Growth Engine troubleshooting
What to check when the Growth Engine isn't doing anything, stopped, is working on the wrong things, or an email campaign won't send.
On this page
Most answers are on two pages: Settings → Autonomy (is it on, what may it spend, what may it work on) and Business → Activity (what it did).
It isn't doing anything on its own
Work through these in order.
- The plan. The Growth Engine comes with Starter and up. On Free, the Growth Engine card says it is available on paid plans, and Willo only works when you ask.
- It was never switched on. A new business starts paused. Click Resume growth under Settings → Autonomy.
- Today's budget is spent. The Autonomous-spend budget card shows Autonomous runs paused. It starts again once spending over the last 24 hours falls back under the budget, or straight away if you raise Daily budget (credits).
- The plan's credits ran out. Top up or wait for the plan's next period.
- Nobody has chatted for a week. The engine pauses when no one in the organisation has used Willo's chat for a week. Send a message; it carries on within a few hours.
- A cancellation is scheduled, or the plan is paused. The engine stops until the cancellation is undone or the plan resumes.
- Nothing is ready on the roadmap. Look under Business → Roadmap, or tell Willo in chat what to work on.
Before deciding nothing happened, skim Business → Activity for tasks marked By Growth Engine.
Another of my businesses gets autonomous work and this one doesn't
The switch and the budget are per business. Compare the Growth Engine card on both: almost always one is active and the other was never switched on.
It's working on the wrong things
- Tell Willo in chat what matters now. It updates the roadmap and the goals the engine plans from.
- Untick kinds of work you don't want under What the Growth Engine works on.
- See Steer the Growth Engine.
It published something I didn't review
The engine publishes only in a collection where auto-publish is switched on. Turn auto-publish off for that collection and its new content stays a draft. Content the engine writes elsewhere is always a draft.
It spends more than I want
Lower Daily budget (credits). The engine stops for the day when it reaches it. Pausing it with Pause growth stops scheduled work entirely; chat keeps working.
It didn't send the email it wrote
The Growth Engine never sends email. It can draft a campaign; sending happens in chat, after a test copy and your confirm. See Send an email campaign.
A campaign won't send
| What Willo says | What to do |
|---|---|
| The list is empty, or hasn't synced. | Ask Willo how many people are on the list, and to sync it. |
| The provider's count is out of step with Willo's. | Ask Willo to sync the list, then send again. |
| Today's test copies are used up. | Each business can send 10 test copies a day. The count covers the last 24 hours. Wait, or reuse the last tested draft: ask Willo for it. |
| Nothing has been tested. | Every campaign sends you a test copy first. Ask for one. |
No open or click rates
Willo doesn't track opens or clicks. It can tell you how many people each campaign went to, and when.
Still stuck
Use the ? menu in the dashboard, or email support@willo.ai with the business's name and what you expected the engine to do.