ReCurr Pro Tutorial Series — Part 2: CRM Automation & Campaigns

ReCurr Pro feature — Requires an active ReCurr Pro licence (RECPRO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and the ReCurr Pro plugin installed alongside the ReCurr base plugin.

The CRM Automation engine lets you create workflows that respond to customer events automatically — sending emails, adding tags, creating follow-up tasks, and more. Combined with the Campaign system, you can send targeted email broadcasts and set up drip sequences without leaving WordPress.

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Before You Begin

• ReCurr Pro is installed and your Pro licence key is active
• You have reviewed Pro Tutorial 1: CRM Getting Started and are familiar with contacts, lifecycle stages, and tags
• You have at least a few contacts in your CRM (synced from WooCommerce customers)

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Part A: Automations

Automations are “if this, then that” rules. When a trigger event occurs and conditions are met, one or more actions execute automatically.

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Step 1: Access Automations

1. Go to Subscriptions > CRM Automations in your WordPress dashboard
2. You will see the automations list — empty on first visit

Screenshot 1: The CRM Automations list page (empty state with “Add New Automation” button).

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Step 2: Create Your First Automation

Click Add New Automation. The automation builder has three sections: Trigger, Conditions, and Actions.

Choose a Trigger

The trigger determines which event starts the automation. Select one from the dropdown:

Subscription Triggers:

Trigger	Fires When
Subscription Created	A new subscription is created
Trial Started	A customer begins a free trial
Trial Ending Soon	A trial is approaching its end date
Trial Converted	A trial converts to a paid subscription
Trial Cancelled	A customer cancels during their trial
Subscription Cancelled	An active subscription is cancelled
Subscription Expired	A subscription reaches its expiry date

Payment Triggers:

Trigger	Fires When
Payment Received	A subscription payment is successfully processed
Payment Failed	A payment attempt fails

CRM Triggers:

Trigger	Fires When
Contact Created	A new CRM contact is added
Lifecycle Changed	A contact’s lifecycle stage transitions
Tag Added	A specific tag is assigned to a contact
Tag Removed	A specific tag is removed from a contact

Affiliate Triggers:

Trigger	Fires When
Affiliate Approved	An affiliate application is approved
Referral Made	An affiliate generates a new referral

Scheduled Triggers:

Trigger	Fires When
Inactivity	A contact has been inactive for a configurable number of days (checked daily)

Screenshot 2: The trigger dropdown showing all available trigger categories and options.

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Step 3: Set Conditions (Optional)

Conditions let you narrow down which contacts the automation applies to. If no conditions are set, the automation fires for all contacts that match the trigger.

Available conditions:

Condition	Description
Lifecycle Stage	Only fire if the contact is in a specific stage (e.g., Active, At Risk)
Has Tag	Only fire if the contact has a specific tag
Does Not Have Tag	Only fire if the contact does not have a specific tag

You can combine multiple conditions — all must be true for the automation to proceed.

Screenshot 3: The conditions section with a lifecycle stage condition set to “Active” and a tag condition set to “VIP”.

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Step 4: Add Actions

Actions define what happens when the trigger fires and conditions are met. You can chain multiple actions in sequence.

Available Actions

Action	Description
Send Email	Sends a campaign email to the contact (with merge tags and open tracking)
Add Tag	Assigns a tag to the contact
Remove Tag	Removes a tag from the contact
Change Lifecycle	Moves the contact to a specific lifecycle stage
Assign To	Assigns the contact to a specific team member
Create Task	Creates a follow-up task (configurable type, priority, due date, assignee)
Add Note	Adds a note to the contact’s activity timeline
Send Webhook	Sends a JSON POST request to an external URL with contact and event data
Wait	Pauses the automation for a set period (minutes, hours, days, or weeks)
Apply Coupon	Generates a single-use WooCommerce coupon restricted to the contact’s email

Screenshot 4: The actions panel showing a “Send Email” action followed by a “Wait” action and then an “Add Tag” action.

The Wait Action

The Wait action is powerful for building drip sequences. When a Wait action is encountered, the automation pauses and resumes after the specified time using WordPress cron.

Example drip sequence:

1. Send Email — “Welcome to your trial!”
2. Wait — 3 days
3. Send Email — “Getting the most from your subscription”
4. Wait — 4 days
5. Send Email — “Your trial is ending soon — here’s what you’ll get as a subscriber”
6. Add Tag — “Trial Nurtured”

Screenshot 5: A multi-step automation with Send Email, Wait, Send Email, Wait, Send Email, and Add Tag actions configured as a trial nurture sequence.

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Step 5: Name and Activate

1. Enter a descriptive Automation Name (e.g., “Trial Welcome Drip”, “Payment Failed Follow-up”)
2. Toggle the automation to Active
3. Click Save Automation

Screenshot 6: The automation name field and active toggle at the top of the builder.

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Step 6: Test the Automation

To verify your automation works:

1. Trigger the event manually (e.g., create a test subscription to fire “Subscription Created”)
2. Open the contact’s profile and check the activity timeline
3. Verify the actions executed — emails sent, tags added, tasks created, etc.

Automations include deduplication — the same automation will not fire twice for the same contact within a one-hour window, preventing accidental spam.

