Brevo Automation Builder Explained: Workflows, Triggers, Journeys, and Smart Marketing Systems

The automation builder inside Brevo is the real engine behind most of its results. Email campaigns help you stay visible, but automation builds the structure that keeps customers moving through your funnel even when you’re not working. Whether you're sending onboarding sequences, abandoned cart reminders, newsletters, lead nurturing flows, or multi-channel messages, the Brevo automation system gives you full control over customer journeys. This guide breaks the entire builder down step-by-step so you understand exactly how Brevo workflows work — and how they help your business grow consistently.

Why the Automation Builder Matters

Most businesses send emails only when they have time. This breaks consistency. Customers forget, lose interest, or never take the next step. Automation solves this problem by reacting to customer behavior, sending emails at the perfect time, and guiding people from first visit to final purchase without constant manual effort.

The automation builder inside Brevo is powerful because:

• you can build end-to-end journeys visually,
• multiple channels (email, SMS, WhatsApp) run together,
• conditions and branching logic create smart paths,
• CRM stages and tasks can be automated,
• behavior and event triggers allow deep personalization.

Unlike many email tools, Brevo gives advanced automation even on lower plans, making it accessible for small teams and beginners.

How Brevo Automation Works (Full Breakdown)

1. Workflow Overview

A workflow in Brevo is a pre-built sequence that starts with a trigger and continues with a set of automated actions. You can use workflows to:

• welcome new subscribers
• send onboarding lessons
• recover abandoned carts
• run customer journeys
• score leads
• follow up after purchases
• distribute content intelligently
• send SMS/WhatsApp reminders
• create CRM deals automatically

Everything inside Brevo automation is built visually — no coding, no technical setup.

2. Triggers: The Event That Starts a Workflow

Every automation begins with a trigger. Brevo offers multiple types of triggers that connect directly to customer behavior and ecommerce actions.

• When a contact subscribes — perfect for welcome sequences.
• When a contact submits a form — great for lead magnets and onboarding.
• When a contact visits a page — behavior-based personalization.
• When a contact clicks a link — segmentation through engagement.
• Ecommerce events (if connected) like abandoned cart, order created, product viewed.
• CRM activity triggers — deals, stages, tasks, or scoring.

Triggers tell Brevo: “When this happens, start the journey.”

3. Actions: What Brevo Does Automatically

Once a trigger activates a workflow, Brevo runs a series of actions you define. These actions manage communication, CRM, segmentation, and behavior tracking.

Email Actions

• send an email
• send follow-up messages
• send onboarding content
• deliver lessons or multi-day sequences

SMS & WhatsApp Actions

• send SMS reminders
• send WhatsApp notifications
• trigger time-based confirmations

CRM Actions

• create a new deal
• move a deal to a new stage
• assign a contact to a salesperson
• add tasks or follow-up reminders

Data / Segmentation Actions

• add or remove tags
• add or remove lists
• update custom fields
• update contact attributes

Wait / Delay Actions

• wait for x minutes/hours/days
• wait until a specific time
• wait for an event (visit, click, order)

4. Conditions & Branching Logic

This is what makes Brevo workflows intelligent. You can split customers into different paths based on:

• email engagement
• behavior (clicks, opens, visits)
• purchase activity
• cart value
• country or device
• tags & attributes
• CRM stage or score

This means your automation reacts automatically and sends the right message at the exact right moment.

5. Lead Scoring in Automation

Brevo allows scoring based on actions inside a workflow. You can add or remove points when customers:

• open emails
• click important links
• visit product pages
• complete onboarding steps
• purchase or abandon carts

Lead scoring makes automation smarter by identifying high-intent contacts.

6. Personalization in Automation

Personalization is not just “name tags.” Brevo supports deep personalization inside automation:

• insert customer attributes dynamically
• insert product details automatically
• insert behavioral content (pages visited, actions taken)
• insert dynamic blocks for ecommerce recommendations

This makes each message feel more human, relevant, and targeted.

Popular Automation Workflows You Should Use

1. Welcome Series

• trigger: new subscriber
• deliver intro, benefits, story, and first CTA

2. Abandoned Cart Recovery

• trigger: cart created → not purchased
• email + SMS + WhatsApp mix improves recovery

3. Post-Purchase Journey

• thank-you email
• delivery instructions
• review request
• upsell or repeat purchase automation

4. Lead Nurturing

• multiple educational emails
• segment based on engagement
• offer after high-value clicks

5. Re-Engagement

• trigger after 30–90 days inactive
• send reminder content
• remove from list if unengaged

6. Customer Lifecycle Automation

• automatically move contacts between customer stages
• score behavior to identify hot leads

Brevo Automation Pricing Overview

Pros & Cons of Brevo Automation Builder

Pros

• Easy visual workflow builder
• Multi-channel automation (email + SMS + WhatsApp)
• CRM triggers built-in
• Advanced segmentation
• Lead scoring integrated
• Ecommerce event automation

Cons

• Design templates are basic
• Some advanced branches need higher plans
• Not as visually polished as premium tools

Final Verdict

If automation is central to your business, the Brevo automation builder gives you a complete system to guide customers through onboarding, content delivery, buyer journeys, and repeat purchase cycles. It balances power and simplicity better than most tools in this price range, making it ideal for small businesses, ecommerce stores, agencies, and educators.

Explore the rest of our Brevo Series to understand CRM, multi-channel messaging, and pricing — and build a smarter automation system for your business.