Why my automation isn't sending
Check the status first, then whether the trigger fired, then whether the one missing contact was ever eligible.
If an automation isn’t sending, start with its status badge on the Automations index or the automation’s own page. If the status looks right and it’s one specific person not getting mail, the cause is usually about them.
The automation itself isn’t sending to anyone
It isn’t live. Only a live automation sends. A draft has never gone live; a paused one has been stopped; an archived one is shelved for good. See Go live, pause, resume or archive.
It’s held in review. In review means an automatic check flagged it, usually clearing within a few hours. Nothing sends while it’s held, and it also blocks every other campaign and automation on the account. Your only self-serve option is Withdraw it, which shelves it. See Why one review blocks all my sending.
Billing paused it automatically. If the account falls behind on payment, every live automation is paused: the badge reads paused and the page shows “Paused — there’s a billing issue. Nothing sends until it’s sorted. Everyone in the flow is safely paused, timers stopped.” Fix billing, then click Resume yourself; it never resumes on its own. See Why sending is blocked.
Something else is blocking every send. A held campaign, a suspended account, or an unresolved AWS connection (if you’re on your own Amazon SES) blocks automation activation just like a campaign. See Why the Send button is disabled.
The trigger never fired for the person you expected
They came in through an import. Importing contacts into a list never fires the trigger, even a live “someone joins this list” one. Only a genuine new signup or confirmation does. See Why imports don’t trigger automations.
The trigger points at the wrong list, tag or form. Open the automation and check the Starts when card names the record you expect. A deleted record is flagged plainly; an existing but wrong one won’t warn you.
The event hasn’t happened yet. “Someone joins a list” fires on a confirmed subscribe: for a double opt-in list, that’s the confirmation click, not the signup. “Someone gets a tag” fires the moment the tag is added. Check the contact’s own activity.
This specific contact isn’t getting anything
They’ve already entered this automation. Entry is capped at once per contact, per automation, forever, even after finishing it or leaving early. See A contact enters an automation only once.
They’ve unsubscribed, bounced, or been marked as spam. An opted-out or suppressed contact is never mailed by an automation. If they were mid-run when this happened, that run exits immediately.
They left the list that enrolled them. For a list- or form-triggered automation, unsubscribing from that specific list exits their run, even if they’re still subscribed elsewhere.
Their run is stuck. If a rule a step depended on can no longer be checked (say a tag or segment a split used got deleted), the run stops rather than guessing. Check the Report tab for a stuck-runs count, and see Read an automation report.
Still stuck? Email support@emailfig.com with the automation’s name and the contact’s email address.