Email Flows

Email flows are automated email sequences that let you send a series of emails to recipients on a schedule. Think of them as drip campaigns or automated workflows – you define the steps once, and NotifiedBy handles sending each email at the right time.

Flows are useful for:

  • Welcome sequences – Onboard new users with a series of introductory emails.

  • Lead nurturing – Guide prospects through your sales funnel over days or weeks.

  • Re-engagement campaigns – Win back inactive users with a timed series of reminders.

  • Trial onboarding – Help trial users discover features before their trial expires.

Core Concepts

Flow

A named sequence of steps, tied to a specific sender. Each flow has a unique trigger_keyword that you use to subscribe recipients via the API (e.g. WELCOME_SIGNUP, ONBOARDING_START).

Flow Step

A single action within a flow. Steps are executed in order. There are four step types:

  • Send Email – Sends an email using a template you have configured.

  • Wait for Event or Time – Pauses the flow until a recipient flag is set, or until a timeout is reached. This lets you branch based on user behaviour.

  • Condition – Checks whether a recipient has a specific flag and branches accordingly (true/false paths).

  • Action – Performs an operation such as setting or clearing a flag, suppressing a contact, or calling a webhook.

Recipient

A person who participates in flows. Recipients are identified by email address and can have a first name, last name, and custom flags attached to them. Recipients are created automatically when you subscribe them to a flow, or you can create them ahead of time via the API.

Flag

A tag or label attached to a recipient. Flags are used by condition and wait steps to control flow branching. For example, you might set an onboarded flag when a user completes setup, and use a condition step to skip onboarding emails for users who already have that flag.

Flow Subscription

Tracks a recipient’s progress through a flow. A subscription records which step the recipient is on, when the next email is due, and whether the subscription is active, completed, or cancelled.

How It Works

  1. Create a flow on the NotifiedBy website. Define the steps, templates, and timing.

  2. Subscribe recipients via the API using the flow’s trigger_keyword. This creates a subscription and starts the sequence.

  3. NotifiedBy processes subscriptions on a schedule. When a subscription’s next send date arrives, the current step is executed (email sent, condition evaluated, etc.) and the subscription advances to the next step.

  4. The flow completes when all steps have been executed, or you can unsubscribe a recipient at any time to stop the sequence early.

Note

Email flows are a gated feature. Your team must have the email flows feature enabled on your account before you can use the flow API endpoints.

Working with Flags

Flags are a powerful mechanism for personalising flow behaviour. You can set and clear flags on recipients at any time, and flows can branch based on whether a recipient has a particular flag.

Common patterns include:

  • Set a premium flag when a user upgrades, then use a condition step to send different content to free vs. premium users.

  • Set a clicked_link flag via a webhook, then use a wait step to branch based on whether the user engaged.

  • Clear a trial flag when a user converts, removing them from trial-related flows.

Flags can be managed via the API (see Set Flags on a Recipient and Clear Flags from a Recipient) or via the Django package (see Managing Recipient Flags).

Pre-built Example Flows

NotifiedBy includes several pre-built example flows that you can install from the website to get started quickly:

  • Welcome Signup – A welcome sequence for new user sign-ups.

  • Onboarding Start – Guides new users through initial setup.

  • Lead Nurture – Nurtures leads over time with educational content.

  • Password Reset – A flow triggered by password reset requests.

  • Re-engage Inactive – Targets users who have gone quiet.

  • Trial Started – Onboards trial users and encourages conversion.

You can find these under the “Suggested Flows” section on the flows page of the NotifiedBy website. Flows can also be exported and imported as JSON files, making it easy to share flow configurations between environments.