Set up an email automation when a contact is added to a list

Contact lists are an easy way to group people in your Contacts database into segments you can act on. You can build lists by filtering your Contacts with contact properties—like location, language, subscription status, or other details you’ve mapped from form answers—and then use those lists as ready‑made directories. For example, you might have lists for event registrants, new signups in a specific region, or people who opted into a particular email stream.

With Contacts and Automations, you don’t have to manually email each new person who joins those lists. Instead, you can trigger automatic, personalized emails the moment someone is added.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create an automation that sends a confirmation email when a contact is added to a list. We’ll use a webinar registration example so anyone who joins your event list automatically gets all the key details in their inbox.

What you’ll need to set up this automation

• The Contacts & Automations add-on, available on eligible paid plans.
• A custom email domain so you can send emails from Automations using your own domain.
• A form that collects:
  • Name
  • Email address
  • Event selection (if you’re using one form for multiple events)
• A contact list that groups everyone who registered for a specific event (for example, Webinar: Product feedback 101).

Create your event registration form

In our example, we’ll create a simple registration form for a webinar.

We’ll use the following question types:

• Name – Short Text
• Email – Email
• Which event are you registering for? – Multiple Choice
• Optional: any other questions you need (company, role, goals for the session, etc.)

Create your form and publish it by clicking Share when you’re happy with the questions and wording.

Map form responses to contact properties

Next, we’ll map form responses to contact properties so each submission creates or updates a contact in your Contacts database and stores their event selection.

Follow the steps in Map form responses to contact properties to:

Map the Email question

• Map your Email question to the Email contact property.
• This is required to create or update a contact.

Map the Name question

• Map your Name question to the relevant name property (for example Name or a custom text property).

Map the event question (if applicable)

• Map “Which event are you registering for?” (Multiple Choice) to a custom multiple choice contact property such as Event name or Event tag.
• Make sure the answer options in the form match the values in the contact property (for example, “Webinar: Product feedback 101”).
• Make sure the property type you choose for this custom property matches the question type you’re mapping from (for example, use a multiple choice property for a multiple choice question).

Once saved, new responses will automatically create or update contacts and keep these properties in sync.

For more details on how this works, check out the following articles:

• Map form responses to contact properties
• Subscription status property
• Email marketing compliance checklist

Create a contact list for event registrants

We’ll now create a contact list that groups everyone who registered for one specific event. When someone is added to the list, it will trigger the automation email.

You can create contact lists based on properties. To set up your event list:

1. From your Workspace, click Contacts.

2. In the Contact lists panel, click the + button.

3. Give your list a clear name, for exampleWebinar: Product feedback 101 (registrants).

4. Under Add filter, choose the contact property you mapped your event question to (for example, Event name).

5. Set the filter so it includes contacts whose Event name Contains Webinar: Product feedback 101.

6. Click Create list.

Now, whenever someone fills out your registration form and their Event name property is set to Webinar: Product feedback 101, they’ll automatically appear in this list.

Create an automation when a contact is added to a list

Next, we’ll create an Automation that sends a confirmation email as soon as a contact is added to your event list.

1. From your Workspace, click Automations.

2. Under Contact activity/updates, click + Create automation.

3. Select what will trigger the automation. We’ll select Contact activity or updates.

4. Click the dropdown list and select Contact is added to a list.

5. Give your Automation a clear name by clicking the default name, My new automation, in the top-left corner.

6. Enter something like Webinar registration confirmation and click Save.

7. Under Select lists, choose the list you created earlier, for example: Webinar: Product feedback 101 (registrants).

This ensures the Automation only runs when a contact is added to that list.

8. Add an action to send an email:
   • Click the + icon in the flow to add an action.
   • Select Send email.

9. Choose who will receive the email:
   • In the right-hand panel, select Contact so the email is sent to the contact who was added to the list.

10. Configure the sender details:
    • Send from – Enter the email address you want to send from (on your authorized custom email domain).
    • Sender name (optional) – The name that appears in the recipient’s inbox.
    • Reply to email – Either use the same address as Send from or toggle this off and enter a different address.
    • Subject line – Add a clear subject, for example: You’re registered for our webinar.

11. Create and design your email:
    • Click Create email.
    • Use the automation email builder to write your message and personalize it with contact properties (for example, type @ to insert the contact’s first name or event name).
    • Include key event details such as: date and time, join link, any preparation instructions

For detailed instructions on email design, see How to create and design automation emails.

12. When you’re done editing, click Save and exit to return to the Automation flow.

13. Review your Automation setup. When you’re happy, click Activate.

What happens when your automation is activated

Once activated:

• When someone submits your registration form and their contact profile matches the filter for your event list, they’re automatically added to that list.
• As soon as they’re added, the Automation runs and sends your confirmation email to that contact.

You can build on this setup by adding more steps to your Automation, such as time delays and reminder emails as the event date approaches.

Other ways to use the 'Contact is added to a list’ trigger

Here are a couple of other practical ways to use this trigger:

• Onboarding flows by language or region
  • Create contact lists like Onboarding: English or Onboarding: EU customers based on language or region properties.
  • When a contact is added to one of these lists, trigger a short onboarding email series in the correct language or for the right region.
• VIP or beta tester lists
  • Maintain a list such as Beta testers or VIP customers.
  • When a contact is added (via form, manual update, or CSV import), automatically send a welcome email with instructions, early‑access links, or exclusive resources.

These patterns all follow the same structure: create a list based on contact properties, then use Contact is added to a list to trigger the right email at the moment someone joins that segment.