Triggering Automated Journeys Using Existing Email Lists

When you create a new journey, your triggered automations will only send to new subscribers who join the list through your CRM by default. If you would like to share your new journey with contacts already on an Email List, then you have two options:

1. Segment with “Plug” - create a segment in your existing list and manually trigger the journey. This sends to your list all at once. You can also add additional rules to send to a specific segment.
2. Add Send Dates - reimport your list with send dates to send on a specific date. Good for sending a journey to subscribers on different days.

If you prefer to work with CRM and Email Lists instead, you can Create an Automation from Existing Contacts.

Option 1: Segment with "Plug"

1. On the Nurture dashboard, navigate to your Email Lists and select the Email List you would like to use.
2. Select Create a new segment.
   
3. Build a new segment with the rule “Email address” “does not contain” “@”. This is your “plug” rule. It will prevent anyone from being on this list initially. You can add additional rules at this time to further segment this group.
   
   
4. Give the segment a name and save it. Keep in mind, unless other rules were added, this segment will contain all existing and future contacts. There should be zero contacts in this segment at this stage.
5. Head over to the Automation tab at the top of the Nurture dashboard, and create/duplicate your journey.
6. Select the “Subscriber enters a segment” trigger and select the segment you just created. If the journey was duplicated, you can click on the first block in the journey to change the trigger.
   
   
7. Make sure your journey is ready to go and turn it on.
8. When you’re ready to send the journey: Open the segment you created and update the rule to “Email address” “contains” “@”, then click Save. At this time, the journey will trigger for existing subscribers in the segment. It may take a few minutes to send if it is a large list.

Option 2: Add Send Dates

Navigate to the Email Lists tab at the top of the Nurture dashboard, and find the desired Email List.

1. Create a new custom field in your list for the send date.
   
2. Select Add custom field to add a new one. Name the field after the journey and “Send Date” to help keep your custom fields organized. When prompted to select a field type, select Date.
   
   
3. Head over to the Automation tab at the top of the Nurture dashboard, and create/duplicate your journey.
4. Select the A date trigger and select the custom date field you just created. If the journey was duplicated, you can click on the first block in the journey to change the trigger.
   
   
5. Date-triggered journeys trigger at midnight. Add a Delay journey step immediately after the trigger and set it to what time in the day you’d like the journey to send. For example, 18 hours = 6 pm.
   
6. Turn on the journey.
7. Navigate back to the Email Lists tab at the top of the Nurture dashboard. Find the list you’d like to use and Export list. You only need emails, but it doesn't hurt to have names so you know which subscribers you’re working with.
   
   
8. In a spreadsheet editor, add a date column and fill it in with the date(s) you’d like this automation to send. The date must be the day after the current date or later.
9. Back on the Email Lists dashboard, click on the desired email list.
10. Select the Add new subscribers button on the top-right corner of the page to import this spreadsheet to your list. You’ll need to select the custom field you created in Step 1 for your date column.
    
    
11. Check that the import was successful. At this time you can leave the journey to send on the scheduled date. It’s always good practice to check that the journey is sending when expected.