Build Automated Email Sequences: Shootmail + Upstash Workflow (For Devs)

Published : 2025-02-27
subhendu singh subhendu singh

Table of Contents

Personalized email marketing is no longer a luxury, it's a necessity. But for developers and SaaS owners, setting up reliable and engaging email sequences can feel like a constant battle. You're juggling design, content, and the complexities of ensuring your emails actually get delivered. What if you could automate this entire process, creating powerful drip campaigns without sacrificing scalability or reliability?

That's where Shootmail and Upstash Workflow come in. This guide will show you how to build robust email sequences and drip campaigns using Shootmail's intuitive email builder and Upstash Workflow's durable serverless functions. No more worrying about serverless function timeouts or lost leads – just scalable, personalized email marketing that works.

Understanding Email Sequences and Drip Campaigns

Before diving into the code, let's clarify the basics:

  • What is an Email Sequence? An email sequence is a pre-written series of automated emails triggered by a specific user action, like signing up for a trial, downloading a resource, or making a purchase. These sequences are designed to guide users through a specific journey.
  • What is a Drip Campaign? Think of a drip campaign as an email sequence's more sophisticated cousin. Email drip campaigns are also automated, but often used for longer-term engagement, building relationships, educating users about your product, and driving conversions over time.

Why are these strategies so important for SaaS businesses?

  • Increased user engagement and retention: Keep your users active and informed with personalized content.
  • Automated lead nurturing and sales: Guide potential customers through the sales funnel with targeted messaging.
  • Scalable personalized communication: Send the right message to the right user at the right time, without manual effort.

The Power of Shootmail for Email Creation

Stop wrestling with HTML and start crafting beautiful, high-converting emails with Shootmail.

  • Shootmail: Email Templates and Design Without the Headache: Shootmail's intuitive notion like email builder lets you design stunning emails in minutes, even without design expertise. Choose from a wide variety of pre-built, high-converting email templates to jumpstart your campaigns. Check out our blog post on 10 High-Converting Email Templates Every Solo Entrepreneur Needs for inspiration or checkout our entire templates catalogue. Plus, Shootmail ensures your emails look great on any device with mobile-responsive design and dark mode support. You can also check our email inspiration directory containing email campaigns from well known brands like Adobe, Apple, Blinkist, Canva etc.
  • Shootmail SDK: Integrate and Send Emails Directly From Code: For developers who prefer a code-first approach, the Shootmail SDK provides a powerful way to send emails directly from your applications. The SDK offers a unified interface for integrating with multiple email providers, including Resend, Mailchimp, SendGrid, Postmark, AWS SES and Emailit. Say goodbye to managing individual API keys and libraries for each provider!

Here's a basic example of initializing the Shootmail client and sending an email:

Install Shootmail’s SDK:

Initialize and Shoot:

See the complete Shootmail SDK documentation for more details.

  • Exporting Shootmail Templates: You can also export the emails directly from Shootmail to MailChimp, Brevo, SendGrid. This ensures that the designed email sequence can be exported to other services for marketing automation.

Upstash Workflow: Reliable Automation for Email Sequences

Now that you've created your beautiful email templates with Shootmail, it's time to automate the sending process with Upstash Workflow.

  • What is Upstash Workflow? Upstash Workflow lets you write durable, reliable and performant serverless functions. Think of it as a way to orchestrate complex tasks without worrying about infrastructure management.
  • Why Use Upstash Workflow for Email Sequences?

Building an Email Sequence with Shootmail and Upstash Workflow: A Code Example

Let's build a welcome email sequence for new SaaS sign-ups. This sequence will consist of three emails:

  • A welcome email sent immediately after sign-up.
  • A follow-up email sent after three days.
  • A final email sent after a week, encouraging users to upgrade.

Step 1: Setting up the Workflow Endpoint (Upstash Workflow)

First, we need to define a workflow endpoint using Upstash Workflow's serve method. This endpoint will receive the initial user data and trigger the email sequence.

Install Upstash workflow SDK

Import and use:

See the Upstash Workflow Create a workflow documentation for more.

Step 2: Sending the First Welcome Email (Shootmail SDK)

Now, let's use the Shootmail SDK to send the initial welcome email. We'll use the shoot method and provide the template ID, recipient email, and any personalized data.

Remember to replace "YOUR_WELCOME_TEMPLATE_ID" with the actual ID of your welcome email template in Shootmail.

Step 3: Delaying the Next Email (Upstash Workflow)

To delay the sending of the next email in the sequence, we'll use Upstash Workflow's context.sleep method. This will pause the workflow for three days.

Step 4: Checking User Activity (Upstash Workflow)

Before sending the follow-up email, let's check if the user has been active on our SaaS platform. We'll need to integrate with your application's data store to retrieve this information.

Step 5: Sending a Follow-Up Email (Shootmail SDK)

Finally, let's send a personalized follow-up email based on user activity.

Remember to replace "YOUR_ACTIVE_TEMPLATE_ID" and "YOUR_INACTIVE_TEMPLATE_ID" with the actual IDs of your follow-up email templates in Shootmail.

Complete Example

Here is the complete email sequence example that is used in Shootmail to welcome and follow up the users

Coding email sequence

Triggering workflow

Remember, for local development, use a tool like ngrok or cloudflare tunnels to generate a https url to test your workflow.

Advanced Email Sequence Strategies with Shootmail and Upstash Workflow

This is just the beginning! With Shootmail and Upstash Workflow, you can implement even more sophisticated email marketing strategies:

Personalization

  • Tailor email content based on detailed user data, behavior patterns, and individual preferences.
  • Leverage Shootmail's templating capabilities and Upstash Workflow's seamless data access.

A/B Testing

  • Experiment with different email subject lines, content variations, and sending times to optimize campaign performance.
  • Use Upstash Workflow to randomly assign users to different test groups and track results.

Segmentation

  • Divide your email list into segments based on demographics, interests, or specific actions taken within your SaaS platform.
  • Develop tailored email sequences for each segment to maximize relevance and engagement.

Integration with Other Tools

  • Webhooks: Trigger email sequences based on events from other applications, such as new sign-ups, completed purchases, or canceled subscriptions. Learn how to trigger workflows from webhooks in the Upstash documentation.
  • AI Builder: Use the Shootmail AI email builder trained to create professional emails inside the Shootmail email editor so that you can customize the emails quickly.

Shootmail and Upstash Workflow: The Perfect Combination for Developers

Building automated email sequences and drip campaigns doesn't have to be a headache. Shootmail and Upstash Workflow empower developers to create powerful, personalized email marketing experiences with ease. With Shootmail's intuitive email builder and SDK alongside Upstash Workflow's reliable automation, you can focus on growing your SaaS business, not managing infrastructure.

Ready to level up your email marketing? Sign up for Shootmail and Upstash today and start building your own automated email sequences!