Test with a contact
Test with a contact runs the draft from start to finish for one contact you pick:
- waits are skipped (or use Run the next step now to go step by step);
- emails go only to the address in Send test emails to (yours), never the contact, and are never billed;
- you see every step and what happened.
Tests don't count in the stats unless you tick Include tests.
Runs: each person's trip
Every person in an automation has a run: Waiting to start, Running, Waiting, Finished, Failed or Canceled, with every step it took, when, what was sent, and any problem in plain words. From a run you can Remove from automation.
A contact's page also shows the automations they're in, with Add to automation.
When a step fails
A step that fails for a reason that might pass (a provider being slow) is tried again after 1 minute, then 5, 30 minutes, 2 hours and 12 hours, and the run shows Trying again with the reason. If it still fails, the run stops at that step as Failed, it shows under Needs attention (with Needs attention only to see just those), and the business's owners and managers get a notification: " needs attention".
A step that can never work as set (no email address, they unsubscribed, a missing template) is skipped or fails straight away with exactly what to fix.
Try the step again re-runs it once you've fixed the cause. A step that already sent its email never sends it twice, even if it's retried.
Stats
Stats shows, for Last 7 / 30 / 90 days, how many people started from each trigger, how many reached each step, and for emails how many were Sent, Opened and Clicked. In it now is how many are inside.
Why didn't it start for…
Pick a contact under Why didn't it start for… to see the last times a trigger was checked for them and why it did or didn't start, for example "They're already in this automation.", "The automation is off (paused, or not switched on yet).", or "Didn't pass the filter" with the filter that failed. Their runs are listed too.