Creating Visual Workflows

With the Visual Workflow Builder, SharpSpring offers an interface for you to develop and visualize the journeys for your leads. Point-and-click to build and expand even the most complex automation tasks, including triggers, filters, and actions. You can use the Visual Workflow Builder to construct diagrams of your leads' journeys to better understand the paths they are taking toward conversion. This article will provide information on the various aspects of the Visual Workflow Builder.

The following user roles can create visual workflows:

• Administrators
• Marketing Managers

Article Contents

Creating Visual Workflows

To create a visual workflow, do the following:

Previewing and Editing Content

You can preview sites, emails, forms, pages, and certain media assets from within the Visual Workflow Builder and quickly jump to them to edit those assets. With a visual workflow, you can see every aspect of your automation from a single interface, which makes this an ideal centerpiece for your marketing strategy.

Trigger	Available Actions
Emails	•   Click the send the email action or visits from the email trigger       to see a preview of the email.  •   Click the    Edit icon to edit that email directly in the       email designer.
Forms	•   Click the form trigger to see a preview of the form that       people are filling out.  •   Click the    Edit icon to edit that form directly in its       Settings page.
Media Center	•   Click the media center trigger to see a preview of that media       center link (except .PDFs).    •   Click the    Edit icon to edit the settings for that Media       Center asset.
Sites	•   Click any site trigger or filter to see a preview of that website,       or an unavailable message for unavailable website previews.  •   When previewing the visits from the page trigger, only       tracked sites will show up as a preview since this trigger       relies on the page to have tracking code.

Exporting Visual Workflows

Gated and Open Triggers

The Visual Workflow Builder includes options for triggers to have them fire if the trigger condition was met. This condition interacts with the referenced item originating in the specified workflow and action group. Gated and open triggers are available for any branching trigger. These trigger options are as follows:

• Gated Trigger: Only fire the trigger if the email is sent as part of this workflow.
  
  
• Open Trigger: Allow this trigger to fire even if the email is sent as a smart email, to a list, or through another group.

Gated and open triggers allow you to create multiple scenarios within the same visual workflow. These triggers allow for the option, on a trigger-by-trigger basis, to choose whether conditional logic should apply, or whether any lead action that meets that condition should fire the trigger.

For example, a trigger for visits from the email with a parent action that sends that email will only fire if a visits from that email was sent from the parent action group, and will not fire if that email is sent as a smart email, to a list, or through another action group.

To utilize open and gated triggers, do the following:

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How do I save a visual workflow?
A. Triggers, filters, and action groups are saved automatically once they are added to the visual workflow.

Q: What are the differences between action groups and branches?
A: Reusable action groups are a collection of standalone events that can be referenced within a visual workflow or be manually scheduled to a list. Branches are not action groups. Branches refer to a collection of actions created for use only within a visual workflow. As the name implies, this collection of actions branch out from the action group and are dependent upon additional criteria in order to function. Branches will not be added as reusable, standalone action groups.

Q. Will my visual workflows and action groups display in the normal Task or Action Group pages, and vice versa?
A. Visual workflows will remain separate from the pre-existing tasks and action groups. These will not be accessible on the same page. 

Q. How do I make changes outside of an action group?
A. The action group must be saved prior to making any changes outside of the action group.

Q. Can I rename the branches in my visual workflow?
A. Yes. To rename the branch, simply click on the green bar above your action group and type in a new name. The name will save automatically.

Q. How can I see how far a lead is in a visual workflow?
A. On the Memberships tab of the lead record, the visual workflow name will display, followed by the name of the specific branch a lead has taken part in. You can see aggregate usage, including the last time the visual workflow ran, on the main visual workflows page.

Q. Can visual workflows be repeatable?
A. Visual workflows are repeatable if the action groups are repeatable.

Q. How do time delays work in visual workflows?
A. Time delays in the visual workflow builder are structured around the timing of the prior event. The visual workflow builder does not use from start time delays. When adding time delays to a visual workflow, that delay is timing iterative from the previous event.

Ready to Learn More?

• Understanding Workflow Branching
• Creating Drip Campaigns
• Task and Action Group Overview