and therefore trigger the automation. This will help you ensure that everything behaves exactly as expected.

Once your steps are complete and the flow looks correct in the visual preview, click Save. If you save it as inactive, it stays off until you turn it on. An inactive automation doesn't run, so it can't be tested.

To test an Automation:

During testing, check that:

Once everything looks good, switch the keyword back to the real one and save. Leave the Automation Active.

If the automation doesn't send during your test, or sends twice, see My Automation Isn't Sending, or Sends Twice.

Toggle the Automation to Active.
You can pause or resume it anytime using the same switch.

In the Automations Dashboard, monitor:

This helps you understand performance and make adjustments over time.

Below are common, high-performing setups you can model your own Automations after:

A comment trigger with a simple, Message+Quick Reply opener, followed by a Message+Button Link to a resource or lead magnet. After which, you can use the “Ask a Question” Action to ask a positioning question before your DM team takes over. This is ideal for organic content offering guides, templates, or checklists.

A Story trigger that sends a quick thank-you message and a helpful link.
It then applies a Story Lead Label for future segmentation or follow-up.

Great for stories promoting resources or warm-up content.

A DM trigger that delivers a gallery-style showcase (e.g., product images, webinar slides, or promos). The final Button Link will contain the the Ellipsend Tracking Token so you can track purchases automatically or manually from the automation.

This is excellent for launches, event promotions, or product introductions.

Ellipsend Automations perform best when they stay simple, fast, and human-like.

For the recipe we recommend, step by step, see Automation Best Practices.

Avoid long bot-like conversations.
Your goal is to spark engagement—not replace real messaging.

One common mistake is either sending a link before the Action Step that adds the contact to the Campaign, or forgetting to add the contact to the Campaign altogether.

It’s important to remember that all Automations should be part of a Campaign, and the contact must be part of the Campaign before sending any links that should be tracked. This will ensure that:

Button Messages consistently outperform plain text links and activate Tracking Tokens automatically.

Review conversations, link clicks, and user responses to see what resonates.

Duplicate and adjust winning Automations rather than building from scratch.

Automations initiate the conversation, deliver value, and collect early data.

Your team takes over to close the loop—unless the goal is a fully automated flow (webinars, checkout links, email opt-ins, etc.).

Automations help you turn everyday engagement—comments, story replies, DMs, or ad messages—into meaningful conversations and trackable contacts. By keeping your flows simple, assigning every contact to a Campaign and Stage, and using clear button-driven CTAs, you’ll build Automations that are fast, human-like, and highly effective.