Automation steps are the events that you want to happen whenever your workflow starts (after the trigger event happens). You can add multiple steps to a workflow, but you need at least one. Automations will perform the steps from the top down.
This article goes through the complete list of automation steps that can accompany each trigger. See the full list of triggers here. We have a few video examples of how to configure these steps here.
Step |
Overview |
Special Cases |
Example Use Cases |
Accounts & Users | |||
Set account lifecycle stage* | Sets an account’s Lifecycle stage to a specific stage, i.e.: Lead, Prospect, Customer | When an opportunity is created on an account, set its Lifecycle stage to Prospect | |
Campaigns | |||
Send a campaign for the user |
Starts an email campaign for the specific user who triggered the automation. |
The email campaign system only allows a campaign to be sent to each account once. If the campaign is already paused, nothing happens. |
When a user is interested in a product, start an email campaign advertising the product. |
Send a campaign to the account |
Starts an email campaign for the account and all users and contacts associated with it. |
The email campaign system only allows a campaign to be sent to each account once. If it has already been sent, nothing happens. An error occurs when a campaign is sent to an account without users. This can be seen in the activity log. |
When Website Pro is activated, send the “How to Use Website Pro” campaign |
Pause a campaign for the user |
Pauses an ongoing email campaign for the specific user who triggered the automation. |
The email campaign system only allows a campaign to be sent to each account once. If the campaign is already paused, nothing happens. |
When a campaign email is clicked, stop the campaign. |
Pause a campaign for the account |
Pauses an ongoing email campaign for the account and all users and contacts associated with it. |
The email campaign system only allows a campaign to be sent to each account once. If the campaign is already paused, nothing happens. |
When an opportunity is closed for the account, stop the “Prompt First Contact” campaign |
Pause Campaign for Company |
Pause an ongoing campaign for the company. This will action on all of the contacts associated with the company (up to 50). |
If the campaign is already paused, nothing happens. If the Contact associated is not on that campaign, it will be considered an error and a list of failed contacts will show on the activity. |
When a company has scheduled a meeting with salesperson, pause an email campaign. |
Pause campaign for Contact |
Pauses an ongoing email campaign for the contact. |
If the campaign is already paused, nothing happens. If the Contact is not on that campaign, it will be considered an error. |
When a Contact has scheduled a meeting with a salesperson, pause an email campaign. |
CRM | |||
Create Company |
Creates a company in the CRM. |
Duplicates are not checked. This just blindly tries to create the company. Company name is a requirement. |
Using a 3rd party CRM and something happens in that CRM so you want to create a company in our CRM to mirror that one. |
Fulfillment | |||
Create a fulfillment task for the account |
Creates a task in Task Manager. The fulfillment agent (a person assigned to the task) may be the default agent or a specific individual. |
If the assigned agent does not exist, no one will be assigned. |
When the “Design a Business Card” product is activated, assign the partner’s primary business card designer. |
Create a fulfillment project for the account |
Creates a project in Task Manager. The project will be created based on the selected template. |
If Task Manager is not active, it will be activated. If this action is twice in a single workflow, this will result in a rejected activation. |
When the Website product is activated, create the Website Builder project from the Website Builder template |
Pause or cancel Task Manager account |
Pauses or cancels a Task Manager account |
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Add account to Task Manager |
Adds the account to Task Manager, allowing for tasks to begin generating. |
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Lists | |||
Add the account to a list |
Adds the account to a list. |
If the account is already on the list, nothing happens. |
When a payment fails, add the account to the “Overdue Payments” list |
Remove the account from a list |
Removes the account from a list. |
If the account is not on the list, nothing happens. |
When an email campaign does not receive a response, remove the account from the “Responsive Accounts” list. |
Notifications |
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Notify a digital agent |
Sends both an in-app and email notification to a fulfillment agent. Consider using the generic send notification actions instead once taken out of draft as these are more flexible. |
