Odoo 19 splits marketing into three apps that share one contact database: Email Marketing and Events are Community, and Marketing Automation is Enterprise. Email Marketing sends one-off mailings to lists or any filtered set of records, Marketing Automation runs multi-step workflows triggered by opens, clicks and time delays, and Events handles registrations, tickets and attendee emails. Start with clean mailing lists and a dedicated sending domain; automation only pays off once those basics work.
Which Odoo 19 marketing apps are Community and which are Enterprise
| App (module) | Edition | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Email Marketing (mass_mailing) | Community | Design, send and track mailings; lists, A/B tests, opt-outs |
SMS Marketing (mass_mailing_sms) | Community, paid SMS credits | Same idea for text messages |
Marketing Automation (marketing_automation) | Enterprise | Multi-step workflows with triggers and delays |
Events Organization (event) | Community | Events, registrations, tickets, attendee emails, badges |
Events (website_event) | Community | Event pages and online registration |
All of them record UTM campaign, medium and source on what they create, so a lead from a webinar or a sale from a newsletter link can be traced back in CRM and Sales reporting.
Setting up Email Marketing: lists, contacts and sending
The menu is short: Mailings, Mailing Lists (with Mailing List Contacts), Campaigns once the setting is on, and Reporting. In Email Marketing > Configuration > Settings, the options worth deciding early are:
- Mailing Campaigns, to group several mailings under one campaign.
- Dedicated Server, to send bulk mail through a separate outgoing server from your transactional mail.
- Blacklist Option when Unsubscribing, so recipients can block all mail, not just one list.
- 24H Stat Mailing Reports, a summary a day after sending.
A mailing can target a mailing list or any record type enabled for mailing, such as contacts, leads, sales orders or event attendees, with a filter. Lists are for people who opted in; filters on customers are for operational messages. Mixing the two is where consent problems start.
Odoo 19 Email Marketing includes A/B testing in Community: send variants to a percentage of recipients and pick the winner manually or by Highest Open Rate, Highest Click Rate or Highest Reply Rate. Opt-outs, blacklisted addresses and opt-out reasons are all under Configuration and Reporting, and every link in a mailing goes through the Link Tracker.
Building workflows in Marketing Automation (Enterprise)
A Marketing Automation campaign has a target Model (Contact by default), a Filter that decides who enters, and a Unique Field, usually email, to stop the same person entering twice. Campaigns move through New, Running and Stopped.
Inside, each activity is an Email or a Server Action, with SMS and WhatsApp available through bridge modules. Each activity has a trigger and a delay in hours, days, weeks or months:
beginning of workflow another activity Mail: opened · Mail: not opened Mail: replied · Mail: not replied Mail: clicked · Mail: not clicked Mail: bounced
A practical first workflow is a three-step nurture: welcome email at the start, a follow-up two days later if the first was not opened, and a server action that creates a CRM activity for sales when someone clicks the pricing link. Server actions are where automation touches the rest of the database, so have someone who understands the data model review them.
- Write down the audience filter and test it as a saved filter first.
- Build the workflow with emails only, no server actions.
- Run it with test participants and check timing and content.
- Add server actions one at a time, then switch the campaign to Running.
If you only have Community, Automation Rules (base_automation) can send an email when a record changes, but it is not a marketing workflow tool. Buy Enterprise for this if nurturing sequences genuinely drive revenue for you; otherwise well-timed mailings do most of the job.
Running events: registrations, tickets and attendee emails
The Events app works from event templates. A template carries the default tickets, registration questions and communication schedule, so set up one template per event format (webinar, workshop, conference) under Events > Configuration > Event Templates.
A new event gets three scheduled communications by default: a confirmation sent on registration, and reminders three days and one hour before the event. Edit those mail templates first; the defaults are generic. Limit Attendees caps seats, and Multiple Slots lets one event run several time slots with seat limits per slot.
Registrations move through Unconfirmed, Registered, Attended and Cancelled. The Registration Desk scans badge barcodes at the door when Use Event Barcode is enabled.
Selling tickets and running larger events need extra modules, all switched on from Events > Configuration > Settings:
- Tickets with Sale sells tickets on sales orders, with a product per ticket type, so GST and invoicing follow the product's taxes.
- Online Ticketing sells tickets on the website through the eCommerce checkout and a payment provider.
- Tickets with PoS sells at the door from Point of Sale.
- Schedule & Tracks, Online Exhibitors and Booth Management for conferences.
With CRM installed, Events > Configuration > Lead Generation holds rules that create leads from registrations, which is how an event feeds the pipeline rather than a spreadsheet of attendees.
Connecting marketing to CRM and sales
The reason to run marketing in Odoo rather than a separate tool is that results land on real records. A mailing's UTM campaign appears on the leads and orders it produced. Event lead rules put attendees into the pipeline. The Newsletter Subscribe Button on the website adds sign-ups to a list without an export.
Start with one mailing list, one event template and the default reports. Add Marketing Automation when you can name the sequence you want to automate. The next part turns to internal paperwork: Documents, Sign and Knowledge. If you want help structuring lists and consent, get in touch.
Questions we get asked
Is Odoo Email Marketing free in Community edition?
Yes. The Email Marketing app is licensed LGPL-3 and ships with Odoo Community. It includes mailing lists, drag-and-drop email design, A/B testing, link tracking, opt-out management and reporting. Marketing Automation, which runs multi-step workflows with triggers and delays, is Enterprise-only. Sending volume and deliverability depend on your mail server or Odoo hosting plan rather than on the edition.
What is the difference between Email Marketing and Marketing Automation in Odoo?
Email Marketing sends a single mailing to a list or filtered set of records at a chosen time. Marketing Automation, an Enterprise app, builds workflows where each step is triggered by the start of the campaign, another step, or recipient behaviour such as opening, clicking or not replying, after a delay. Use Email Marketing for newsletters and announcements, and automation for nurture sequences.
Can I sell event tickets online with Odoo 19?
Yes. Enable Online Ticketing in the Events settings, which uses the Odoo eCommerce checkout, and configure a payment provider. Each ticket type is linked to a product, so taxes such as GST and invoicing follow the product. Tickets can also be sold on sales orders with Tickets with Sale, or at the venue through Point of Sale with Tickets with PoS.
Does Odoo send event reminder emails automatically?
Yes. A new Odoo 19 event gets three scheduled communications by default: a confirmation on registration, and reminders three days and one hour before the event starts. You can change the timing, add more schedulers, or use SMS with the Event SMS module, and event templates let you save a standard schedule. Edit the mail templates before the first event, because the default wording is generic.