Introduction to Workflows
What Are Workflows?
Workflows are powerful automation tools within your CRM. They are designed to execute a series of predefined actions automatically whenever a specific event, known as a trigger, occurs. By handling repetitive tasks for you, workflows save significant time, enhance operational consistency, and help you scale your business processes efficiently.
For instance, you can set up a workflow to automatically send a welcome email and schedule a follow-up task whenever a new lead is created from a website form. Once configured and published, these sequences run on their own, freeing you to focus on more strategic work.
Core Components of a Workflow
Every workflow is built from two fundamental parts:
- Trigger: This is the event that initiates the workflow. It's the "when" that starts the automation. Common triggers include a contact submitting a form, booking an appointment, or making a payment.
- Actions: These are the tasks the system performs after the trigger fires. They are the "what happens next" steps. Actions can include sending an email or SMS, updating a contact's details, creating a task, or assigning an opportunity.
Common Tasks to Automate
Consider automating these common, repetitive processes:
- Lead nurturing and onboarding sequences
- Appointment confirmations and reminders
- Post-purchase or post-service follow-ups
- Collecting customer feedback or reviews
- Internal notifications for new leads or sales
- Updating contact records based on their activity
How to Create a Workflow
Building a workflow is a straightforward, three-step process.
Step 1: Choose a Trigger
Navigate to the Workflows section and click Create Workflow or a similar button to begin. You will then select Add New Trigger and choose the specific event that should start your automation from the list of available options.
Step 2: Add Trigger Filters (Optional)
Filters allow you to add conditions to your trigger, making the workflow run only for a specific subset of contacts. For example, you could set a filter so a workflow only triggers for form submissions from a particular location or for appointments booked on a specific calendar.
Step 3: Add Workflow Actions
After setting your trigger, you define what the workflow does. Click Add Action to select and configure the steps you want to execute, such as sending a message or creating a task. You can add multiple actions to create a complete sequence.
Getting Started on the Workflows Page
The main Workflows page is designed to help you begin quickly. You are typically presented with three clear options:
- Build using AI: Describe your automation goal in plain language, and the AI will generate a draft workflow for you to review and customize.
- Browse Templates: Select from a library of pre-built workflow templates designed for common business scenarios, which you can then adapt to your needs.
- Create Workflow: Start building a custom workflow completely from scratch, giving you full control over every detail.
If the AI Builder feature is not enabled in your account's settings, the page may display a simpler, previous version of this interface.
Advanced Workflow Features
IF/Else Conditions
Within a workflow, you can use conditional logic (IF/Else branches) to split contacts down different paths based on specific criteria, like their location or the product they purchased, allowing for highly personalized automation.
Chaining Multiple Workflows
You can connect separate workflows together to automate entire customer journeys. For example, the final action of one workflow can be set to trigger another, creating a seamless, multi-stage automation pipeline.
Webhooks
Webhooks enable your CRM to send or receive data from other external software applications. You can use a webhook as a trigger to start a workflow based on an event in another system, or as an action to send data out from your CRM after a workflow runs.
Troubleshooting Tips
If a workflow isn't functioning as expected, try these steps:
- Test the workflow with a brand new contact record to ensure it triggers correctly.
- Carefully review any trigger filters you've set to confirm they are not too restrictive.
- Check the workflow's settings, such as the "Allow Reentry" option, which controls whether a contact can trigger the same workflow multiple times.
- Use the live testing feature instead of test mode for a more accurate simulation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What's the difference between a trigger and an action?
A: The trigger is the event that starts the workflow. The actions are the tasks that are carried out after the workflow is triggered.
Q: Can I have multiple triggers in a single workflow?
A: Yes. You can add several triggers to one workflow, allowing contacts to enter the automation from different starting points.
Q: Are workflow filters mandatory?
A: No, filters are completely optional. However, they are highly useful for targeting your automation to very specific scenarios.
Q: Can I edit a workflow after I create it?
A: Yes. You can go back and modify the triggers, filters, and actions of a published or unpublished workflow at any time.
Q: Do workflows run automatically?
A: Yes, once a workflow is published and its trigger conditions are met, it will run automatically for qualifying contacts.
Q: Can I use AI to build workflows?
A: Yes, if the feature is enabled for your account. The Workflows page offers an AI Builder where you can describe your goal and have a workflow generated for you.