Build, explain and switch on a workflow

The workflow editor shows your workflow two ways: as a Canvas, a flow from the trigger down to the end of the run, and as a List of steps. Explain reads the whole thing back in plain sentences so you can check it before anything goes out.

Before you start

• Anything you want to send from: a sending domain for email, a phone number for texts, under Settings › Channels.

Steps

Build it

1. Go to Automations › Workflows, click Create workflow and choose Start from scratch. An "Untitled workflow" opens. (To rename it later, use the three dots on its row in the list and choose Rename.)
2. In Canvas view, click the Starts when box, then Add a trigger, and choose what starts it, such as They book an appointment.
3. In the panel on the right, click the first step, such as Send an email. It appears under the trigger.
4. Click the step on the canvas to open it underneath. Set Days after the step before and the hours, fill it in, and click Save step.
5. Add the next steps the same way. To put a step between two others, click the + between them first; the panel then says Add a step after step [number]. Click Add at the end instead to go back.
6. Switch to List view to see every step open one under another, with the triggers at the top.

For example, a fitness coach's booking workflow: They book an appointment → Send an email straight away ("See you Saturday") → Wait 1 day → Send a text message → Add a tag "booked".

Check it

1. Look at the header: it shows the number of steps and how many are "not ready". Open any step that is not ready and finish it.
2. Click Explain. What this does, in plain words lists the run as sentences: what starts it, each step and each wait. Click Hide to close it.

Switch it on

1. Click the switch at the top right that reads Draft. It changes to Running: "Switched on. It runs from now."
2. To pause it later, click it again. It reads Paused and nobody moves on until you switch it back on.

Add people by hand

1. With the workflow running, click Add people.
2. Under Who?, choose Everyone with an email address or one of your Smart Lists.
3. Click Add. It says how many were added, and how many were already on it.

You can also add people from Contacts: tick them and click Trigger automation, choose the workflow, and click Queue automation. Only workflows that are switched on are listed.

What happens next

• From the moment it is running, each trigger starts a run for the person it happened to.
• Steps go out on time, checked every five minutes.
• The Runs section at the bottom of the canvas shows who is on it and where they are.

Troubleshooting

The switch is greyed out and says "Add a step first". A workflow with no steps cannot be switched on. Add at least one step.

Add people says "Switch the sequence on first, or nobody added now will receive anything." Click the Draft or Paused switch to turn it on, then add them.

Add people says "Add a step first — there is nothing to send yet." Add at least one step.

My workflow is not listed under Trigger automation on Contacts. Only workflows that are switched on are listed. Switch it on first.

Explain says "Nothing starts this run yet: people are added by hand." There is no trigger. That is fine for a sequence you fill with Add people; otherwise add a trigger.

Deleting a step worries me. Everyone still to receive that step skips it; people already past it are not affected.

Related

• What a workflow is and how it runs
• Every workflow trigger explained
• Every workflow step explained
• See who went through a workflow