Autopilot: automatic emails for small businesses
Most small business owners know they should send more emails. A welcome note to new subscribers. A friendly nudge to customers who’ve gone quiet. A regular update to stay top of mind. The problem is finding the time to do it every week.
That’s what Autopilot is for. You set up an email once, and Minutemailer sends it automatically at the right moment, to the right people, on its own. No spreadsheets, no reminders to yourself, no logging in every Monday.
Autopilot is simple, ready-made automation built for small businesses. There are three things it does, and each one takes a few minutes to set up.
The three Autopilot types
1. Welcome email (new subscriber)
A welcome email is sent automatically when someone new confirms their email address. It’s the highest-impact automatic email you can set up, because new subscribers are paying attention right after they sign up.
A salon could welcome a new client with a short hello and a link to book. A shop could say thanks and share what makes them different. You write it once, and every new subscriber gets it from then on.
You can also add a small wait delay before it sends. And because you can create more than one welcome email, you can build a simple welcome series, for example one straight away, another after 3 days, and a third after 7 days, each with a different wait. That’s a welcome sequence without any complex setup.
2. Win-back email (inactive subscribers)
This one goes to subscribers who haven’t opened or clicked enough of your emails over a period you choose, for example, people who’ve ignored your last 3 emails over the past 30 days.
It’s the same idea as a win-back campaign, but it runs by itself. A café might automatically reach lapsed regulars with “We miss you, here’s a coffee on us.” Roughly 3 in 10 quiet customers come back after a friendly reminder, and now you don’t have to remember to send it.
3. Recurring email
A recurring email is sent on a schedule, for example, every Monday at 09:00, to people in a group who haven’t received it yet. That includes contacts you add or import later, so a new subscriber today still gets it on the next scheduled send.
With “send once per contact” turned on, each person receives it a single time. This is perfect for an evergreen onboarding tip, a standard offer for new customers, or a weekly highlight that every contact should see once.
Turn “send once per contact” off and it works the other way: the email is sent to everyone in the group on every scheduled send, even contacts who already received it before. That’s how you set up a standing, repeating reminder, for example a weekly “today’s specials” or a regular “time to rebook” nudge that goes out again and again.
How to set up an Autopilot
- Go to Autopilot in Minutemailer and create a new one.
- Choose the type, New subscriber, Inactive subscribers, or Recurring.
- Set the timing: a wait delay, an inactivity window, or a schedule.
- Pick which list or group it applies to.
- Write the email (or start from a template, and let the AI assistant help).
- Turn it on. From now on it sends automatically.
The whole thing takes about as long as writing a single email, and then it keeps working in the background.
Which one should you start with?
If you’re not sure, start with the welcome email. It’s the easiest win: it reaches people at their most interested, it only needs writing once, and it immediately makes your business look organised and professional.
Once that’s running, add a win-back email to quietly recover customers who drift away, and a recurring email if you have a message every new contact should get.
Keep it simple
You don’t need a marketing degree to automate your emails. Autopilot handles the three automatic emails most small businesses need, welcome, win-back and recurring, and each one takes minutes to set up.
If you’re new to this, the beginner’s guide to email marketing is a good place to start, and our post on email automation for small businesses explains what’s worth automating and what isn’t. When you’re ready, see how Minutemailer works.