Automations – Messages That Send Themselves
Automations are the most powerful side of Vendion Marketing. Instead of creating campaigns manually every week, you set up rules once — then the system sends the right message to the right guest at the right time, endlessly in the background. A birthday greeting to every guest, the day before. A win-back campaign to everyone who hasn't visited in 60 days, every Monday.
Open:
- Go to Marketing → Automations
- You'll see all automations (active and inactive), when they last triggered, and how many SMS have been sent
Three trigger types
| Trigger type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Event | Sent when something specific happens | First visit, order paid, tag added, reservation confirmed |
| Schedule | Sent regularly (e.g. weekly) | Every Monday at 10:00 to at-risk guests |
| Date field | Sent based on a date in the guest profile | 1 day before birthday at 10:00 |
Six preset automations (seeded per restaurant)
When your restaurant is created in Vendion, six ready-made automations are added automatically. All are enabled by default, but you can disable individual ones directly.
1. Welcome SMS (first visit + 24 h)
- Trigger: Event "First visit", 24-hour delay
- Template: "Hi {name}! Thanks for visiting {restaurant}. Welcome back soon! {booking_link}"
- Purpose: Convert first-time visits to second visits — the industry's strongest profitability lever
2. Birthday greeting (1 day before)
- Trigger: Date field "Birthday", 1 day before, 10:00
- Template: "Happy birthday {name}! Bubbly on us when you celebrate with us. {booking_link}"
- Purpose: Birthday campaigns convert at 18–25% per industry data
3. Win-back (60+ days without visit)
- Trigger: Schedule every Monday 10:00, condition "60+ days since last visit AND at least 3 total visits"
- Template: "Hi {name}, it's been a while! We miss you at {restaurant}. {booking_link}"
- Purpose: Recover lost regulars before they forget about you
4. Thank you after visit (order paid + 2 h)
- Trigger: Event "Visit completed", 2-hour delay
- Template: "Thanks for visiting {name}! Hope you enjoyed it. Want to rate us? {link}"
- Purpose: Feedback collection, reviews, follow-up
5. No-show follow-up (no-show + 1 h)
- Trigger: Event "No-show", 1-hour delay
- Template: "Hi {name}, we saw you missed your reservation today. Want to rebook? {booking_link}"
- Purpose: Catch missed bookings before the guest feels shut out
6. VIP upgrade (tag added = VIP)
- Trigger: Event "Tag added", tag filter "VIP", no delay
- Template: "Hi {name}! You're now a VIP guest at {restaurant}. Exclusive offers await."
- Purpose: Personal confirmation of elevated status, reinforces loyalty
Template variables — personalization
All message templates can use variables that are replaced with the guest's actual data at send time:
| Variable | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| {name} | Guest's name | "Anna" |
| {restaurant} | Restaurant's name | "Kräm" |
| {booking_link} | Link to the booking page | "https://vendion.app/book/kram" |
| {last_visit} | Guest's last visit (date) | "12 Apr" |
| {total_spend} | Total spending | "5230 SEK" |
| {total_visits} | Number of visits | "15" |
| {loyalty_tier} | Loyalty tier | "Gold" |
| {points_balance} | Points balance | "1250" |
Variables work in both SMS and email. A template without {name} in the opening feels impersonal — always use it.
Scheduling and delay
All event triggers support delay:
- Immediately
- 2 hours
- 24 hours
- 7 days
Schedule-based automations can run on a recurring basis, for example:
- Every Monday 10:00
- Every Friday 18:00
- First day of every month at 12:00
Spam protection — built-in safeguards
Automations are powerful, which means they can also spam guests. Vendion has three protection mechanisms:
1. Weekly SMS limit per guest (2 per week) Max 2 automation SMS can be sent to the same guest per rolling 7-day window. If the limit is hit, the third send is silently skipped. Protects against overlapping automations all triggering at once.
2. 30-day cooldown per automation per guest The same automation can't send to the same guest within 30 days. If a "Thanks after visit" was already sent 15 days ago, the next visit's thanks is skipped. This means a VIP who eats with you 8 times a month doesn't get 8 thank-you SMS.
3. Consent check on every send Before SMS is sent, the guest's SMS consent is checked. If the guest replied STOP in the last 24 hours, the send is skipped. GDPR and PUL are respected automatically.
Disable an automation
Open the automation → toggle Active off. No new events are queued, but already-queued sends will go out.
Create your own automations
Click New automation in the top right. You can:
- Choose trigger type (event, schedule, date field)
- Add segment or tag filter (e.g. only VIP guests)
- Write your own message text with variables
- Test before activating ("Test" sends to a specific guest you choose)
Tips
- Start with presets — the six seeded automations cover 80% of the need
- Use segment filters sparingly — overly narrow automations rarely trigger
- Inspect the history — every automation has a "History" tab showing who got what
- Don't upgrade too often — 30-day cooldown isn't a race, it's protection from irritation
This feature is part of Vendion Marketing.
Curious how it looks in practice? Read more about the product or book a short demo.
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