Understanding the Workflow Settings Tab

Effective workflow management is essential for successful marketing automation. The Workflow Settings tab is the backbone of your communication strategies, enabling you to fine-tune various aspects of your automation system. This article will guide you through the key features and benefits of the Workflow Settings tab, as well as provide step-by-step instructions on how to optimize these settings for your business needs.

Key Features and Benefits

• Communication Control: Set specific time windows and time zones for sending messages, ensuring your communications are targeted and effective.
• Personalized Messaging: Customize sender details for a more personalized approach, enhancing customer relationships and brand identity.
• Contact Management: Enable or disable re-entry into workflows and stop workflows based on contact responses to prevent message overload.
• Efficient Conversation Management: Automatically mark messages as read to keep your conversation tabs organized and clutter-free.
• Error Monitoring: Receive automated email notifications and view errors in a dedicated "Needs Review" tab, ensuring your workflows run smoothly without interruptions.

How to Use Workflow Settings

1. Accessing the Workflow Settings Tab

• Navigate to the Automation Tab > Workflows.
• When editing an existing workflow, click on the "Settings" tab within the Workflow Builder interface.

2. Configuring Communication Settings

• Time Window: Choose between 'Any Time' or 'Specific Time' to send messages. If you select 'Specific Time,' you can customize the days and times to target your audience during peak engagement hours.
• Timezone: Select 'Account Timezone' for consistent communication within a specific location or 'Contact Timezone' for global outreach tailored to each recipient’s timezone.
• Sender Details: Set a default 'From' name and email address, with the option to override these details for individual actions.
• From Number: Choose a specific number for SMS communications. This provides better management for organizations with multiple phone numbers used across different departments, regions, or purposes, improving message personalization and response rates.

Note: The sender email and name will override the Sender Name and Email set in the email action

Use Cases for “From Number” Field:

• Organizations with different phone numbers for departments like Support, Sales, and Operations can now assign specific workflows to use each designated number.
• An agency with multiple phone numbers for marketing purposes can choose which outbound number to use for each workflow.
• For businesses operating across multiple regions, using local numbers for SMS communication can enhance recipient trust and boost response rates.

3. Managing Contact Settings

• Allow Re-Entry: Toggle this option on or off depending on whether you want contacts to re-enter the workflow after completion. This is useful for recurring campaigns or periodic updates.
• Stop on Response: Enable this option to end the workflow for a contact once they respond to a message, ensuring a personalized and efficient approach.
• Allow Multiple Opportunities in Workflows: This option enables workflows to handle multiple opportunities for the same contact. This is especially useful in scenarios where a single contact has multiple active opportunities, as each opportunity will trigger its own workflow execution independently.
• How it Works:
• Separate Execution: Each opportunity will trigger a unique workflow execution, ensuring that updates to one opportunity don't interfere with others.
• No Workflow Restarts: When an opportunity is updated, the workflow will continue from the current stage, using the updated opportunity values without restarting.

Example Use Case: Imagine you're a real estate agent with a client, John Doe, who is interested in two properties: "1 Madison Avenue" and "2 Nice Street."

 With this feature:

• If "Allow Multiple Opportunities" is OFF, only the first updated opportunity will trigger the workflow, and subsequent opportunities will be skipped.
• If "Allow Multiple Opportunities" is ON, both properties will trigger their respective workflows independently, ensuring each opportunity is handled properly.

4. Optimizing Conversation Management

• Mark as Read: Enable this setting to automatically mark outgoing automated messages as read, keeping your conversation tabs tidy and organized.

5. Execution Logs Tab:

The Execution Logs Tab is an essential feature for monitoring and managing your workflows. 

• In the execution logs, you can review the workflow history and see the execution flow of all actions as they get updated.
• You can view the action history for all leads in the workflow or select a specific lead to review the actions that were updated.
• You can see the description and execution status of each action performed.

Workflow Title

This section displays the status of customers as they move through your workflow. It's useful for checking the current status of a customer or reviewing the history of customers who have completed the workflow.

Refresh

You can update the information displayed by clicking the blue refresh icon located at the top right of the table, ensuring you always have the most current data.

Filter By Date

If you need to view workflow data from a specific time period, use the date dropdown to select your desired range. The table will automatically refresh to show data from that period.

