When a new customer subscribes to your marketing, it's the perfect opportunity to welcome them to your store and encourage their first purchase.
Omnisend offers a Welcome Automation preset that automatically detects new subscribers and sends them a personalized welcome message. This workflow helps you introduce your brand, share special offers, or simply start building a relationship with your new audience.
Before You Begin
Welcome Automation is available on all Omnisend plans. Learn more about pricing.
Verify your sender domain to ensure email deliverability. Domain verification guide.
Set up at least one active signup form. Create a signup form.
All user roles except Analyst can create and edit automations.
💡 New to Omnisend automations? Read our automation settings guide.
About the Automation Trigger
This automation uses the Subscribed to Marketing trigger, which fires whenever a contact subscribes to receive marketing messages, regardless of the subscription method (signup form, checkout page, manual import, etc.).
You can welcome customers who subscribe to any of your channels: Email, SMS, or Push Notifications.
Apply trigger filters to target specific subscription cases. For example, choose the subscription method (signup form or SMS text-to-join) or the channel (email only) to personalize the welcome experience based on how each subscriber joined your list.
Setup Process
Go to Automations → Create workflow → Select one of the Welcome automation presets.
Choose from different presets based on how many messages or channels you'd like to include in your flow.
Configure Trigger Filters
Trigger filters let you focus on a specific group of contacts by filtering the audience.
By default, the welcome automation includes two filters:
Subscription method is a signup form – Contacts subscribed using a signup form (Omnisend or third-party).
First subscription is true – Contacts are subscribing for the first time.
⚠️ Important: 'Subscription Method = Signup Form' will exclude subscribers from:
Checkout opt-in
Imported contacts
Third-party forms (non-Omnisend)
API integrations
Only use this filter if you want to target Omnisend signup forms specifically. To include all new subscribers regardless of source, remove this filter entirely.
You can edit or remove default trigger filters at any time. For example, delete the Subscription Method filter to include all subscription methods, or add Channel subscribed to = Email to target email-only subscribers.
Available Trigger Filters
Below, you will find a list of available trigger filters and their meanings.
Trigger filter | Available values | Explanation |
Core filters ⤵️ |
|
|
Channel subscribed to |
| Indicates the channel to which the contact subscribed. |
First subscription |
| Indicates that this is the first subscription event for this contact through this channel. |
Language |
| The browser language of the contact. |
Origin |
| Origin of the subscription event is either the Omnisend form or contacts passed via API (including 3rd party apps). |
Previous subscription status |
| Indicates the previous channel subscription status the contact had before subscribing. |
Previous subscription status date |
| Date when the previous channel subscription status was assigned. |
Subscription method |
| Indicates how the contact subscribed.
|
Subscription method details |
| Any additional information related to the subscription method, like import ID and file name, Order ID, SMS keyword, etc. |
Phone number country |
| For SMS subscriptions, the subscriber’s country or area is identified by the country code in their phone number. |
Form filters ⤵️ |
|
|
Discount |
| The discount code that was displayed for the subscriber in the signup form.
|
Form Name |
| Omnisend form name that a contact submitted to subscribe. |
Form Settings | Possible form settings:
| Identified blocks that were added to the Omnisend form, through which the subscription happened. |
Form Type |
| Omnisend form type, which the subscriber used. |
Note! If you see an empty value option in your automation, it means a subscription event hasn’t occurred yet. The automation needs at least one subscription event after being enabled in order to start gathering data.
For example, if you turn on the automation and then subscribe using one of your forms, you’ll begin to see options like Language, Form type, and other trigger filters appear in the list once that subscription event has taken place.
💬 Use the 'Origin is API' filter to target subscribers added via third-party integrations or API calls. This is useful if you collect contacts through multiple platforms and want different welcome logic for different groups.
Trigger from Multiple Signup Forms
To trigger the workflow from specific signup forms, use OR filter groups:
Trigger Filter: Subscription method is Signup form AND
Filter Group 1: Form = X Form
Click Add filter group → Select OR operator
Filter Group 2: Form = X
Trigger Filters vs. Trigger Filter Groups
Trigger Filters are individual criteria connected by AND or OR logic within a single list. All filters use the same operator.
Trigger Filter Groups combine multiple filters into groups, each with its own AND/OR logic. This provides greater flexibility.
Example: Email subscribers from API or signup forms
Group 1 (AND): Channel subscribed = Email AND First subscription = True
Group 2 (OR): Origin = API OR Subscription method = Signup form
This setup targets new email subscribers from either Omnisend forms or third-party integrations/APIs.
Detailed Example
Imagine you want to create a targeted marketing workflow with the following criteria:
Subscribers must have signed up for the email channel.
It must be their first subscription.
They must either be added through an API (3rd party app) or have used a sign-up form.
