The New Automation Builder: Creating an Automation
11 min read
This article refers to the new automation builder that is currently being released. If you're not seeing this version, then see our article about the previous version of the automation builder.
Create an automation to grow or manage your business. Choose to create one from scratch or start with a suggested automation.
All automations consist of a trigger and at least one action. An automation's trigger is the event that causes the sequence of steps to be performed. The action is the response to the trigger. An action can take place immediately after the trigger, after a predefined number of hours or days, or if certain criteria are met.
Example:
Joan has a monthly newsletter. She creates a newsletter subscription form to grow her mailing list. She wants to thank each subscriber as they sign up, but manually sending these emails would be impossible. Instead, she sets up an automation that automatically sends a 'thank you' message every time a new person subscribes.
Step 1 | Create a new automation
Any automations you create appear under Automations in your site's dashboard. Make sure to choose a name that's memorable and can be understood by all of your site collaborators. You can create up to 1000 automations per site.
To create a new automation:
- Go to Automations in your site's dashboard.
- Click + New Automation at the top right.
- Choose how you want to start creating your automation:
- From Scratch: Click Start from Scratch to begin from a blank automation template.
- Suggested automation: Use the categories or search bar to find the suggested automation you want to edit. Then click Set Up next to the automation.
- Click the title to give your automation a name.
Step 2 | Choose a trigger
To get started, select the trigger you wish to initiate the automation. This may be something that a visitor does on your site (for example, purchasing a product), or something you or your collaborators do (e.g. creating an invoice).
Note:
The triggers you'll see listed differ depending on which apps are installed on your site (e.g. Wix Forms, Wix Stores).
To choose a trigger:
- Choose a trigger in the trigger selection panel from the available options under the relevant app.
- Further define your trigger.
Note: Based on the trigger you choose, you will see different settings to finish configuring the trigger.
- (Optional) Enable the Trigger once per person toggle to limit trigger frequency:
- Select the person from the trigger data: Decide how often the automation can be triggered for the same person (e.g. Contact ID, Post Author Contact ID, Visitor ID etc.).
Tip: Useful for triggers that might occur repeatedly. - Trigger once per person every: Select this checkbox if you want to set a specific amount of time that should pass before the automation can be triggered again for the same person.
- Select the person from the trigger data: Decide how often the automation can be triggered for the same person (e.g. Contact ID, Post Author Contact ID, Visitor ID etc.).
Step 3 | Choose what you want to add to your automation:
After selecting a trigger, continue setting up your automation using any of the available steps: Action, Delay, Condition. These steps can be added anywhere in your automation sequence depending on the logic you are trying to implement.
Add a delay
Add a time buffer between steps. For example, if your trigger is 'Customer abandons a cart' and your action is 'Send an email', you would want to delay the automation by sending this after a certain amount of time has passed.
To add a delay:
- Click + to add a step.
- Click Delay.
- Click the up and down arrows (or enter a number in the text box) and click the drop-down to choose between days, hours, and minutes.
Note:
If you don't add a delay, the action is performed immediately.
Add a condition
Conditions let you create complex automation flows by defining criteria for continuing the flow. In the ‘THEN’ path, the automation flow continues only if the condition is met. You can set an ELSE path to define what happens if it isn’t.
See an example of a condition
To add a condition:
- Click + to add a step
- Click Condition.
- Click the Select a property drop-down and choose the dynamic field that the automation collects when it runs (e.g. Party Size).
- Click the Select logic drop-down and choose an operator that will compare the received data with the value (e.g. 'is greater than').
- Click the Enter value drop-down or text box that appears to set the right value (e.g. 3).
- (Optional) Click + Add Criterion to add any additional criteria.
Note: If you add more than one criterion, you can choose ‘and’/’or’ relations between criteria of the same condition.
Choose an action
Actions are what the automation performs. For example, if your trigger is 'Form submitted', you might want to send that visitor an automatic thank you email. In the actions selection panel, you can find the action offering relevant to the selected trigger, which can be customized to suit your needs.
To choose an action:
- Click + to add a step.
- Click Action.
- Choose an action from the panel.
Note: The actions available will differ based on your trigger choice.
- Set up the action using the available settings. Click the relevant action below to learn how:
Send an email
Send a chat message
Send a push notification
Send an SMS
Create a task
Assign a badge
Add a coupon
Move card in a workflow
Give loyalty points
Add a label
Send via webhook
Connect to Zapier
Update Google Sheets
Invite to a group
Get an email
Step 4 | Activate the automation
Click Activate to save and activate the automation. It now appears on your Automations page where you can monitor, edit, deactivate, or delete according to your needs.
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