Email Sequences and Triggers

Every email and SMS template in LendAPI is attached to one trigger, which answers the question "when should this be sent?". Some templates are sent once. Product-triggered email templates can also run a sequence, a series of timed reminders such as "1 hour, then 2 hours later, then 4 hours later".

Use this guide to choose the right trigger, understand reminder timing, and know why a message did or did not go out. To build the template itself, see Email and SMS Templates.

Key concepts

Outcome trigger: sends when a decision outcome is assigned to an application (for example Approved, Declined, Review, or one of your custom outcomes).
Event trigger: sends when a lifecycle event happens, such as a contract being signed or an application being withdrawn.
Product trigger: sends based on where the applicant is in a product's application journey: a tab opening, a tab being completed, or the whole form being completed or abandoned.
Sequence: follow-up reminders after the first send. Available for Product triggers only.
Stop condition: a check made just before each reminder goes out. If the applicant has moved on, the reminder is skipped.

Triggers

Choose a trigger

Pick the trigger type, then the specific outcome, condition or event.

You want to send…	Choose
A decision-specific email or SMS	The matching outcome(s)

Each outcome can have its own email template and its own SMS template.

You want to send…	Choose
Help text when the applicant opens a step	Tab is loaded + the tab
A confirmation after the applicant submits a step	Tab is completed + the tab
An "all done, here's what happens next" email	Form is completed
Nudges for applicants who started but didn't finish	Form is not completed

You want to send…	Choose
A note to your team or the applicant when an application is created	New Application
A signing request to a co-signer	Contract is not signed
A confirmation once a contract is signed	Contract is signed
An acknowledgement of a withdrawal	Application withdrawn
A link to continue the application after a reviewer approves it out of review	Continue Application
An invitation for a co-applicant to join	Multi Applicant Trigger

Contract is not signed templates are the ones you pick as the signing email for each signer in the Contract Builder. See Contracts and E-Signature.
Multi Applicant Trigger templates are the invite emails sent to co-applicants. You choose which one to use in the multi-applicant settings of the page in Product Studio.
If you manage sub-tenants, an Event template can be limited to specific tenants with the Tenant field.

Both Email and SMS templates can use Outcome and Event triggers. Application reverted and loan funded emails are system templates. You can edit their wording, but their trigger is fixed.

How Product triggers fire

Condition	When it fires	Notes
Tab is loaded	The applicant opens one of the selected tabs	Fires once per tab per application, even if the applicant comes back to the tab.
Tab is completed	The applicant submits one of the selected tabs
Form is completed	The applicant submits the final step of the journey
Form is not completed	Scheduled when the application is created	Reminders only. Nothing is sent immediately. Each reminder checks the application first (see below).

A Product template only fires for applications on the product you selected.

Set up a sequence

Set the sequence in the template's SEQUENCE section:

Set Type to Single email or Sequence of emails.
For a sequence, add steps. For each step, enter a number in Wait for and choose hour or day.

Each wait is counted from the previous reminder, not from the start. The waits add up:

Waits you enter	Reminders go out after
1 h, 2 h, 4 h	1 h, 3 h, 7 h
1 day, 2 days, 4 days	1 day, 3 days, 7 days

A sequence can have at most 5 reminders. Extra steps are ignored.
Zero values are ignored.
The clock starts when the trigger fires. For Form is not completed, that is when the application is created.

🚧
Product triggers only
Sequence timing applies only to Product triggers. Outcome and Event templates send once, at the moment the trigger happens.

sequenceDiagram
    participant A as Applicant
    participant L as LendAPI
    A->>L: Opens "Income" tab (Tab is loaded)
    L-->>A: Email sent now
    Note over L: Wait 1 h
    L->>L: Still on "Income"? yes
    L-->>A: Reminder 1
    Note over L: Wait 2 h
    L->>L: Still on "Income"? no, moved on
    Note over L: Reminder skipped, sequence ends

What gets sent

Condition	First send	With Single email	With Sequence of emails
Tab is loaded / Tab is completed / Form is completed	Immediately	No follow-ups	Immediate send, then one reminder per step
Form is not completed	None	One reminder 1 hour after the application is created	One reminder per step, starting from application creation

When reminders stop

Reminders stop on their own when they no longer make sense:

Form is not completed: each reminder is skipped if the application has been completed, or its stage is Booked, Declined, Withdrawn, Closed or Completed.
Tab is loaded: each reminder is skipped if the applicant is no longer on one of the template's tabs. Every later reminder makes the same check, so the rest of the chain ends.
Any template: reminders are skipped if the template has been deactivated. If no recipient can be resolved, the email is not sent.

Reminders are scheduled when the trigger fires, using the subject and body of the version that was live at that moment. Recipients, attachments and the Active switch are checked again when each reminder is due. If you change the wording, applications that trigger the template after you set the new version live get the new text. Reminders already scheduled keep the old text.

Custom drip logic with Flow Builder

If you need logic that a template sequence can't express, for example "wait two days, then send an SMS only if a document is still missing", you can build it in Flow Builder (beta). Combine a Delay node, a Condition node, and Email or SMS action nodes that send your published templates. Each Email or SMS node sends the template's live version, so you still manage the message content under Templates → Email & SMS.

Troubleshooting and tips

Troubleshoot a missing message

Check, in order:

Is the template Active? Inactive templates never send.
Is there a live version? Saving a draft doesn't change what is sent. Publish it and set it live.
Does the trigger match? Check that the outcome was actually assigned, that you picked the right product, and that the tab names in the template match the journey.
Are there recipients? Check the template's recipients. Add the applicant's email variable if the applicant should receive it.
Did a stop condition apply? The applicant may have finished or moved past the tab before the reminder was due.
Are you in the right environment? Sandbox and Production have separate templates. See Sandbox and Live.

👍
Check the Comms tab
Every message that was sent is listed on the application's Comms tab.

Permissions

Triggers and sequences are part of the template, so they need Templates → Email & SMS with Edit access. Flow Builder needs its own Flow Builder module access. See Roles and Permissions.

Best practices

Front-load your reminders. Most applicants come back within the first day. A sequence like 1 h, 23 h, 2 days works better than evenly spaced reminders.
Use Form is not completed for abandonment, and Tab is loaded for step-specific help. Tab reminders stop as soon as the applicant moves on.
Keep it to five or fewer. That is the limit, and more reminders tend to drive unsubscribes rather than completions.
Pair email with SMS carefully. Each channel needs its own template. Make sure the two don't both fire at the same moment.

Related guides

Email and SMS Templates

Build and publish the messages themselves.

Contracts and E-Signature

Set up signing emails for each signer.

Sandbox and Live

Test triggers safely before going live.