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The Send Email step sends an email to the people moving through your automation. The content comes from an email template, so you design the email once and reuse it across your automations.

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Setting It Up

When you add a Send Email step, choose:
  • An email template — the content source for the email
  • A subject line
  • A from name and from email
The body of the email is pulled from your selected template.

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Previewing and Editing the Email

Once a template is selected, the step’s settings show two buttons:
  • Preview — see the rendered email right inside the builder, without leaving the flow. This works for every template type, including HTML and plain-text templates.
  • Edit — jump straight into the template editor in a new tab to tweak the content.
Use Preview to double-check what recipients will get before enabling the automation — it’s the fastest way to catch a stale template.

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Merge Tags and Personalization

Automation emails support merge tags just like regular emails, so you can personalize them with the recipient’s details. This includes Planning Center custom field merge tags and @first-name / @last-name in the subject line.

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Content Is Fetched at Send Time

The template’s content is pulled when the email actually sends, not when you build the automation. That means if you edit a template that an active automation uses, people who reach the step afterward receive the updated content. See Editing & Activation for more.
Emails sent through automations count toward your send limit, the same as regular emails.