Setting up an automated email takes an hour or two. Getting it right takes a little planning first. This guide uses a villa rental company on Antigua’s south coast as its example, but the same steps apply to a restaurant, a retailer, a marina or a professional firm.
Part 1: plan before you build
List the moments that repeat
Write down every email your team sends more than a few times a month. For the villa company: booking confirmation, pre-arrival information, a mid-stay check-in, a thank-you after checkout, and a re-booking offer. Each one is a candidate for automation.
Decide the trigger
Every automation starts with something that happens:
- A sign-up: someone joins your list through a form.
- A date: a stored date such as arrival, birthday or renewal.
- An action: a click on a link in an earlier email.
Map the data you need
A pre-arrival email needs the arrival date, the villa name and the guest’s first name. Create these as custom contact fields in Mailpro and make sure your booking process fills them in.
Part 2: build the sequence in Mailpro
- Go to the automated emails section and choose the trigger type. For our villa example, pick a date-based automated email linked to the arrival date field.
- Set the offset: seven days before arrival.
- Design the email with the builder or a template. Include a “getting here” section, excursion suggestions (a catamaran trip to Barbuda, a hike to Shirley Heights, snorkelling at Cades Reef) and a button to reply with requests.
- Add a second automation for one day before arrival, with the check-in time, the address and the property manager’s +1 268 number.
- Add a third, three days after departure, thanking the guest and linking to a short survey.
- Set the send hour. Most guests live in North America or Europe, so choose a time that lands in their morning, not just in Atlantic Standard Time.
Part 3: separate service from marketing
The pre-arrival and check-in emails are service messages linked to the booking. The re-booking offer three months later is marketing. Under Antigua and Barbuda’s Data Protection Act, 2013, consent is the general rule for processing personal data, so send promotional automations only to guests who ticked the newsletter box. Guests from Canada or the EU are also covered by CASL or the GDPR, which point the same way. The email marketing law guide has details.
Part 4: test
- Create a test contact with an arrival date a week away and check that the email fires.
- Check personalisation with a missing first name.
- Open it on a phone.
- Click every link, including maps and WhatsApp links.
Part 5: seasonal maintenance
Island businesses change with the seasons. Before each winter season, review the excursions you recommend and your opening hours. Before hurricane season starts in June, add a short line to pre-arrival emails pointing to your weather and rebooking policy. When hurricane warnings are issued, pause promotional automations so you are not sending cheerful offers at the wrong moment.
Other automations worth building
- Welcome series for newsletter sign-ups: a first email with a local guide, a second a week later introducing your team or your story.
- Birthday offers for restaurant, spa and retail loyalty members, sent at the start of their birthday month.
- Win-back messages for guests who have not returned in two years, with a note on what is new at the property.
- Renewal reminders for insurers, clubs and professional firms, triggered by an expiry date field.
- Event follow-ups after Antigua Sailing Week or a Carnival fete, thanking attendees and asking for feedback.
Part 6: measure
Once the automation has run for a month, check its results in the automated email statistics. If the pre-arrival email drives excursion bookings, you have a sequence worth expanding. For more ideas, go back to the automated email overview for Antigua and Barbuda.