Filter By Action

To view specific actions within your workflow, use the dropdown menu to filter the logs by the action performed.

Filter By Status

To find specific workflow statuses, select the desired status from the "All Status" dropdown.

Select A Contact

If you have a lengthy list of workflow logs, use the search function to quickly locate a specific contact rather than scrolling through the entire list.

Workflow Status Table

The Workflow Status table provides a comprehensive list of current workflow statuses and related data, including:

• Contacts that were added.
• Actions taken.
• Workflow statuses.
• Execution date and time.
• Options to view detailed execution logs and contact history.

Save and Update

After making edits to a workflow status, remember to save your changes. Once saved, the date and time will reflect the update.

Draft vs. Publish

You can set action logs to either draft or publish mode by toggling the corresponding button, allowing you to activate or deactivate the feature as needed.

Click on any item to navigate to the execution logs.

Mark errors as read to acknowledge them.

7. Workflow Error Notifications

Workflow Error Notifications is a valuable feature that alerts users when errors occur within their workflows, ensuring you stay on top of any disruptions that might affect your automation processes.

Steps to Enable Workflow Error Notifications:

1. Access Workflow Settings:
   Navigate to the Automation tab on the left and click on Workflow Settings at the top.

1. Enable Error Notifications:
   Toggle on notifications and select the user who should receive alerts when errors occur. Once set, these notifications will notify users of issues such as failed webhooks or integrations.

1. Frequency of Notifications:
   Email notifications are sent every 24 hours, reducing the risk of receiving too many alerts. When you receive a notification, click the Review It button, which will direct you to the "Needs Review" tab.
2. Handling Errors:
   In the Needs Review tab, review workflows that need attention. You can see the detailed execution logs and fix any errors, after which you can mark them as "Read."

Important Points to Remember:

• By default, all sub-account administrators will automatically receive these error notification emails.
• You can add or remove email recipients as necessary.
• An email will be sent immediately whenever an error occurs in a workflow.
• Clicking the "Review it" button in the email will direct the user to the "Needs Review" tab.
• Users will receive only one email per 24-hour period. If new errors are detected after this time frame, another email will be sent.

Pro Tips

• Best Practice for Time Windows: Tailor your communication windows based on your audience’s most active hours to maximize engagement.
• Regularly Update Sender Details: Keep your sender details updated to maintain consistency and clarity in your communications.
• Communicate Policy Changes: If you implement time restrictions on rescheduling or cancellations, clearly communicate these policies to your customers to avoid confusion.
• Assign Error Notifications to a Team Member
  If you have a virtual assistant or team member managing your workflows, consider assigning them as the recipients of error notifications. This way, they can resolve issues as soon as they arise, keeping your workflow running smoothly without interruptions.

FAQ

Q1: Can I use different settings for different workflows?
A1: Yes, each workflow can be customized with unique settings based on your specific needs.

Q2: What should I do if I choose the wrong settings?
A2: You can update the settings at any time. The changes will affect new entries into the workflow.

Q3: How do I set the best time window for sending messages?
A3: It depends on your audience and goals, but generally, it’s best to send communications when your audience is most active.

Q4: What happens if an error occurs in my workflow?
A4: You will receive an automated email notification, and the error will be displayed in the "Needs Review" tab. You can acknowledge the error in the execution logs.

Q5: Can I prevent a contact from re-entering the workflow after completing it?
A5: Yes, you can toggle off the "Allow Re-Entry" option to prevent contacts from re-entering the same workflow multiple times.

Q6.Can I assign someone else to receive workflow error notifications?
A6:Yes, in the Workflow Settings, you can assign or change the user who will receive error notifications to ensure the right person addresses any issues.

Q7.How often will I receive error notifications?
A7:You will receive one email every 24 hours if new workflow errors are detected.

Q8.What happens if the error involves a webhook or premium action?
A8:The system will notify you of any errors related to webhooks, premium actions like Slack, Google Sheets, and social media integrations, so you can fix them promptly.

Q9: How does the "Allow Multiple Opportunities" setting work?

A9: When this setting is enabled, each opportunity associated with a contact will have its own workflow execution. This ensures all opportunities are managed independently and updates to one opportunity do not affect others.