There is only limited support for items that can be used within {{ braces }}. |
When a website design product is activated a fulfilment agent who can design websites is notified. |
Notify a partner admin |
Sends both an in-app and email notification to a fulfillment agent. Consider using the generic send notification actions instead once taken out of draft as these are more flexible. |
There is only limited support for items that can be used within {{ braces }}. |
When a high-income product is deactivated, notify partner administrators so they can investigate. |
Notify a salesperson |
Sends both an in-app and email notification to a salesperson. Consider using the generic send notification actions instead once taken out of draft as these are more flexible. |
There is only limited support for items that can be used within {{ braces }}. |
When an opportunity is created for a French-language client, notify French-fluent salespeople. |
Products |
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Activate Standard products |
Activates a specific Standard product |
Only Standard products are allowed |
When an account is added to the “Wants a Website” list, activate Website Standard. |
Activate a product |
Activates a product for the account. Can be configured to prevent a product from being activated multiple times within a specific timeframe |
Paid products are allowed. This can result in unwanted billing if this is misconfigured |
When an account is created, automatically add products to it. |
Deactivate products |
Deactivates a product(s) for the account. The product can be turned off immediately or at the end of the current billing cycle. |
Allows for both paid and Standard products |
When a trial period ends, deactivate the trial product. |
Sales |
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Assigns a random salesperson from the indicated sales team to the account. If the account already has a salesperson, they can optionally be replaced. |
When a trial product is activated, assign a salesperson from the team responsible for that product. |
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Assigns a specific salesperson to the account. Multiple individuals from across multiple teams can be selected, in which case, one will be randomly assigned. If the account already has a salesperson, they can optionally be replaced. |
When a highly technical product is activated, assign a highly knowledgeable salesperson. |
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Logs a business activity and increases the hotness rating (if the existing rating is lower than the new level). |
Hotness ratings cannot be decreased using this step. This is to ensure that manually assigned high-hotness ratings are not accidentally downgraded. |
When an email campaign is clicked, mark the account as a hot lead. |
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Creates a task for a salesperson. The salesperson can be a specific individual or the default person assigned to the account. |
If there is no assigned salesperson no one will be assigned to the task. |
When an email campaign is clicked, create a task to follow up on that lead. |
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Removes all salespeople from the account. |
None |
When an opportunity is closed, remove all salespeople from the account. |
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Creates a sales opportunity for a salesperson. The salesperson can be a specific individual or the default person assigned to the account. |
If there is no assigned salesperson no one will be assigned to the task. |
When a user signs up for Business App on a partner website, a sales opportunity will be created for a salesperson. |
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Close all sales opportunities |
Closes all open opportunities as Closed - Lost |
None |
When an account is added to a “Closed Opportunities” list, close all opportunities as lost. |
Create a proposal |
Creates a new proposal based on an existing template |
None |
When an account is created with a specific category, create a proposal using an existing template |
Tags |
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Add tags to the account |
Adds a tag to an account. New tags can be specified as well. |
When creating a new tag the tag name must be selected from the dropdown list that appears, much like the user would for any other tag. If the tag is already on the account it will not be added again. |
When an account is added outside of the partner’s city, tag as “Remote Client” |
Add tags to the order |
Adds a tag to an order. New tags can be specified as well. |
When creating a new tag the tag name must be selected from the dropdown list that appears, much like the user would for any other tag.
If the tag is already on the order it will not be added again.
