# Automations (Beta)

Section: Automations (Beta) · Page: https://artsvp.com/docs/automations/overview

(Plans: Expert)

**Automations are in beta.** An automation is a standing instruction on your
programme: when something happens (the **trigger**) ARTSVP takes care of the
follow-up (the **action**) without anyone on your team lifting a finger. It
is how one event's momentum carries into the next: the guest who came to the
VIP preview receives the invitation to the talk; the collector who booked one
show in a season is invited to the next.

## What is live today

The beta currently offers two pairings:

| Trigger | Action |
|---|---|
| A booking becomes **Confirmed**: on an event, or on any event in a collection used as the trigger. | Create a personal invitation to a target event or collection for that booker. |
| An invitation is sent, an ARTSVP email, or a contact you log on that invitation. | Text that same invitation over WhatsApp, falling back to SMS if WhatsApp cannot deliver to a number in the UK, Germany, Spain, Latvia or Mexico. |

The created invitation is emailed with the target's saved invitation email:
the **Invite Email** under an event's **Settings** → **Emails**, or the
**Invite Email Template** under a collection's **Settings** → **Details**.
With nothing saved there, it uses ARTSVP's standard invitation wording. A rule
can carry its own wording instead, and it can also carry tags, a use limit,
and payment behaviour.

Invitation texts use ARTSVP's invitation template, not the email you composed.
The WhatsApp message opens with the event or collection's **Social Sharing**
picture. Set that under the event's **Settings** → **Advanced**, or the
collection's **Settings** → **Details**. See
[Publishing and sharing](https://artsvp.com/docs/events/publishing-and-sharing#social-sharing).
The guest's invitation needs a mobile number with a country code. Include a
phone column when you import a CSV. See
[Invitations](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/invitations).

There is no self-service editor or run-history screen in the interface yet, so
using an automation starts with a conversation: contact
[support](https://artsvp.com/docs/reference/support) to set up a rule for your programme, and to
change, pause, or investigate one later. A rule can be paused without deleting
its run history, and a trigger event or collection can have at most five
enabled automations.

## How a rule runs

### After a confirmed booking

1. A booking becomes **Confirmed** on the trigger event or collection.
2. ARTSVP checks that the target is still open and the booker has a valid
   email.
3. ARTSVP creates the personal invitation to the target event or collection.

### After an invitation is sent

1. An invitation is sent by email, or you log a contact on it.
2. ARTSVP checks the invitation still has a usable mobile number, has not
   been declined or fully used, has not used all 5 of its sends, and is for an
   event that has not ended.
3. ARTSVP texts the personal invite link. The email, if you sent one, goes
   immediately; the text follows.

One thing to be aware of: a rule texts an invitation once. Resending the email
does not send another text. The text counts as one of the invitation's 5 sends
through ARTSVP, a limit it shares with the invitation's emails. A large send can
take a while to finish texting, even though every email has already gone. A
guest who replies STOP to a text will not receive further ones.

## What a rule will never do

An automation runs once per source booking or once per invitation, and it is
careful about who it reaches.

For a new invitation it does not create another active invitation when the
person is already invited to the target, it does not invite someone who already
booked the target event, and it cannot invite the booker back to the event they
just booked. Closed targets, cancelled source bookings, invalid email
addresses, restricted organisations, and plan downgrades are all skipped.

For an invitation text it skips a guest with no mobile number, a number that
has opted out, and an invitation that is declined, fully used, archived,
already at its limit of 5 sends, or for an event that has ended.
Overlapping event and collection rules do not send two texts to the same
invitation.

Anything beyond these live pairings (updating contacts, reacting to check-in,
or sending other kinds of message) is not something a rule can do in the
beta.

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Keep reading: [Invitations](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/invitations) ·
[Bookings](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/bookings) ·
[Collections Overview](https://artsvp.com/docs/collections/overview) ·
[Support](https://artsvp.com/docs/reference/support)

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