Your First Workflow

3 parts

Anatomy of a Workflow

Every workflow is built from three parts. Tap one to see what it covers.

01

Trigger

The event that starts the automation, like a form being submitted or a tag being added to a contact.

02

Actions

What happens after the trigger fires, sending a text, an email, creating a task, or notifying your team.

03

Test & Publish

Confirm it works exactly as expected on yourself first, then publish it, an unpublished workflow will not run.

Key terms

Definitions

Tap any term to expand it.

The event that starts an automation, like a form being submitted.

A single step a workflow performs after it fires, like sending a text or creating a task.

A placeholder, like a contact's first name, that pulls in real data automatically, used in forms, workflows, and notes.

A workflow setting that lets the same contact trigger it more than once, useful for testing and recurring situations.

The step that turns a workflow on. An unpublished workflow will not run, even if it looks finished.

In practice

Common Use Cases

⚡

Picking Your First Trigger

Start simple: a website form submission is the easiest trigger to build your first workflow around.

🎯

Adding Your Actions

Three actions is plenty for a first workflow: notify your team, send a confirmation, and create a follow-up task.

⚙️

One Decision Up Front

Decide whether the workflow should respect business hours or fire any time, before you build it.

🧪

Testing Before It Goes Live

Submit the form yourself and watch every action fire correctly before you publish it for real leads.

Help me do it

Things To Do

Finish these before moving to the next lesson. They only take a few minutes.

0 of 3 done

Build your first workflow, starting with following up your website form

Add at least three actions to it

Test it safely on yourself, then publish it

⚡ Tips

Turn on Allow Reentry while you're testing a new workflow, or repeat tests won't trigger it again.
Always publish a workflow. An unpublished one looks done but will not actually run.
Start with just a few contacts to practice your workflow before importing your full database.
Keep your first workflow to one simple job. You can always build a second one once this works.
Use custom values like {{contact.first_name}} to personalize messages automatically.

Check yourself

Quick Knowledge Check

Answer a few quick questions to lock in what you just learned. Miss one and we'll show you the right answer.

0 of 4 answered

The event that starts an automation, like a form submission, is called a workflow ____.

Why turn on Allow Reentry while testing a workflow?

True or false: a workflow that looks finished but hasn't been published will not actually run.

A placeholder like a contact's first name that pulls in real data automatically is called a ____.

Help me apply it

Try This With Your Favorite AI

Copy a prompt below and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever AI tool you use. Fill in the bracketed details and it'll help you write your own version for your business.

🎯 First Workflow Planner

You are a marketing automation consultant helping me plan my very first automation before I start building it. My context: - What form or trigger I want to automate, and my business type: [describe] Give me: - The trigger, and 3 actions that should happen after it fires - One decision I need to make up front, like time zone restrictions or business hours - A simple way to test it safely before turning it on for real leads - Keep it to one simple workflow, not a whole campaign. Finish by asking me: "What form or event do you want this workflow to respond to? Tell me and I will help you map out the exact steps.".

💬 Website Form Follow-Up Message Writer

You are a copywriter helping me write a short internal notification and confirmation message for when someone fills out my website form. My context: - My business type and what the form is for: [describe] Give me: - A short internal notification alerting my team to the new lead - A friendly confirmation message the lead could receive - One line explaining what makes a first response feel fast and human, not automated - Keep both messages under 50 words each. Finish by asking me: "What is the form actually collecting? Tell me and I will make the messages reference it specifically.".