FAQ & videos

How to create an automation? #

1. Click on the Automations module
2. Click on the + Automation button
3. Name the automation
4. Select the list in which the automation will be triggered
5. Click on Save

How to determine triggers? #

Step #1 allows you to select standard triggers from the following:

1. New contact
2. New sale
3. New opportunity
4. Reassign opp.
5. Email activity
6. Clicks through

Please note that the “New contact” trigger should generally be used as the sole criteria for triggering automation. It can only be combined with other criteria if they are also “true” at the very moment the contact is created. For example, you can use “New contact” with a criteria on a basic field in the contact card, but not with a criteria on a custom field. To combine it with a criteria on a custom field, the contact must be created via a web form that contains these specific fields. As they will be filled in at the same time as the contact is created, this combination becomes compatible.

To select more personalized triggers, you can go directly to step #2. Selecting triggers in step #1 then becomes optional.

Step #2 enables you to target a more specific condition that will act as a trigger. To do this, click + Add a condition and select the criteria of your choice from the following sections:

1. Contact / Account
   • Contains all the basic fields of contact and account records
2. Contact Profiling
   • Contains all the custom fields from the contact card
3. Account Profiling
   • Contains all the custom fields from the account card
4. List Profiling
   • Contains all the custom fields associated with the list in which you created the automation
5. Opportunity
   • Contains all the basic fields of an opportunity
6. Opportunity Profiling
   • Contains all the custom fields from an opportunity’s Profiling tab
7. Opportunity Items
   • Contains all the basic fields linked to the items as well as the custom fields linked to each of the items
8. Email Template
   • Contains all the conditions concerning emails sent via a contact card or account
9. Email Campaign
   • Contains all the conditions regarding drafts sent via the Emails module and automated emails
10. Links Clicked
    • Contains all the links added in your emails built with the CentrixOne emailer

Next, you need to determine which logic to apply from the following 3 options:

1. When all conditions are met
2. When any condition is met
3. Custom conditions (expert mode)
   • Allows you to build custom logic using the criteria AND, OR, and parentheses. Be sure to input the criteria in uppercase and add spaces between the parentheses –> Example: ( 1 AND 2 ) OR ( 3 OR 4 )

How to determine a waiting period? #

Step 3 allows you to select the waiting period before the automation is triggered. You can determine the following conditions:

1. Wait a number of minutes, hours, days, months or years
2. Wait according to a specific date indicated in a custom field and wait a number of days, weeks, months or years
3. Do not repeat
4. Repeat daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly
5. Trigger at a specific time in a specific time zone

How to define actions? #

Step 4 allows you to select the actions you want to automate. You can determine the actions from the following:

1. Send an email (displays the list of emails created in the email module’s automated emails tab)
   
   • This email can be sent to a 3rd party (either one of your active or inactive users), to a Contact, to a Contact sales rep, or to an Opportunity sales rep
2. Create a task
   • You can even add documents to it
3. Update data
   
   • The update can apply to a basic field or a custom field of a contact or account card, a custom field associated with the list in which you created the automation, a basic field or a custom field of an opportunity, or a base field or a custom field of an opportunity item (revenue category)
4. Copy or move a contact
   • This action can apply to the contact only or to the contact and their account
5. Create an opportunity
   • You can take advantage of this to pre-fill custom fields

How to enable an automation? #

Step 5 allows you to review the automation criteria before enabling it. When you are satisfied, click Launch automated task.

How the automation dashboard works? #

Once automation is activated, step #6 will become available. It corresponds to the automation dashboard. You can find the following information there:

1. Activity
   • Number of times the automation has triggered (in the last 90 days)
2. Pending
   • Number of scheduled actions (if you have programmed a waiting period)
3. Waiting line
   • Number of contacts matching the criteria that are waiting to be verified by the bots
4. Sleepers
   • Contacts already created that match the criteria. Activate them to apply actions retroactively or void them to prevent actions from running earlier.

Advice and clarification on the most common logic errors #

When you create an automation, several criteria must be considered to ensure that it works properly.

When the criteria for triggering an automation are met, the bots perform the actions in the order you specify. On the other hand, after each action, the bots recheck if the trigger criteria are still valid. If the criteria are no longer valid, then the bots don’t perform the remaining actions.

Here are some tips and details to properly configure your automations:

1. Move a contact
   • If you choose the action to move a contact, it must be executed last. In fact, once the contact is moved, it will no longer be part of the list to which the automation is associated, so the actions scheduled after the move will not be executed.
2. Update a field
   • If you add a trigger that checks a value of a field and, in your actions, this same field is updated, this action must absolutely be executed last.
3. Update a field in an opportunity
   • When you want to update a field in an opportunity, you must have a trigger on the opportunity.
4. Avoid a potential loop
   • When you set up a criteria-based update to a field on a contact or account record in an opportunity, this action will likely trigger multiple times. So consider creating or using a field that will serve as a precaution to prevent your automation from running in a loop. For example, you can create a field and automatically set it to “Yes” once the action is completed. Then use this same field as criteria to prevent the automation from retriggering.
5. Trigger when an opportunity is reassigned
   • When you reassign an opportunity, you can reassign it to another account or contact or another list. So if you want your automation to trigger when an opportunity is reassigned, you need to create the automation in the list where you want to be notified. For example, if you want to be notified when an opportunity is reassigned from the Leads list to the Customers list, then the automation must be created in the Customers list.
6. Trigger on the creation of a contact or an opportunity
   • Typically, these conditions are single triggers. This means that they must be used alone because the associated action is an immediate action. However, you can combine these triggers with other criteria if the criteria in question is met at the same time as the creation action. This situation is only possible when a contact is created via the API or via a web form.
7. Trigger according to a value in a multiple-choice field
   • What’s special about this type of field is that you can’t use the “Is equal to” relationship. Instead, use the “Contains” or “Does not contains” relationship. The reason is that, in the database, the values indicated in this type of field are grouped together on a single line and are therefore considered as a single value. By using the “Is equal to” relationship, the system will not detect any contacts meeting this condition (unless 100% of the values in the multiple-choice field are selected in the contact card).
8. Add a waiting period and specific trigger days
   • If you select only Monday as the day allowed for executing actions in automation, and specify a waiting time of 1 day, then the system will be ready to trigger on Monday, but since it has to wait 1 day after Monday, and the next day allowed is Monday, then the system will actually wait a week, until the following Monday.

Conclusion #

Remember that, if needed, you can undo Sleepers after enabling automation. This will prevent the system from retroactively processing actions on contacts already created.

When your automation isn’t working, double-check your logic to identify which trigger or action is causing the problem.

It’s also worth knowing that the CentrixOne team offers support services to help you build your automations as needed. To learn more about this, contact our Customer Success team by writing to success@centrix.one .