Triggers and steps explained

Every automation is built from two ingredients: a trigger that decides when a contact enters, and a series of steps that decide what happens next. This guide explains each one in everyday terms.

Triggers: what starts the automation

A trigger is the "when" of your workflow. The moment a contact does one of these things, they're enrolled and begin moving through your steps. You choose exactly one trigger per automation.

• Form submission — a contact fills out and submits one of your forms. The most common way to start a welcome journey.
• Tag added — a specific tag gets applied to a contact (by you, by another automation, or by an integration).
• Lead created — a brand-new contact is added to your audience, no matter how they got there.
• Segment joined — a contact starts matching the rules of a segment you've defined.
• Email opened — a contact opens a particular email you've sent.
• Email clicked — a contact clicks a link inside one of your emails.
• Link / purchase (payment completed) — a contact completes a payment or purchase.
• Lead score crosses a threshold — a contact's engagement score rises to the number you set, marking them as more interested.

Steps: what the automation does

Steps are the "then" of your workflow. After the trigger fires, the contact moves through your steps one at a time, in the order you connect them.

• Send email — deliver a specific email to the contact.
• Wait (delay) — pause the contact for a set amount of time before the next step.
• Add tag — apply a label to the contact for organizing or triggering other automations.
• Remove tag — take a label off the contact.
• Update a field — change a piece of contact data, like a status or a preference.
• Condition (if/else branch) — split the path based on something true about the contact.
• Split test — randomly send contacts down two paths to see which performs better.
• Update lead score — add or subtract points from the contact's engagement score.
• Create a CRM deal — open a deal in your pipeline so sales can follow up.

Wait steps: the pause that makes it feel human

A wait step holds each contact in place for the time you choose — an hour, two days, a week — before letting them continue. This is what turns a pile of emails into a paced sequence instead of everything landing at once.

The clock is personal. If you set "wait 2 days," it counts two days from the moment that specific contact reached the step — so everyone gets the same spacing, regardless of when they entered the automation.

Conditions: sending people down the right path

A condition step asks a yes/no question about the contact and splits the workflow into two branches: one for "yes," one for "no." It's how a single automation can treat people differently based on what they've done.

For example, after a welcome email you might add a condition: did they click the link? People who clicked go down a path that offers a demo; people who didn't get a gentle reminder instead. Each branch can have its own steps, waits, and even more conditions.

1. 1

   Add a condition step

   Drop it where the paths should split.

2. 2

   Set the question

   Base it on data or behavior — a tag, a field value, or whether they opened or clicked.

3. 3

   Build the "yes" branch

   Add the steps for contacts who match.

4. 4

   Build the "no" branch

   Add the steps for everyone else.