The moment it happens

Add new sign-ups to a SendGrid list

Everyone who fills in your sign-up form ends up in your SendGrid contacts and newsletter list.

Runs: The moment it happens
Apps: SendGrid
AI: Not needed
Access: Marketing (write)

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: give me a link my sign-up form can post to, and add each person's name and email to my SendGrid 'Newsletter' list.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

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First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A newsletter signup form, a webinar registration page and a free-trial form all collect email addresses, and each one usually ends in a spreadsheet or a tool nobody checks. Someone later exports those addresses and imports them into SendGrid by hand, so a person who signed up on a Tuesday does not hear from you until the next batch import, if ever. Typos creep in, the same address is added three times, and people who wanted your welcome email get nothing while their interest is high.

As soon as a signup arrives, the automation takes the email and name from it and upserts the contact into your SendGrid Marketing Contacts, adding them to the list you choose. Upsert means an existing address is updated rather than duplicated. It runs the instant the form submits, so the contact is ready for a welcome sequence or the next campaign. Small businesses, course creators and product teams use it to keep list growth hands-off.

What you get out of it

Welcome emails reach people while they care
A contact added within seconds of signing up can receive a welcome message the same hour. Engagement is highest right after signup, and a delay of days measurably weakens the connection.
No more periodic import chores
Nobody has to export a spreadsheet, clean it and upload it every Friday. The time goes back to writing campaigns, and the list is never a week behind the real number of subscribers.
Duplicate contacts are avoided
Upserting by email means someone who signs up twice, or through two forms, appears once. Your contact count stays honest, and you are not billed for or mailing the same person twice.
The right list from the start
Each source can feed a specific list, such as webinar attendees versus newsletter readers. Segmentation begins at the moment of signup rather than in a later cleanup that never gets finished.
Fewer typos from manual entry
Addresses are passed along exactly as the form received them. Retyping or copy and paste from a spreadsheet is where a stray space or swapped letter creates a contact that will later bounce.

How it works

What happens, step by step

When someone fills in your sign-up form, it sends their details to ClickRuntime straight away.
ClickRuntime splits their name into first and last name.
It adds them to your SendGrid contacts and your newsletter list. If they are already there, their details are updated rather than duplicated.

Before it runs live

Connect SendGrid
Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens

Add new sign-ups to a SendGrid listjust nowSucceeded

SendGrid · Newsletter listsam@northwind.com · Sam Lee · added to Newsletter

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.

Your own rules
Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.
Any number of apps
One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.
AI where it helps
Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.
On a schedule or on each event
Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
Combine it with other SendGrid steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.

add_contacts_from_incoming_sign_ups.pyexample

from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http

LIST_ID = "a1b2c3d4-0000-0000-0000-newsletter00"

@on_event
def handle(event):
    s = event.json
    first, _, last = s.get("name", "").partition(" ")
    res = http.put("https://api.sendgrid.com/v3/marketing/contacts",
                   headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.secret('SENDGRID_API_KEY')}"},
                   json={"list_ids": [LIST_ID], "contacts": [{"email": s["email"], "first_name": first, "last_name": last}]})
    res.raise_for_status()
    return {"job_id": res.json()["job_id"]}

FAQ

Common questions

Does SendGrid need me to send a confirmation email first?

The automation adds the contact right away. If you want double opt-in, send a confirmation message through SendGrid and only add confirmed people, or add them to a pending list first. Consent rules depend on your region and form wording.

Can it add a signup to different lists based on the form?

Yes. If the incoming data says which form or page was used, the automation can place the contact on a matching list. You list the form names and the list for each when you set it up.

What fields can be saved besides email?

SendGrid contacts support first name, last name, phone and custom fields you define in the account. The automation can map form fields to any of those, so details like company or plan interest travel with the contact.

What permissions does it need?

Marketing (write). Nothing else in your accounts is used.

Does it need AI?

No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.

How many runs does it use?

One run for each event the app sends.

Can I change how it works?

Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

The moment it happens