How to Build a “Save This Recipe” Automated Journey with AI Email Writer

Let’s start by clarifying how the journey and the AI work together, then we’ll walk through the steps.

What is it and how the AI Email Writer helps

In simple terms, a LeadsWithDemos Automated Journey is a workflow that starts when a reader submits your “Save This Recipe” form. Then, the journey sends emails at the specified time.

In that Automated Journey, you can add an AI Email Writer step before each send step, so every message is drafted from your instructions (prompt) using an AI assistant that already knows your recipes and tone. The result is a fast, natural-sounding email that delivers helpful content without heavy templating.

Personalization is where this shines. You can feed the AI Email Writer Assistant your blog’s recipe posts as custom knowledge, subscriber behaviour data (e.g., the page URL and title where the form was submitted), and preference data (such as dietary needs). The AI then references those details to tailor the email, citing the exact recipe the reader saved.

Why build a “save this recipe” journey with LeadsWithDemos? It meets readers at peak intent and delivers value fast. Personalized emails generally outperform generic ones, with benchmarks showing better engagement when content reflects behavior and preferences. I like this overview of email marketing benchmarks that emphasizes the impact of personalization.

To put this into practice, use the following guidance as you configure your prompts and data.

• Pro Tip: Create a dedicated segment for “saved recipes”, and pass data attributes into your prompt so each draft has context.
• Pitfall: Don’t rely on first name alone. Use profile attributes and recent form data to drive relevant suggestions.

How to create the Audience List to trigger the Automated Journey

Before I build a “save this recipe” journey, I define the audience list that enrolls subscribers who submitted the related forms. In LeadsWithDemos, you can create Audience Lists using filters that include your “Save This Recipe” popups and forms.

Anyone who submits those forms will be added to the list and receive the journey’s emails. Follow these steps in your LeadsWithDemos site to create the list and ensure it’s ready for the workflow.

Open your Subscribers dashboard

• In the left sidebar, click the Leads icon to open the Leads section.

Ensure you’re on My Leads

• In the left panel, select My Leads to view all subscribers.

Open Filters

• Click Filters at the top of the table to open the All filters panel.

Search for Form submitted

• In the All filters search bar, type “Form submitted.”

Choose Form submitted

• Under Visitor analytics, click Form submitted to configure the criteria.

Pick the criteria

• Select “is any of,” so a subscriber qualifies if they submitted any selected forms.

Select the exact forms

• Choose “Save This Recipe | Top of Article | Popup Box” and “Save This Recipe | Embedded Form.”
• Remove any mistakes by clicking the small X on the chip.

Apply the filter

• Click Apply filter. The table now shows contacts who submitted the specified forms.

Create an audience list from the results

• In the filters panel, click Create audience list.

Name the audience

• Give it a clear name, for example, “Saved This Recipe | Audience List.”

Confirm creation

• Click Continue to finalize the new audience list.

Verify the list

• In the left panel, click Audience List and confirm it’s visible and ready to use.

How to get a copy of an email template for AI output

When you build a “save this recipe” journey, you don’t need to design emails from scratch. Use a single email template with special variables that the AI replaces automatically.

Now, let’s copy a reusable template the AI Email Writer can populate by following these steps.

Open Automated emails

• Click the envelope icon labeled Automated emails.

Go to Email builder

• In the left panel, click Email builder to enter the workspace.

Switch to the Email Templates tab

• At the top, click Email Templates to view saved templates.

Find the template to copy

• Search by name (for example, “AI Email Writer | Email Template”).

Copy the template to Emails

• Click Copy to emails in the Action column. This creates a working copy.

View the copy in Emails

• Open the Emails tab and locate the new copy.

Enable the copied email

• Toggle the State switch on to activate it for editing, testing, and sending.

That’s it! the email is ready to use in your journey for anyone who submits “Save This Recipe” forms. With your template in place, let’s make sure every message ends with a trustworthy email signature.

Add a personalized email signature

Your signature builds trust. In your LeadsWithDemos site, you can insert a dynamic signature with the {{sender_signature}} variable, so the correct sender details appear automatically.

You can keep a default signature or create one for each sender. Use the steps below to configure a solid default that works across your emails.

Open Site details

• Click the Site icon to open Site details.
• In General Info & Email, locate Sender’s email, Sender’s name, and Signature.

Enter default sender details

• Sender’s Email: Add the default from address.
• Sender’s Name: Add the display name readers will see.
• Signature: Add your standard sign-off, links, or compliance text. This appears wherever {{sender_signature}} is present.

Save your settings

• Click Save to store the default sender email, name, and signature.