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When an order is created for a new client, tag as 'New Client' |
Remove tags from the account |
Removes a tag from an account. |
If the step is removing a tag that does not yet exist (e.g. one specified in “Add Tags”) it will not appear in the dropdown list. It can, however, be specified manually. |
If the step is removing a tag that does not yet exist (e.g. one specified in “Add Tags”) it will not appear in the dropdown list. It can, however, be specified manually. |
Remove tags from the order |
Removes a tag from an order. |
If the step is removing a tag that does not yet exist (e.g. one specified in “Add Tags”) it will not appear in the dropdown list. It can, however, be specified manually. |
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Inbox |
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Send an Inbox message |
Sends a message into a conversation between you and the account, viewable by all participants. |
Message is sent as coming from the assigned salesperson. If there is no assigned salesperson, the message appears as coming from your company. |
Send a helpful welcome message when a user logs in for first time, or a new account is created. |
Send a public system message |
Publishes a passive system message in a conversation between you and an account, viewable by all participants. |
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Useful for showing and logging key events in a conversation for all participants to see, as well as for an auto-responder that sets expectations for response times. |
Sales Orders* |
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Activate products for the order |
Actives the products on an order after it's been approved. |
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Add tags to the order |
Adds tags to the order. |
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Approve the order |
Approves the order after pre-set conditions have been met. |
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A sales order must be completed before being approved. |
Archive the order |
Archives an order that has been completed. |
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Decline the order |
Declines the order when pre-set conditions have not been met. |
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If an order has been declined, the Salesperson will be notified to make the corrections before re-submitting for approval. |
Submit the order for admin approval |
After an order has been completed, it is sent to the account admin for approval. |
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Delays |
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Delay until an event happens |
Allows a workflow to pause and wait for an additional trigger for a specified amount of time. The time can be specified in minutes, hours, or days. Like an if-else branch, delay-until steps have an EVENT HAPPENED and EVENT DID NOT HAPPEN branch (equivalent to the YES and NO branches, respectively). The delay-until step also merges after these branches. |
If the automation is switched off mid-delay, the workflow will instantly stop. No steps after the delay will be executed. |
When an account is added, wait for seven days for a product to be activated. If a product is activated, mark as a hot lead. If a product was not activated, send an email campaign. After either branch completes, remove the account from the “New Accounts” list. |
Delay |
Allows a workflow to pause. This is useful when actions that caused a trigger take time to fully complete, e.g. populating a Snapshot Report. The time can be specified in minutes, hours, or days. |
If the automation is switched off mid-delay, the workflow will instantly stop. No steps after the delay will be executed. |
When a Snapshot Report is created, wait two days for the report to populate then send an email campaign about the report’s contents. |
Conditions |
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If/else branch |
Adds a decision point, allowing the workflow to split into YES and NO workflows. The workflow may “merge” back together after the branches complete. The conditions that can be specified in the if/else branch are the same as those in a trigger’s condition (trigger filter) |
If no steps exist in a branch that is followed, the automation will still count as having been run for an account. If the user is trying to run the automation only when a specific set of conditions is true for the first time, specify these in the trigger’s condition (trigger filter) |
When a Canadian account is added, check the location. If the location is in a French-speaking region (YES branch), assign a French-speaking salesperson. Otherwise (NO branch) assign an English-speaking salesperson. After either branch completes (merge step) add the account to the “Canadian Clients” list |
Jump to a step |
Redirects to another workflow step in an automation. Limits the number of times to jump to prevent an infinite loop |
Has an upper limit of number of times a jump can occur, allowing for 1-100 times in an automation. |
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Rate filter |
Split the workflow into separate paths depending on a rate count condition |
If an automation. is turned off, the rate counts will be reset. |
If a user has been sent more than 5 in-app notifications in one day, prevent more notifications |
Workflow |
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A/B Branch |
Adds a split to the events moving through an automation so that you can run an experiment based on a percentage of those events |
You’ve created 2 onboarding campaigns and want to see which one performs better. The trigger is Account Created, then set up an A/B Branch of 50%/50% and on each one of those branches, you can start the different campaigns. |
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End this automation |
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Walkthroughs
Assign a sales team Automation
Assign a Salesperson Automation
Log activity and hotness rating Automation
Create a sales task Automation
Unassigned Salesperson Automation
Create a sales opportunity Automation