"I created a segment to be used with a particular workflow / nurturing campaign. How do I trigger it to start considering they are already in the segment / list?"
“Now that I have upgraded my subscription from the free plan, how can I add my existing subscribers to a workflow?”
A subscriber starts going through a published workflow when they enter its trigger segment.
But what if you already have subscribers in that segment before you create your workflow?
The bad news is they won’t start receiving the workflow emails automatically.
The good news is there’s a solution. 🙌
If you want to add existing subscribers to an already published workflow
1. Create a new segment and leave it blank
Go to your Audience > Segments dashboard and click on + New segment.
Give this segment a name and don’t add any subscriber email addresses to it just yet.
In our example, we named this segment “New segment".
2. Pause your workflow
In your workflows dashboard, hover over the workflow’s card, click the three dots (...) in the upper right corner and toggle off the Publish button. This will pause the workflow so you can edit it.
3. Add this new segment as the trigger segment in your workflow
4. Publish the workflow again
Important: make sure you publish the workflow before completing the last step (step 5) below.
To publish a workflow, click on the Publish link in the upper right corner.
Next, click on the Publish now button.
5. Select your subscribers in bulk and add them to this new segment
What happens?
These subscribers will be recognized as new to the trigger segment and will enter the workflow.
If you want to add existing subscribers to a new workflow
1. Create a new segment and leave it blank
Go to your Audience > Segments dashboard and click on + New segment.
Give this segment a name and don’t add any subscriber email addresses to it just yet.
In our example, we named this segment “New segment".
2. Create a new workflow and use the above segment as its trigger segment.
3. Build the workflow with all the steps you need and then publish it.
4. Once the workflow is published, Select your existing subscribers in bulk and add them to this new segment.
What happens?
These subscribers will be recognized as new to the trigger segment and will enter the workflow.
Summary
If you already have subscribers in a segment you use for a workflow’s trigger, they can’t automatically start in the workflow. To add your existing subscribers to a workflow, create and add a new trigger segment to the workflow, and after re-publishing it, add your existing subscribers to the new trigger segment in bulk.
If you have upgraded from the free plan to a paid subscription and would like to send your existing subscribers to a workflow, use a new segment for the workflow’s trigger that has no subscribers in it yet. And once the workflow is published, select your existing subscribers in bulk and add them to the workflow’s trigger segment.