Verify your sender (DKIM)

• Copy the provided CNAME records to your DNS.
• Wait for propagation (up to 72 hours). Verified status improves deliverability.

Note: If you skip verification, a default address may be used that isn’t tied to your brand.

How to Build the LeadsWithDemos Automated Journey for “Save This Recipe”

This LeadsWithDemos Journey sends an automated email with the recipe link and a brief summary to anyone who submitted the “Save This Recipe” forms. With your audience list, template, and signature ready, connect everything in the automated journey builder.

Create a new journey

• In the left sidebar, click Marketing.
• Click Automated journeys, then Create an automated journey.

Name your journey

• Click the title (e.g., “Unnamed Journey…”), name it “Save This Recipe | Automated Journey,” and save.

Define who enters the journey

• Click the Trigger enrollment for leads step.
• On the Enrollment tab, select the Audience List (e.g., “Saved This Recipe | Audience List”).
• Ensure “is member of list” is selected.
• Enable “Allow leads to join more than once” if you want repeat entries for multiple saved recipes.
• Click Save.

Add and configure the AI Email Writer step

• Click the plus (+) under the trigger and choose AI Email Writer Step.
• Select your AI assistant (e.g., “AI Email Writer Assistant”).
• Open Configure Prompt and paste your instructions (use merge tags for title, link, first name, and preferences).
• Click Preview, choose a test contact, and Test until the output looks right. Save when satisfied.

# Objective
Generate an email for subscribers who have completed the email capture form associated with a "Save This Recipe" campaign, utilizing the given campaign details and dynamic placeholders.

## Campaign Details
The campaign description is: `REPLACE_WITH_CAMPAIGN_DESCRIPTION`.
Title of the recipe the subscriber wants to save: `REPLACE_WITH_PAGE_TITLE`.
Link to the recipe the subscriber wants to save: `REPLACE_WITH_PAGE_LINK`.

# Email Subject Guidelines
- Limit subject to 60 characters.
- Avoid special characters.
- Ensure the subject is relevant to the recipe the decided to save.

# Email Body Guidelines
- Write between 100 and 200 words.
- In the parentheses, you can find the data for the subscriber's first name (REPLACE_WITH_FIRST_NAME). If the first name data is available, greet the subscriber by their name (e.g., "Hello REPLACE_WITH_FIRST_NAME!"). If not present, use "Hello there!" instead.
- After the greeting, add a brief thank-you paragraph acknowledging the subscriber’s form submission to save the recipe they requested (Nothing else).  
- After the thank-you paragraph, display `REPLACE_WITH_PAGE_TITLE` as a title, formatted as a clickable link to `REPLACE_WITH_PAGE_LINK`.
- Summarize the recipe within the email, adhering to the word limit.
- In the parentheses, you can find the data for the subscriber's preferences (REPLACE_WITH_CUSTOM_PREFERENCE). If provided, include a section suggesting related recipe posts suitable for that preference. Present these as clickable links in markdown format (`[Title](Link)`). 
- Before the suggestions, add a natural transition such as: “I’d like to take this opportunity to share these recipes with you”. Do not explicitly mention `REPLACE_WITH_CUSTOM_PREFERENCE`. 
- Organize content for clarity and scannability.
- Avoid these words, their variations and these special characters in the content: `Unlock`, `—`, `Revolutionize`, `Seamless`.

• Replace placeholders with actual data fields (campaign description, page title, page URL, first name, and optional preference).
• Preview again with a test contact and save once the output is on-brand.

Add and configure the Send an Email step

• Click the plus (+) under the AI step and select Send an Email.
• Choose your template (e.g., “AI Email Writer | Email Template | 1”).
• Optional: Preview to confirm the AI subject/body variables populate correctly.
• Leave “Send during business hours only” unchecked to send immediately at step time, or enable it for later steps.
• Save.

This gives you a complete, functional flow that triggers when someone saves a recipe. Once you build a “save this recipe” journey like this, you can iterate on prompts, timing, and targeting as data comes in. Before going live, run a quick test to validate behavior end to end.

Test the LeadsWithDemos Automated Journey

• On the canvas, click Test (top right).
• Select a subscriber and, if needed, check Skip trigger criteria to force testing.
• Click Start test and review each step’s status.
• If you see a failure (e.g., AI content not generated), adjust the prompt, data fields, or template and test again.
• Proceed when all steps show a green status.

How to activate the Automated Journey

• At the top right, click Review and publish.
• Choose whether to enroll existing subscribers who already match the criteria, or only new matches after launch.
• Optional: Add a short description for audit history.
• Click Submit to turn the workflow ON.

Avoid over-complicated templates and too many variables in your first prompt. Start simple, then refine. See you in the next tutorial!