Brevo Marketing Automation Basics: Top Beginner Workflows

Struggling to keep up with manual email sends, lead follow-ups, and campaign tracking? Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) marketing automation basics can help you ditch repetitive tasks and focus on growing your business. You don’t need a dedicated automation team or coding skills to get started — just a few simple workflows tailored to your audience’s needs.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the core Brevo marketing automation basics, plus 5 beginner-friendly workflows you can launch in under an hour. We’ll also share step-by-step setup instructions and best practices to avoid common mistakes.

What Is Brevo Marketing Automation?

Brevo’s marketing automation tool lets you build trigger-based workflows that run automatically when a contact takes a specific action. Triggers can include signing up for your newsletter, abandoning a shopping cart, or downloading a lead magnet. Once a trigger is activated, the workflow sends pre-scheduled emails, adds contact tags, or updates custom fields — all without manual intervention.

Unlike standalone automation tools, Brevo’s automation is built into its all-in-one email marketing, CRM, and chat platform. This means you can sync contact data across all your marketing channels in one place, no third-party integrations required for basic use.

5 Essential Brevo Workflows for Beginners

Start with these low-effort, high-impact workflows to master Brevo marketing automation basics before moving to advanced sequences:

1. Welcome Email Series Workflow

This is the single most important workflow for any brand. 74% of consumers expect a welcome email immediately after subscribing to a mailing list, and welcome emails generate 320% more revenue per email than standard promotional blasts.

Trigger: New contact added to your email list.

Workflow steps:

• Send a personalized welcome email 15 minutes after subscription, including a first-purchase discount or free resource.
• Add a 3-day delay, then send a follow-up email highlighting your top-performing blog content or bestselling products.
• Tag contacts who click links in the follow-up email as "engaged" for future segmentation.

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery Workflow

Ecommerce brands lose 70% of potential sales to cart abandonment. Brevo’s pre-built abandoned cart templates integrate directly with Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and other major platforms to recapture lost revenue.

Trigger: Contact adds an item to their cart but does not complete checkout within 1 hour.

Workflow steps:

• Send a reminder email 1 hour after abandonment, showing the exact items left in their cart.
• Add a 24-hour delay, then send a second email with a 10% discount code valid for 48 hours.
• Add a 72-hour delay, then send a final "last chance" email before pausing the workflow for that contact.

3. Lead Nurturing Workflow for New Contacts

If you offer lead magnets (ebooks, templates, webinars), this workflow moves contacts from awareness to consideration without manual follow-up.

Trigger: Contact downloads a lead magnet from your website.

Workflow steps:

• Send the lead magnet immediately after download, with a brief note on how to use it.
• Add a 2-day delay, then send a related blog post or case study that addresses a pain point the lead magnet solves.
• Add a 5-day delay, then send a low-commitment offer (free trial, live demo, or webinar invite) to push contacts toward a purchase.

4. Re-engagement Workflow for Inactive Subscribers

Inactive subscribers hurt your sender reputation and deliverability. This workflow cleans your list and re-engages contacts who haven’t interacted with your emails in months.

Trigger: Contact has not opened or clicked any email in 90 days.

Workflow steps:

• Send a "We miss you" email with an exclusive 20% discount, asking them to confirm they still want to receive emails.
• Add a 7-day delay, then send a short survey asking why they haven’t engaged (options: too many emails, irrelevant content, etc.).
• If no response after 14 days, tag the contact as "inactive" and remove them from your active sending list to protect your deliverability.

5. Post-Purchase Follow-Up Workflow

Acquiring a new customer costs 5x more than retaining an existing one. This workflow boosts customer lifetime value (CLV) and encourages repeat purchases.

Trigger: Contact completes a purchase on your store.

Workflow steps:

• Send an order confirmation email immediately after purchase, including shipping details and a link to track the order.
• Add a 3-day delay, then send a request for a product review, with a small incentive (5% off next order) for completing it.
• Add a 14-day delay, then send personalized product recommendations based on their purchase history.

How to Set Up Your First Brevo Workflow (Step-by-Step)

Ready to launch your first workflow? Follow these simple steps to master Brevo marketing automation basics:

1. Log into your Brevo account, navigate to the Automation tab, and select Workflows.
2. Click Create a Workflow, then choose a pre-built template (recommended for beginners) or start from scratch.
3. Select your trigger event (e.g., "Contact subscribes to a list") and configure any required details (e.g., which email list to monitor).
4. Drag and drop actions to build your workflow: add delays, email sends, contact tags, or custom field updates.
5. Click Test Workflow to send a test email to your own address, checking for broken links, typos, and correct personalization.
6. Once satisfied, toggle the workflow to Active — it will start running automatically for all qualifying contacts.

Brevo Marketing Automation Best Practices for Beginners

Avoid common pitfalls with these simple rules for Brevo marketing automation basics:

• Start small: Don’t build 10-step workflows right away. Master 2-3 simple sequences first before adding complexity.
• Clean your list regularly: Remove bounced emails and unengaged contacts every 3 months to maintain high deliverability.
• Use segmentation: Add tags to contacts based on their actions (e.g., "purchased sneakers") to send more relevant future campaigns.
• Monitor analytics: Check your workflow performance weekly in Brevo’s dashboard. Pause underperforming workflows and tweak email copy or send times.

As noted by HubSpot’s 2024 State of Marketing Automation report, 76% of marketers say automation has reduced their manual workload by at least 30% — a benefit you’ll see immediately with Brevo’s easy-to-use tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Mastering Brevo marketing automation basics doesn’t require a steep learning curve. Start with the welcome email series, then add abandoned cart or post-purchase workflows as you get comfortable. Within a few weeks, you’ll save hours of manual work each month while boosting engagement and revenue.

Remember to keep your workflows simple, test every email before activating, and clean your contact list regularly to get the best results from Brevo’s automation tools.

Ready to launch your first workflow? Sign up for Brevo’s free plan today and start automating your marketing in under an hour — no credit card required.