Workflows

Workflows let you automate actions in Ambivo so that things happen automatically when certain events occur. When something happens — like a new lead arriving or a deal moving to a new stage — a workflow can respond by sending an email, creating a task, updating a record, or performing a series of actions, all without anyone lifting a finger.

What Is a Workflow?

A workflow is a set of automated steps that run when a specific event happens. You design it visually as a flowchart: a starting trigger, followed by actions, conditions, and delays that execute in sequence. Think of it as: "When this happens → check these conditions → do these things."

Examples of what workflows can do:

• Send a welcome email the moment a new lead is created
• Create a follow-up task when a deal reaches the Proposal stage
• Wait 48 hours after a quote is sent, then send a reminder email if the deal is still open
• Route hot leads to senior reps and standard leads to the general queue
• Use AI to score a lead and take different actions based on the score
• Add or remove tags when a record meets certain criteria

Getting There

• Log in to Ambivo
• Click Workflows in the left sidebar (under Automation)
• You will see a list of all workflows with their names, statuses, and trigger information

Workflow Building Blocks

Every workflow is made up of three types of building blocks:

1. Trigger (Start Point)

The trigger is the event that kicks off your workflow. Every workflow starts with exactly one trigger.

Additional trigger types (such as inbound email and file upload) are available for more advanced automations. You can also add filters to your trigger so it only fires for certain records. For example: "When a lead is created and the source is Website."

2. Actions (What to Do)

Actions are the things your workflow does. You can chain multiple actions together.

3. Logic (How to Decide)

Logic steps control the flow of your workflow — they determine what happens next based on conditions.

Creating a Workflow

1. 1

   Create workflow

   From the Workflows list, click + New Workflow or Create Workflow. Give your workflow a Name and optional Description.

2. 2

   Configure trigger and steps

   Set up the Trigger — choose what event starts the workflow and add any filters. Add your Actions and Logic steps by dragging them onto the canvas and connecting them. Configure each step with the appropriate details.

3. 3

   Save

   Click Save. The workflow is saved as a Draft. You must activate it before it starts running.

Using Conditions and Branching

Conditions let your workflow make decisions. When a condition step runs, it evaluates a rule and then follows one of two paths.

Example

• Trigger: Deal is updated
• Condition: Is deal amount greater than $10,000?
• Yes → Send email to senior sales manager + Create priority task
• No → Send email to standard queue + Create normal task

Available Condition Checks

• Equals / Not Equals — Field matches (or doesn't match) a value
• Greater Than / Less Than — Numeric comparisons
• Contains — Field includes specific text
• Is Empty / Is Not Empty — Field has a value or is blank

You can chain multiple conditions to create complex decision trees.

Using Delays

Delays let you pause a workflow before the next step runs. This is perfect for follow-up sequences and timed reminders.

• "Wait 24 hours, then send a follow-up email"
• "Wait 7 days, then check if the deal is still in Proposal stage"
• "Wait 2 hours, then create a reminder task"

How Delays Work

• Add a Delay step between two actions
• Set the duration: minutes, hours, or days
• The workflow pauses at that point and automatically resumes when the time is up
• All subsequent steps run with full context — nothing is lost during the wait

AI-Powered Actions

Workflows can use artificial intelligence to make smarter decisions and generate content automatically.

What AI Can Do in a Workflow

• Analyze and score — Evaluate a lead's quality based on available information
• Generate content — Draft personalized email text or responses
• Classify data — Categorize incoming records based on their content
• Extract information — Pull key details from text, emails, or documents
• Transcribe — Convert audio or video recordings to text
• Read documents — Extract text from scanned images or PDFs

Example

• Trigger: New lead created from web form
• AI Action: Analyze the lead's company and message to score quality (1–10)
• Condition: Is score greater than 7?
• Yes → Assign to senior rep + Send personalized welcome email
• No → Add to nurture campaign + Send standard welcome email

Personalization with Merge Fields

Actions like Send Email, Send SMS, and Create Task support merge fields — placeholders that get replaced with real data when the workflow runs.

This lets you send personalized communications at scale — every email feels individually crafted, even though it was sent automatically.

Activate and Manage Workflows

Activating a Workflow

1. 1

   Activate

   Open the workflow, click Activate (or toggle the status to Active). The workflow is now live and will fire when its trigger conditions are met.

Pausing a Workflow

Open an active workflow, click Pause or toggle to Inactive. The workflow stops firing until reactivated — any in-progress executions will complete.

Viewing Execution Logs

• Open a workflow and go to the Execution Logs or History section
• See a record of every time the workflow ran, including when it was triggered, which record triggered it, what each step did, whether it succeeded or failed, and how long it took

Common Workflow Examples

Welcome Email for New Leads

• Trigger: Lead created
• Action: Send welcome email with personalized greeting
• Action: Create task for owner: "Call new lead within 24 hours"

Qualified Lead Follow-Up Sequence

• Trigger: Lead status changed to "Qualified"
• Action: Send congratulations email to lead
• Delay: Wait 2 days
• Condition: Has lead replied?
• Yes → Create task: "Schedule demo"
• No → Send follow-up email

Deal Stage Notification

• Trigger: Opportunity stage changed to "Negotiation"
• Action: Send notification to sales manager
• Action: Create task: "Prepare contract"
• Action: Add tag: "in-negotiation"

Overdue Payment Reminder

• Trigger: Scheduled (runs daily)
• Action: Find invoices past due date
• Loop: For each overdue invoice — send reminder email to customer and create task for account manager

Common Questions

Tips and Best Practices

• Name workflows clearly — "Welcome Email for Website Leads" is better than "Rule 1"
• Start simple — Build workflows with one trigger and one action, then add complexity as needed
• Use conditions to prevent unwanted actions — Always check that the data is what you expect before sending emails or creating records
• Use delays for follow-up sequences — Spaced-out communications feel more natural than all-at-once blasts
• Monitor execution logs — Regularly review logs to catch errors or unexpected behavior early
• Document your workflows — Use the description field so other team members understand what each workflow does and why
• Deactivate rather than delete — If you no longer need a workflow, pause it first in case you want to reference or reactivate it later
• Leverage AI actions — Let AI handle repetitive analysis and content generation so your team can focus on high-value interactions

Related Guides

• CRM-020 — Playbooks
• CRM-001 — Leads Management
• CRM-004 — Opportunities and Pipeline
• CRM-012 — Email Management
• CRM-018 — Marketing Campaigns
• CRM-019 — Custom Objects and Settings
• CRM-016 — AI Assistant