Group 1 (AND Logic)
Channel subscribed is Email
The first subscription is true
Both conditions must be met in this group for the trigger to fire. This means that only subscribers who have signed up via email and for whom it is their first subscription will be targeted.
When combining two groups with 'AND' logic, the trigger must fire if all conditions across both groups are met.
Group 2 (OR Logic):
Origin is API
The subscription method is a signup form
If either condition is met in this group, the trigger will fire. This means that subscribers added through an API or those who used a sign-up form will be targeted.
With the setup above, the trigger will fire only if all these conditions are met. With this setup, you can simultaneously target new email subscribers from the Omnisend form and any new subscribers added through third-party integrations or APIs.
💡 If you're new to Omnisend and need details on how to set up automation and explore other features, please read more about automation settings.
Message Content
Based on your selected preset, your Welcome automation includes a sequence of Email and SMS messages. These messages come with default content blocks, such as a welcome Discount, which you can customize to match your brand.
You can delete or rearrange existing messages, or add new ones across multiple channels: Email, SMS, and Push Notification. Once a message block is added, provide all required details (sender name, email address, phone number, etc.).
💬 Find more recommendations on the Welcome automation setup Blog articles:
Troubleshooting
If contacts aren't entering your workflow or emails aren't sending, check the Trigger Preview Tool first (in your automation trigger settings → Test trigger). This shows which filters are blocking contacts.
For full troubleshooting guidance, see Troubleshoot Welcome Automation.
Quick checks:
Verify your sender domain is set up (Store Settings → Email → Sender Domains).
Test with an incognito browser and a completely unused email address.
Check automation Reports to see if contacts are entering (Show Stats in your workflow).
FAQ
What does "60 Entered, 0 Completed, 60 Currently in" mean?
This means 60 contacts entered your workflow and are currently waiting in a delay block or have not yet completed all steps. Check your automation's delay settings – contacts may be scheduled to receive emails at a later time. To see when each contact will receive their email, go to Reports → Automation → Individual contact view.
How do I trigger my welcome automation from multiple signup forms?
In your automation trigger settings, create separate filter groups using OR logic. Add filter group 1: "Form = Footer Form," then add filter group 2 with OR operator: "Form = Popup Form." Repeat for additional forms. Without OR logic, only contacts from the first form will enter.
What does "First Subscription is True" mean?
This trigger filter ensures your Welcome Automation only sends to contacts the first time they subscribe. If a contact previously opted in (even if they later unsubscribed or are now inactive), this filter prevents them from triggering the automation again.
Use it to avoid sending duplicate welcome messages. To allow re-triggering for existing subscribers, remove this filter.
How do I test my Welcome Automation before going live?
Best practice (3 steps):
Use an incognito/private browser window.
Enter a completely unused email address (not your sender email or any email previously subscribed). Try adding +1 to your email:
[email protected].Subscribe via your signup form.
Then check:
Go to Audience → Contacts to confirm the contact was added.
Check all email folders (Inbox, Spam, Promotions) for the welcome email.
Use the Trigger Preview Tool to verify the contact matched your filters.
⚠️ Note: If you test multiple times with the same email address, the automation won't trigger after the first time if you have the "First Subscription is True" filter active.
Where is the Trigger Preview Tool, and how do I use it?
The Trigger Preview Tool helps you see why contacts are or aren't entering your automation. To access it:
Open your automation
Click the Trigger block (at the top of your workflow)
Look for the "Test trigger" button in the top-right corner of the settings panel
What it shows:
The last 10 trigger events with:
Green checkmark = Contact met all conditions and entered
Red X = Contact didn't meet filters and was excluded
Click on any contact to see which specific filter blocked them.
Why do contacts show as "Entered" but not "Completed"?
This usually means contacts are waiting in a delay step or are stuck before an email/SMS block. Common causes:
Contacts are waiting in a delay (e.g., "Wait 1 day" – they'll complete when the delay finishes).
Contacts are not subscribed to the channel (email/SMS), and "Pass non-opted-in contacts to next workflow step" is unchecked.
SMS subscriptions synced after email – If your form collects email first, then SMS, contacts may skip the SMS block if the delay is "immediate."
How to check:
In your automation, click Show Stats or View Full Report to see where contacts are pausing or exiting.
Can I send my automation to contacts who subscribed before I enabled the workflow?
No, Welcome Automation does not support retrospective triggering. It only sends to contacts who subscribe after you enable the workflow. To send to existing subscribers:
Option 1: Send an Email Campaign to a segment of recent subscribers.
Option 2: Change your automation trigger to "Contact Enters a Segment," create a segment of recent subscribers, and manually push contacts to that segment using tags. Learn more about re-triggering welcome workflows.
Still have questions? Feel free to chat with our support team in-app or send us an email at [email protected].