How to Create a Workflow

A workflow is an automated email or series of emails with a particular marketing purpose that is sent based on set up conditions. It can be sent to a single contact or contact segment.

You can use workflows to segment your audience and send different types of campaigns (welcome email, birthday email, order confirmation, abandoned cart, reactivation email, etc.) to the corresponding segments. 

In the platform, we use a drag-and-drop builder to build workflows. A drag-and-drop builder is a constructor that uses ready blocks which you can drag to the workflow, connect and assign to tasks and conditions.

There are three groups of blocks to be used for workflow creation:

• General: basic blocks required to create a workflow. How to Use General Blocks.
• Actions: blocks used to assign an action to the workflow. How to Use Actions Blocks.
• Conditions: blocks used to check compliance with a certain condition. How to Use Conditions Blocks.

We recommend reading the above instructions before proceeding with workflow creation.

1. To get started with workflow creation, go to Automation > Workflows and click New workflow.

2. Enter the title (required) and description (optional). Optionally, add tags.

3. Every workflow is automatically started with the Start block. It’s a required block. You can add other blocks only after it.

4. Start adding blocks you need for your workflow. You can do it in two ways:

• Left-click the necessary block. It will be automatically assigned to the previous block. If the previous block is a condition that has two lines – green and red – the following block is first connected to the green line.
• Drag it and manually connect to any block.

5. To delete a block, click the trash icon above it (1) or in the top toolbar (2). You can also click Delete on your keyboard.

6. To delete a connection between blocks, click it (will be highlighted blue) and click the trash icon on top or Delete on the keyboard.

7. To duplicate a block, click the copy icon above it.

8. To undo the previous action or move to the following action, click the arrow icons on top.

9. Some blocks require additional settings. Blocks that need settings are marked with an orange alert label. Click the block and fill in all the required fields in the settings on the right. Learn more on the settings in the instructions for each block group.

10. End all workflows or workflow paths with the required End block.

11. After all blocks are configured, click Save.

12. The new workflow will appear in the general list with the Not active status. To activate and start the workflow, you need to configure launch conditions in Trigger configuration.

Launch Conditions

You can specify different launch conditions for workflows.

• Launch on event: the workflow is triggered by the selected event;
• Regular launch: the workflow launches for the selected segments based on the specified conditions;
• Launch on contact field change: the workflow is triggered by the change in the contact’s profile.

On Event

Workflows triggered by the event are sent in response to a customer’s action (trigger). It can be a subscription, registration, email click, purchase confirmation, abandoned website browse, etc. You can send events to our CDP via API or they can be generated within the system.

Let’s see how to configure the launch on the event using a workflow with a welcome email as an example. This workflow is triggered by subscription to your newsletters.

1. Create a workflow and select the message that will be sent to all new subscribers.

2. In Trigger configuration, select On event and select the event in Event type.

3. In Process unique events, select once. This way welcome emails won’t be sent to users who attempt to subscribe for the second time.

4. Click Apply.

5. In the general list, click Start and confirm it.

6. The workflow status will change to Active (1).

7. You can manage your workflows using the settings on the right (2).

Regular

Regular workflows are only launched for a dynamic segment. A dynamic segment includes contacts who match the pre-selected conditions. By default, regular workflows are launched once a day after contact recalculation. You can change the frequency in the settings. Before creating a workflow, you need to create a segment you assign to this workflow.

1. Create a workflow and select the message that will be sent to contacts included in the segment.

2. In Trigger configuration, select Regular and select the segment. Configure other settings if needed and click Apply.

3. In the general list, click Start and confirm it.

Learn more on how to launch a regular workflow.

On Contact Field Change

A change of the additional fields in the contact profile can be a workflow trigger. It’s often used to notify about completion of different actions, for example, migration to another plan, subscription, change of preferences, unlocking a new level of the loyalty program, etc.

1. Create a workflow and select the message that will be sent to contacts whose profiles have been changed.

2. In Trigger configuration, select On contact field change and select the contact field. Click Apply.

Note that the workflow will launch only if the field is changed:

• After manual contact import;
• After data transfer via the following methods:

  • Add contact

  • Add/update contacts

  • Get contact

If additional fields are changed manually or through any other method, the workflow will not start.

Workflow Statistics

In the general list, you can see information on each workflow: date and time of the launch, how many times it was launched and for what contacts, errors, etc. Click the Statistics icon on the right and select the necessary category.

A window with information about workflow starts will open.

How to Stop a Workflow

1. Go to Automation → Workflows.

You will see a list of all workflows created in your account.

2. Click the Deactivate icon for the workflow you want to stop.

3. Click the Statistics icon and see In progress. If there is 0 in progress, the workflow has already finished for all contacts before you stop it, and there will be no more launches.

If some contacts are in progress, the workflow has started before you click to stop it. It will stop after emails are sent to all contacts assigned to it. You need to stop such workflows manually.

5. After clicking the In Progress link, you can deactivate the workflow to all contacts (by clicking on the appropriate button) or for each contact separately.