Automation Workflows Overview

What is a Workflow?

A Workflow is an automated series of steps that runs for a contact after something happens - like a new contact being created, a donation arriving, or a person being added to a list. It helps you follow up, organize tasks, move people through journeys, and send communications without manual effort.

When to Use Workflows

Use a workflow to:

• Welcome new contacts.
• Send follow‑up messages after a donation.
• Assign tasks to staff when a supporter reaches a key stage.
• Move a person through your pipeline or journey automatically.
• Add or remove tags or list memberships based on activity.
• Send internal alerts (e.g., “High‑value donor added”).

Where to Find It

Go to: Automation Workflows in the main menu.
Tabs you’ll see:

Workflows: Your active and inactive workflows.

Analytics: (If enabled) performance and outcome data.

Templates: Ready-made starting points.

Use the New Workflow button to begin.
If you have no workflows yet, you’ll see a friendly “Get Started” panel and a button to create your first one.

Core Parts of a Workflow

• Trigger (the starting event)
• Steps (the actions you want to happen, in order)
• Optional: Delays (wait time), Conditions (if/else logic), or branching
• Completion (when there are no more steps - or you intentionally end it)

Each workflow has exactly one trigger. Everything else is optional and stackable.

Triggers

You pick one trigger that answers: “When should this start?”

Common trigger choices (names simplified):

• A new contact is created.
• A contact is updated.
• A contact is deleted.
• A donation is made (you can narrow by amount or campaign).
• A donation is updated.
• A donation is reversed/deleted.
• Someone is added to a specific (static) list.
• Someone appears in a dynamic list (saved search).
• Someone is removed from a list (static or dynamic).
• A person enters a particular pipeline/journey stage.

Manual Start Option: You can enable “Allow manual enrollment” so staff can enroll people on demand - even if the trigger event didn’t occur.

Tip: Narrow your trigger if possible (e.g., only donations above a certain amount) to avoid unnecessary enrollments.

Step Types (What You Can Make It Do)

You can add as many steps as you like after the trigger:

• Communication & Engagement
  • Send an email
  • Send an internal notification (to team members)
  • Send a text message (SMS)
  • Generate a letter or statement (optionally email it)
• Data & Organization
  • Update a contact field
  • Add or remove a tag
  • Add or remove from a list
  • Enroll in or remove from a separate sequence
  • Move to a pipeline/journey stage
  • Assign an owner
• Tasking & Tracking
  • Create a task
  • Log an activity
• Flow Control
  • Delay (wait hours/days/weeks before the next step)
  • Condition (run logic: “If this is true, continue; if not, do something else”)

 

Conditions (Decision Logic)

A condition step lets you define business rules - for example: “If Total Donations this year is more than $500, continue; otherwise send an internal alert and stop.”

You can:

• Stack multiple criteria.
• Define what happens if the criteria fail:
  • Keep going anyway.
  • Stop the workflow.
  • Skip the remaining steps.
  • Jump to another step.
  • Retry later for a limited time (e.g., waiting for missing data).
  • Enroll the person into a different workflow (for escalation).

Delays

Add a Delay to wait before the next step. Useful for:

Spacing messages (e.g., welcome email now, follow‑up two days later).

Allowing data syncs to complete.

Templates

The Templates tab offers starter frameworks (e.g., “New Supporter Welcome”).
To use one:

• Open Templates.
• Choose a template.
• Click the option to create a workflow from it.
• Name it.
• Adjust steps or messaging before publishing.

Templates help keep consistency across teams.

Managing Workflows

In the Workflows tab you can:

• Search by name.
• View active vs inactive (archived/cancelled) items.
• Open a workflow to edit steps (draft changes until published).
• Archive old workflows to keep the list clean.

Analytics (when populated) will help you see: enrollments, completions, and bottlenecks.

 

Common Examples

Welcome Series Trigger: New contact created
Steps:

• Send welcome email
• Delay 2 days
• Add tag “Welcome Sent”
• Create internal task “Call new contact”

High-Value Donor Alert Trigger: Donation created (filter: amount ≥ $500)
Steps:

• Send internal notification to fundraising team
• Assign owner
• Create follow-up task

Pipeline Stage Nurture Trigger: Enters “Prospect” stage
Steps:

• Send intro email
• Delay 3 days
• Send educational email
• Condition: If no donation yet → create “Check-in” task; else stop.

 

Best Practices

Do:

• Keep triggers specific.
• Start small and iterate.
• Use Conditions to avoid duplicate campaigns.
• Use Delays to avoid overwhelming contacts.

Avoid:

• Overloading with too many immediate communications.
• Creating multiple workflows with the same broad trigger and overlapping purpose.
• Long retry loops that never end (set reasonable retry limits).

 

Safe Testing

• Create a test contact or use a small list.
• Enable manual enrollment.
• Walk through steps and confirm expected outcomes before widening scope.

 

Beta Notes

• Features may expand (more trigger types, richer analytics).
• Reserved or “future” triggers may appear - use only the clearly labeled ones.
• Feedback is encouraged to refine wording, options, and reporting.

 

Quick Glossary

• Trigger: The event that starts everything.
• Step: A single action (email, task, delay, etc.).
• Enrollment: A record actively moving through your workflow.
• Manual Enrollment: Staff-initiated start.
• Template: Prebuilt workflow pattern.

 

Fast Start Checklist

• Click New Workflow.
• Name it clearly (e.g., “New Donor Welcome – Q1”).
• Select a meaningful trigger.
• Add 2–4 core steps (don’t overbuild first pass).
• Add a Delay if sending multiple messages.
• Use a Condition only if absolutely needed initially.
• Save & publish.
• Test with one record.
• Monitor and refine.