The Email Marketing Workflow is your agent's engine for sending proactive, AI-generated outbound emails to students in your constituent base. Your agent selects relevant topics from your knowledge base, personalizes each email to the individual student, and handles any replies that come back — all automatically. Email Marketing lives in the Workflows section of the platform.
Finding your email marketing workflow
In the left sidebar, click Workflows under your agent.
Look for your Email Marketing Workflow. It will show a status of Live, Draft, or Paused.
📌 Your Email Marketing Workflow was configured by your CollegeVine team. You should not need to create it from scratch. If you don't see it, contact your CollegeVine Success Manager.
Configuring the workflow
To review or update your Email Marketing Workflow, open it from the Workflows list and click Edit in the top right to open the Configure workflow form.
Basic settings
Workflow name — The name of this workflow (e.g., "Email Marketing"). For reference only; does not affect behavior.
Email generation prompt — The content template that controls how your agent structures and phrases outbound emails. Pre-configured by your CollegeVine team and can be modified upon request with additional context or instructions.
Audience
Who should I be engaging with? — The constituent segment this workflow applies to. Determines which students are eligible to receive marketing emails, based on admissions status and lead stage. Contact your Success Manager to adjust the segment.
Auto shutoff date — Optionally set a date when the workflow automatically deactivates.
Inbound communication channels
Email (inbound) — The email address where student replies are received. This is your agent's inbound mailbox (e.g., your institution's admissions reply address). Configured in your Settings.
⚠️ If the inbound email channel is not set, the agent will not be able to receive or respond to student replies.
Actions
Under Add any actions I will need to use, at least the following should be configured (set up by your CollegeVine team):
email_constituent— sends AI-generated, branded marketing emails to studentsreply_to_constituent— handles responses when a student replies to a marketing emailknowledge_base— queries your institution's knowledge base to ground email content in accurate, up-to-date information
Email design
The visual design of your outbound marketing emails — including brand colors, banner images, contact information, and calls to action — is configured within the email_constituent tool by your CollegeVine team. If you want to update your email design, contact the CollegeVine team.
Set the workflow to live
Once the workflow is configured, click Save, then click Launch (or toggle the status from Draft to Live).
Confirm the status shows Live in the Workflows list.
💡 Before going live, use the test harness to preview how your agent generates and sends emails. See Testing below.
How it works
Once live, your Email Marketing Workflow runs automatically on a scheduled cadence:
The workflow checks which students in your constituent segment are due to receive the next email.
The agent queries your knowledge base to retrieve relevant content and topics.
Using the retrieved content and the student's profile data, the agent generates a personalized email.
The email is delivered to the student via
email_constituent, styled with your institution's branding.If the student replies, the agent receives the reply via the inbound email channel and generates a response using
reply_to_constituent.
📌 Send priority: Email Missions take priority over marketing emails. If a student is eligible for both in the same send cycle, the mission email goes first. The marketing sequence picks up on the next scheduled cycle.
Testing
Use the test harness to simulate how your agent generates a marketing email before going live:
Open your Email Marketing Workflow and click Test in the top-right corner.
Search for a specific constituent or generate a test constituent.
Click Start simulation to run through the interaction.
💡 For the most realistic results, test with a constituent that has real profile data (admissions status, prior interactions, etc.) populated. Testing with a blank constituent may not reflect real-world email quality.
Frequently asked questions
Is Email Marketing set up automatically?
Is Email Marketing set up automatically?
Yes. Your Email Marketing Workflow is set up by your CollegeVine team. You will not need to create it from scratch.
Can I change which students receive marketing emails?
Can I change which students receive marketing emails?
Yes — the constituent segment controls your audience. Contact your Success Manager to adjust the filters.
What happens when a student replies to a marketing email?
What happens when a student replies to a marketing email?
The agent receives the reply via the inbound email channel and responds automatically using reply_to_constituent.
Does the agent use my knowledge base for email content?
Does the agent use my knowledge base for email content?
Yes. The agent queries your knowledge base before generating each email to ensure content is accurate and grounded in your institution's information. Make sure your knowledge base is up to date and all changes are published.