Mailchimp Automation, Journeys, and Customer Paths Explained

Automation inside Mailchimp has changed a lot over the years. What started as simple autoresponders has now evolved into a visual journey builder that helps businesses send onboarding emails, abandoned cart reminders, lead nurturing campaigns, and personalized customer paths. But beginner marketers often struggle to understand how Mailchimp automation works, what the journey builder actually does, and how to design workflows that convert. This guide explains Mailchimp automation in a clear, practical way — so you can build smarter systems, not just send emails.

Why Automation Matters in Mailchimp

Email campaigns are useful, but they depend on manual effort. Automation removes repetition, organizes communication, and ensures customers receive the right message at the right moment. In Mailchimp, customer journeys help you:

• set up onboarding sequences
• automatically welcome new subscribers
• send emails based on behavior (clicks, visits, purchases)
• remind people about abandoned carts
• segment customers based on actions
• send time-based follow-ups
• nurture leads step-by-step

Instead of manually sending every update, you build a journey once — and Mailchimp handles everything automatically.

Mailchimp Customer Journeys: Full Breakdown

1. The Journey Builder

Mailchimp journeys are built using a drag-and-drop visual tool. Every journey begins with a starting point and continues through actions, filters, branches, and conditions.

Common starting points include:

• new subscriber joins a list
• tag is added to a contact
• contact opens or clicks a specific email
• date-based triggers (birthday, anniversary, purchase date)
• ecommerce actions like abandoned cart or product viewed

Once the starting point is defined, you build a sequence of actions that Mailchimp delivers automatically.

2. Triggers: What Starts the Automation?

Triggers are the “entry points” for journeys. Mailchimp supports multiple types of triggers that allow you to start workflows at exactly the right moment.

Popular Mailchimp triggers:

• Signup-based — when a user joins your audience
• Tag-based — when a specific tag is applied
• Email activity — opens, clicks, or replies
• Ecommerce — product viewed, cart abandoned, order completed
• Date-based — birthdays, reminders, subscription renewals

Triggers decide when a customer enters your journey, allowing you to automate communication with precision.

3. Actions: What Mailchimp Does Automatically

Actions are steps within a journey that Mailchimp completes without manual effort.

Email Actions

• Send an email
• Send follow-up content
• Send product recommendations

Audience Actions

• Apply tags
• Remove tags
• Update merge fields
• Move contact to a group

Delays

• Wait for a specific number of hours or days
• Wait until a specific day of the week

Delays help you send emails without overwhelming the subscriber.

4. Branching & Conditions

Mailchimp journeys include branching logic to personalize paths based on customer behavior.

Conditions allow you to split journeys based on:

• email engagement
• tags or custom fields
• purchase activity
• audience data
• location or device type

For example:
“If subscriber clicked the offer email → send next step.
If not → send a reminder message.”

This improves engagement and creates more dynamic, personalized workflows.

Key Automation Features Inside Mailchimp

1. Welcome Series

One of the most commonly used workflows. As soon as someone subscribes, they receive an introduction sequence.

• Welcome email
• Brand story
• Value-based email
• Soft CTA

2. Abandoned Cart Automation

Ecommerce businesses use this to recover lost sales. Mailchimp automatically sends a reminder email when a cart is left behind.

3. Order Notifications

Mailchimp can send post-purchase messages such as:

• order confirmation
• thank-you message
• delivery updates (when connected to ecommerce)
• review requests

4. Lead Nurturing Journeys

Lead nurturing helps guide subscribers from interest to conversion through educational content.

• lesson flow
• tips email
• case study
• soft offer

5. Product Recommendation Flows

For ecommerce stores, Mailchimp automatically recommends products based on browsing or purchase behavior.

6. Re-Engagement Automation

Mailchimp can detect inactive users and send reactivation messages.

• we miss you
• special discount
• update your preferences

Mailchimp Automation Use Cases

For Small Businesses

• schedule newsletters
• run onboarding sequences
• follow up after inquiries

For Creators

• deliver lesson-based sequences
• send weekly content automatically

For Ecommerce Brands

• automate abandoned carts
• product recommendations
• repeat purchase reminders

For Service Providers

• appointment reminders
• client onboarding
• follow-up messages

Mailchimp Automation Pricing

Pricing depends on the plan and number of contacts. Automation is not available on the Free plan.

Mailchimp Automation Pros & Cons

Pros

• Easy visual journey builder
• Beginner-friendly setup
• Clean interface
• Good for simple-to-medium automation
• Great for design-focused email sequences

Cons

• Can become expensive as contacts grow
• Automation limited compared to advanced platforms
• No deep CRM automation
• Requires clean tagging for best results

Final Verdict

Automation in Mailchimp is clean, visual, and very beginner-friendly. It’s excellent for welcome flows, newsletters, ecommerce reminders, and simple customer journeys. While not as advanced as automation-first tools, Mailchimp offers enough functionality for small businesses, creators, and ecommerce stores that want easy, reliable workflows without complexity.

Continue learning through our Tools & SaaS guides to understand automation, segmentation, CRM, and multi-channel communication across modern marketing platforms.