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Example Automations

Here are practical automation recipes to get you started:

Payment Failed Recovery

• Trigger: Payment Failed
• Actions:
  1. Change Lifecycle → At Risk
  2. Add Tag → “Payment Issue”
  3. Send Email → “We had trouble processing your payment — please update your payment details”
  4. Create Task → Type: Follow-up, Priority: High, Due: 3 days, Title: “Follow up on failed payment”

Trial Conversion Nurture

• Trigger: Trial Started
• Actions:
  1. Send Email → “Welcome to your free trial!”
  2. Wait → 3 days
  3. Send Email → “Tips for getting started”
  4. Wait → 3 days
  5. Send Email → “Your trial ends soon — subscribe to keep access”

Churn Win-back

• Trigger: Subscription Cancelled
• Actions:
  1. Change Lifecycle → Churned
  2. Add Tag → “Churned”
  3. Wait → 7 days
  4. Send Email → “We miss you — here’s 20% off to come back”
  5. Apply Coupon → 20% discount, single use

VIP Recognition

• Trigger: Payment Received
• Conditions: Lifecycle Stage = Active, Has Tag = “VIP”
• Actions:
  1. Add Note → “VIP payment received — check if follow-up needed”
  2. Create Task → Type: Call, Priority: Normal, Due: 1 day, Title: “VIP check-in call”

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Part B: Email Campaigns

Campaigns let you send one-off email broadcasts to targeted segments of your contact list.

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Step 7: Access Campaigns

1. Go to Subscriptions > CRM Campaigns
2. Click Add New Campaign

Screenshot 7: The CRM Campaigns list page with the “Add New Campaign” button.

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Step 8: Create a Campaign

Fill in the campaign details:

Campaign Settings

Field	Description
Campaign Name	Internal name for reference (not shown to recipients)
Subject Line	The email subject — supports merge tags
Recipients	Choose a segment or tag to target

Email Content

Write your email in the content editor. You can use HTML or plain text.

Merge Tags

Personalise your emails with merge tags that are replaced with contact-specific data:

Merge Tag	Replaced With
{first_name}	Contact’s first name
{subscription_plan}	Name of their current subscription plan
{next_renewal_date}	Date of their next billing renewal
{total_spent}	Total amount the contact has spent
{affiliate_link}	The contact’s affiliate referral link (if they are an affiliate)

Screenshot 8: The campaign editor showing the subject line field with a merge tag, recipient selector set to a tag, and the email content area with merge tags used in the body text.

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Step 9: Send or Schedule

Once your campaign content is ready:

1. Review the recipient count — the number of contacts matching your target segment or tag
2. Click Send Now to send immediately, or schedule for a specific date and time
3. Campaigns are sent in batches via WordPress cron to prevent server overload

Screenshot 9: The campaign send confirmation showing the recipient count and Send Now button.

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Step 10: Track Campaign Results

After sending, the campaign page shows tracking metrics:

• Sent — total emails dispatched
• Opened — contacts who opened the email (tracked via open pixel)
• Clicked — contacts who clicked a link in the email
• Bounced — emails that failed to deliver
• Unsubscribed — contacts who opted out

Screenshot 10: Campaign results page showing sent, opened, clicked, bounced, and unsubscribed counts with percentages.

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Important Notes

• Deduplication prevents spam. The same automation will not fire twice for the same contact within one hour. This protects against edge cases like rapid status changes.
• Emails use your site’s mail configuration. Campaigns are sent via wp_mail(), which routes through whatever SMTP plugin or mail service you have configured. For deliverability, we recommend using a transactional email service (e.g., Mailgun, MailerSend, SendGrid, Amazon SES).
• Unsubscribe handling is automatic. Every campaign email includes an unsubscribe link. Contacts who unsubscribe are marked accordingly and excluded from future campaigns.
• Wait actions use WordPress cron. Ensure your site’s WP-Cron is running reliably. On high-traffic sites, consider replacing WP-Cron with a real server cron job for more precise timing.
• Webhooks are fire-and-forget. The Send Webhook action posts JSON data to your specified URL but does not retry on failure. Use this for integrating with external systems like Slack, Zapier, or custom APIs.

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What’s Next?

Up next: Pro Tutorial 3: Affiliate Program Setup — Enabling the affiliate program, configuring registration, and creating commission programs.

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Quick Checklist

• [ ] Accessed CRM Automations page
• [ ] Created an automation with a trigger, conditions, and actions
• [ ] Tested the automation by triggering the event manually
• [ ] Verified actions executed in the contact’s activity timeline
• [ ] Accessed CRM Campaigns page
• [ ] Created a campaign with merge tags
• [ ] Sent or scheduled a test campaign
• [ ] Reviewed campaign tracking metrics

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This is Part 2 of the ReCurr Pro Tutorial Series.

Tutorial	Topic
Pro 1. CRM Getting Started	Contacts, lifecycle stages, tags, tasks
Pro 2. CRM Automation & Campaigns	Automated workflows, email campaigns, merge tags (you are here)
Pro 3. Affiliate Program Setup	Enabling affiliates, registration, commission programs
Pro 4. Affiliate Commissions & Payouts	Referral tracking, commissions, payout processing
Pro 5. Affiliate Portal & Creatives	Frontend portal, banners, links, QR codes
Pro 6. Reports & Analytics	CRM dashboard, affiliate reports, revenue insights