Understanding Workflow Triggers and Actions

Every workflow starts with one trigger and responds with one or more actions. This reference covers the triggers and actions you will actually use — what each one does, when to use it, and what to watch for.

Triggers Reference

Contact Triggers

• Contact Created: Fires when any new contact record is created. Use for universal onboarding.
• Tag Applied: Fires when a specific tag is added. The most flexible trigger.
• Tag Removed: Fires when a tag is removed. Useful for re-engagement sequences.

Form and Purchase Triggers

• Form Submitted: Fires on a specific form submission.
• Order Submitted / Payment Received: Fires when a product is purchased. The most important trigger for post-purchase automation.
• Funnel Page Visited: Fires when a contact visits a specific page. Use for behavioral follow-up.

Calendar Triggers

• Appointment Scheduled: Fires when a new appointment is booked.
• Appointment Cancelled: Fires when a booking is cancelled. Use for re-engagement.
• Missed Call: Fires when an inbound call is not answered.

Engagement Triggers

• Email Opened: Fires when a contact opens an email. Use for high-engagement follow-up.
• Link Clicked: Fires when a contact clicks a specific link. Use for behavioral segmentation.

Actions Reference

Messaging

• Send Email: Sends an email to the contact using your email builder template.
• Send SMS: Sends a text message. Requires SMS credits.
• Send Voicemail Drop: Delivers a pre-recorded voicemail. High open rate — use sparingly.

CRM

• Apply Tag / Remove Tag: Adds or removes a tag from the contact record.
• Update Contact Field: Writes a value to any standard or custom contact field.
• Create Opportunity: Adds the contact to a pipeline stage.
• Move Opportunity Stage: Moves an existing pipeline opportunity forward or back.

Membership

• Grant Access: Enrolls a contact in a course or community automatically on purchase.
• Revoke Access: Removes course or community access. Use for subscription cancellation workflows.

Workflow Control

• Wait: Pauses the workflow for a duration or until a specific date.
• If/Else Branch: Routes contacts based on a condition — tag present, field value, prior behavior.
• Remove from Workflow: Exits the contact from the current workflow entirely.

Conditions and Branches

The If/Else action is the most powerful tool in the builder. Check: does the contact have a tag? Did they open the last email? Have they purchased? Based on the answer, route them to a different path. The exit branch — "if Buyer tag exists, remove from sequence" — should be in every sales-related nurture workflow.

Common Mistakes

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Next Steps

• Using "Contact Created" for a product-specific sequence — it fires for every new contact. Use "Payment Received" instead.
• Setting Wait steps in days when you mean hours — always check the time unit.
• Building deep If/Else branches before understanding simpler single-path workflows first.
• Confusing "Appointment Reminder" trigger (calendar-native) with manually built Wait → SMS reminders.