How to duplicate a visual automation in Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

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There are lots of moving pieces in your email automations: tags & custom fields, email sequences, events if someone take action and clicks on a link.

Recreating an entire visual automation in ConvertKit can be tedious process, so sometimes it’s easier to recreate one that you already have and swap out the sections with the appropriate tags, custom fields, and email sequences.

The downside to this is you increase your chances of accidentally deleting the email content you spent time writing. I know this because I’ve made this mistake a couple of times – the worst was when I basically deleted a month’s worth of my own content in an automated email sequence.

So you don’t have to suffer through the aggravation of dealing with this, here are three steps to duplicating your visual automations in ConvertKit the correct way.

Three steps to duplicating a visual automation in Kit (formerly ConvertKit) the right way

Step 1: Create a standard naming convention for everything

To keep things organized, have a system for naming (and easily identifying) everything. This is a must-do when coming up with your subscriber strategy — or Arranging Your Subscribers in my Automate with H.E.A.R.T.™ Framework — so that you can confidently email the right content to the right people and stay front of mind with your subscribers no matter where they are in the customer journey.

For example, any tags (or better yet, custom fields) you use to identify a sequence a subscriber is currently enrolled name your tag just that: “Sequence currently enrolled: [Name of sequence].” For example, for subscribers currently in your welcome sequence, it would be “Sequence currently enrolled: Welcome sequence”.

Do the same thing for automations. For example, call your welcome sequence automation just that. Have any automation and/or sequence for when someone purchases a product? Name it that. (In my case, I call any ongoing nurturing emails “Nurture: [Name of nurture]” and any purchase automations “Purchase: [Name of product]” – that also makes it easier to group them in Kit if you alphabetize them)

Come up with a naming convention and use it consistently across all your tags, sequences, and automations.

Step 2: Make a backup copy of your email content outside of Kit (formerly ConvertKit)

It doesn’t matter where — ClickUp, Trello, Asana, Google Drive, Notion. You just want to ensure that you don’t lose all that content you worked so hard to create.

Make sure you copy the subject line and text of each email in a sequence in case you inadvertently delete any emails (or even an entire sequence — I’ve seen it happen).

As an alternative, you could “enroll” yourself in a sequence so that all those emails are in your inbox. Create a folder someone where they’re all saved so you can easily find them.

Step 3: Immediately rename anything that you duplicate

Whether you’re duplicating an automation or an individual sequence, IMMEDIATELY rename it (using your naming convention in step #1) so you know what it is.

Also, fun fact: if you duplicate an automation in Kit (formerly ConvertKit), any sequences within that automation are NOT actually duplicates.

Not sure what I mean? Check out this short video I made that demonstrates it (and shows you what to do instead)

(Don’t mind the super awkward angle that I was recording myself at!)

Block off 30-60 minutes this week so create a backup of your content. Doing this now could save you hours down the road in the off chance you accidentally delete your sequence. Trust me, I know.