Automation Failure Notifications

Get emailed when an automation run fails, when an automation stops polling your CRM, or when an automation is turned off.

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Overview

Automation failure notifications email your team when an automation needs attention — a run failed, an automation can’t reach your CRM, or an automation couldn’t be turned on. Instead of checking the Runs page, you find out from your inbox. Failed-run emails link straight to the failed run; CRM connection and turn-on emails link to the automation.

Notifications are opt-in. Nothing is emailed until an admin adds recipients to a notification rule.

These notifications are separate from Custom Notifications, which alert your team when a condition you define is detected in a lead conversation. Automation failure notifications only cover problems with your automations.

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What Sends an Email

Event	Email sent?	Details
A run fails	Yes	Sent when a run ends Failed. Steps that are retried automatically only count once every retry has been used up.
An automation can’t poll your CRM	Yes	Sent when an automation’s CRM checks have been failing continuously for 30 minutes. You get one email when it starts, then one recovered email when polling works again.
An automation couldn’t be turned on	Yes	For example, a Field updated trigger whose object is over the record limit.
Apten turned an automation off	Yes	Sent when an automation is turned off because the CRM connection it depends on was removed.
A run is Halted	No	A Filter or Branch didn’t match, or the automation was turned off during a Delay. This is expected behavior, not an error.
Expected outcomes	Only if the rule includes them	A lead that already exists, a number on the Do Not Contact list, an unsubscribed lead, a landline, or a number that can’t receive texts. Turn on Include expected outcomes on a rule to be emailed about these too.
An error on Apten’s side	No	Our team is alerted automatically and investigates.

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Setting Up Notifications

Only organization admins can manage notifications, like the rest of Automations.

1. Open Automations in the sidebar and select the Notifications tab.
2. Edit the default rule, or create a new rule.
3. Add the email addresses that should receive notifications.
4. Choose a Frequency and which automations the rule covers.
5. Save the rule. Click Send test email to send a sample to the rule’s recipients and confirm delivery.

Every organization starts with one default rule that covers All automations with the frequency Immediately, then hourly summary, and no recipients. Add recipients to start receiving emails. The default rule can be edited or disabled, but not deleted.

You can also manage notifications from an individual automation: open its ⋯ menu and choose Notifications to see the rules that cover it, or click Create a rule for this automation.

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Rules

Each rule decides who is emailed, about which automations, and how often. Your organization can have up to 50 rules.

Field	What it does
Name	A label for the rule.
Automations	All automations — every automation in your organization, including ones created later. Selected automations — only the automations you pick.
Recipients	Any email addresses, up to 20 per rule. Recipients don’t need an Apten login.
Frequency	When emails are sent. See Frequencies.
Include expected outcomes	Also email about expected outcomes such as Do Not Contact numbers or unsubscribed leads. Off by default.
Enabled	Turn a rule off to pause its emails without deleting it.

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Frequencies

Frequency	When you’re emailed
Immediately	One email for every failed run.
Immediately, then hourly summary	The first failure for an automation is emailed right away. Further failures for that automation in the next hour are rolled into one summary.
Hourly summary	One email per hour summarizing any failures.
Daily digest	One email per day at 5pm in your organization’s timezone (5pm Pacific if no timezone is set).

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Volume limit

To keep a burst of failures from flooding inboxes, each recipient receives at most 10 immediate emails per day for your organization. After that, further failures arrive in hourly summaries instead. The 10th email tells you the limit has been reached.

Summaries, digests, and emails about CRM polling or turning an automation on or off don’t count toward the limit.

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What’s in the Email

An email for a single failed run includes:

• The automation’s name and when the run failed
• Which step failed, with a plain-language reason
• The CRM record that triggered the run
• Links to View run (opens that run’s details directly), Open automation, and Notification settings

Summary and digest emails group failures by automation, with a count for each reason and up to 5 example runs per automation. Each summary links to the Runs page filtered to failed runs.

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Deliverability

Notification emails are sent from [e-mail]. If your organization uses strict mail filtering, add this address to your allowlist so notifications aren’t held or sent to spam. Use Send test email on a rule to confirm they arrive.