Marketing Automation — Quick Start

For WHMCS admins who just installed the plugin and want recovery emails running in 5 minutes. Current version: v1.1.0 · Reading time: ~7 minutes

What this plugin does for you

WHMCS sends a single "unpaid reminder" by default and then leaves orders and customers alone. Marketing Automation turns that into a revenue-recovery engine:

• Abandoned orders: customer doesn't pay? Auto-follow-up at the delay you set, and emails can carry a single-use promo code (auto-written into WHMCS Promotions, expires on schedule)
• Cancellation retention (Pro): when a customer submits a cancellation request, the plugin auto-sends a retention email with a STAY discount — admin zero-touch
• Renewal reminders (Pro): five-step sequence at -30 / -7 / -1 days before renewal and +3 / +7 days after, so services don't quietly expire
• Client-area banner: any logged-in customer with outstanding invoices sees a dismissible payment reminder at the top of every client-area page
• Stats: how many orders recovered, how much revenue saved, attributed by campaign

The rest of this doc is the minimum config to get "abandoned order recovery" running. Pro features are summarized in the last section.

1. Install & activate

If you haven't installed yet:

1. Download the ZIP from the Intally store
2. Unzip and upload the marketing_automation/ directory to your WHMCS modules/addons/
3. WHMCS admin → Configuration → System Settings → Addon Modules → find "Marketing Automation" → click Activate
4. Open the module settings page → enter your License Key → save

Once active, Addons → Marketing Automation appears in the left-hand admin menu.

2. First-time configuration (2 minutes)

Open Addons → Marketing Automation → Settings and confirm at least these two:

2.1 Sender email

• Use the global WHMCS sender (default — check "Use WHMCS default mail config")
• Unsubscribe links and recipient tokens are handled automatically — nothing for you to wire up

2.2 Send delay

• "How long after an unpaid order before sending the first email" — default 1 hour
• Too short and the customer is still mid-checkout (annoying); too long and you miss the golden window
• Recommended: 1–2 hours to start, then tune after two weeks of data

Free tier supports a single recovery email. Multi-step sequences (1h / 24h / 72h auto-follow-ups) require Pro.

2.3 Email templates

The default "Abandoned recovery — English" template ships ready to use, including: - Customer name placeholder ({$client_name}) - Order details ({$order_summary}) - One-click pay link ({$pay_now_url}) - Unsubscribe link (compliance — cannot be removed)

To edit copy: Addons → Marketing Automation → Email Templates → click a template name.

3. Start the cron (critical)

The plugin runs off the WHMCS daily cron — confirm cron is firing or no emails will go out.

WHMCS admin Utilities → System → System Health → check "Last Cron Run" is < 24 hours ago. If not, follow the official WHMCS cron docs to fix.

Plugin's own health check: Addons → Marketing Automation → Status → look for ✓ "Cron healthy".

4. See the results

4.1 Live stats

Addons → Marketing Automation → Stats shows: - Emails sent - Orders recovered / total unpaid orders (recovery rate) - Revenue recovered

Data starts populating ~24–72 hours after the first email goes out — give it some time.

4.2 Client-area banner

Any logged-in customer with outstanding invoices sees a dismissible payment reminder at the top of every client-area page — a zero-cost recovery channel layered on top of email cadence. Enabled by default, no setup needed.

4.3 Unsubscribe management

Addons → Marketing Automation → Unsubscribes lists customers who opted out — required for CAN-SPAM / GDPR compliance, otherwise hands-off.

5. What Pro unlocks

Free runs the core "recovery email + client-area banner" loop. Buying Pro unlocks:

Upgrade path: pick "Yearly ($99 USD)" or "Buyout ($299 USD)" on the store Pro page.

6. FAQ

Q: Recovery emails aren't going out — why? 1. Check WHMCS cron is running (System Health) 2. Check the plugin Status page is ✓ 3. Look at Addons → Marketing Automation → Logs for errors 4. Check the sender email (use the WHMCS default and you'll be fine)

Q: Customer got the email but the discount code didn't work. - Free tier emails don't carry discount codes (Pro only). Pro codes are single-use — one redemption and they're spent. Expiry is also enforced by the plugin.

Q: How do I pause sending? - Addons → Marketing Automation → Settings → flip the "Global switch" off. Queued emails sit until you turn it back on.

Q: Does it coexist with other marketing plugins? - Yes. This plugin only reads WHMCS orders / invoices / cancellation tables — it doesn't lock or change schema. But avoid running two plugins that both send recovery emails for the same unpaid order — turn one of them off for that flow.

Q: Is it CAN-SPAM / GDPR compliant? - Yes. Every email carries an unsubscribe link, the unsubscribe list is auto-maintained, and unsubscribed customers will never receive another marketing email from this plugin.

Q: What happens when my license expires? - Free: free forever, no license needed - Pro: on expiry the plugin auto-downgrades to the Free feature set (multi-step sequences pause, attribution dashboard hides), but already-issued promo codes remain valid. Renew and Pro features come back.

Next

• See the full changelog for version-by-version updates
• Hit a problem? Contact us — include your WHMCS version + PHP version + error log for the fastest answer.