Automation Basics
What marketing automations are
Journeys that run themselves when a customer does something — and how they differ from a campaign you send.
Last updated September 2, 2026
A campaign is something you send. An automation is something that happens: a customer does a thing, and Gorilla Dash follows up without anybody remembering to.
| Campaign | Automation | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | Once, when you send it. | Continuously, per person, when they trigger it. |
| Audience | A mailing list, as it stands today. | Whoever meets the trigger, whenever they do. |
| Good for | News, offers, newsletters. | Welcomes, follow-ups, win-backs, reminders. |
The two halves
- Buckets — groups of people, worked out from rules. "Customers who bought in the last year", "enquiries that never converted".
- Workflows — what happens: wait three days, send an email, check whether they replied, move them to a stage.
Most automations are a bucket and a workflow working together: someone falls into a bucket, which starts a workflow, which eventually moves them out of it.
What people use them for
- Welcoming a new customer in the week after their first purchase.
- Following up an enquiry that nobody has answered.
- Winning back customers who have gone quiet.
- Asking for a review a few days after a job is finished.
- Reminding people about an appointment or an expiring promotion.
START WITH ONE
The best first automation is the follow-up your team already does by hand and sometimes forgets. Automate that, watch it for a month, then build the next one.