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New Automation Builder

The New Automation Builder: Creating an Automation

This article refers to the new automation builder that is currently being released. If you're not seeing this version, then see our article about the previous version of the automation builder.

Create an automation to grow or manage your business. Choose to create one from scratch or start with a suggested automation.

All automations consist of a trigger and at least one action. An automation's trigger is the event that causes the sequence of steps to be performed. The action is the response to the trigger. An action can take place immediately after the trigger, after a predefined number of hours or days, or if certain criteria are met.

Example:

Joan has a monthly newsletter. She creates a newsletter subscription form to grow her mailing list. She wants to thank each subscriber as they sign up, but manually sending these emails would be impossible. Instead, she sets up an automation that automatically sends a 'thank you' message every time a new person subscribes.

Step 1 | Create a new automation

Any automations you create appear under Automations in your site's dashboard. Make sure to choose a name that's memorable and can be understood by all of your site collaborators. You can create up to 1000 automations per site.

To create a new automation:

  1. Go to Automations in your site's dashboard.

  2. Click + New Automation at the top right.

  3. Choose how you want to start creating your automation:From Scratch: Click Start from Scratch to begin from a blank automation template.
    Suggested automation: Use the categories or search bar to find the suggested automation you want to edit. Then click Set Up next to the automation.

A screenshot of the Create a New Automation screen.

  1. Click the title to give your automation a name.

Step 2 | Choose a trigger

To get started, select the trigger you wish to initiate the automation. This may be something that a visitor does on your site (for example, purchasing a product), or something you or your collaborators do (e.g. creating an invoice).

Note:

The triggers you'll see listed differ depending on which apps are installed on your site (e.g. Wix Forms, Wix Stores).

To choose a trigger:

  1. Choose a trigger in the trigger selection panel from the available options under the relevant app.

Screenshot of the panel that appears when you are selecting a trigger: including the search bar and suggested triggers.

  1. Set up the trigger.
    Note: Based on the trigger you choose, you will see different settings to finish configuring the trigger.

  2. (Optional) Enable the Trigger once per person toggle to limit trigger frequency:Select the person from the trigger data: Decide how often the automation can be triggered for the same person (e.g. Contact ID, Post Author Contact ID, Visitor ID etc.).
    Tip: Useful for triggers that might occur repeatedly.
    Trigger once per person every: Select this checkbox if you want to set a specific amount of time that should pass before the automation can be triggered again for the same person.

Step 3 | Choose what you want to add to your automation:

After selecting a trigger, continue setting up your automation using any of the available steps: Action, Delay, Condition. These steps can be added anywhere in your automation sequence depending on the logic you are trying to implement.

Add a delay

Add a time buffer between steps. For example, if your trigger is 'Customer abandons a cart' and your action is 'Send an email', you would want to delay the automation by sending this after a certain amount of time has passed.

To add a delay:

  1. Click + to add a step.

  2. Click Delay.

  3. Click the up and down arrows (or enter a number in the text box) and click the drop-down to choose between days, hours, and minutes.

Note:

If you don't add a delay, the action is performed immediately.

Screenshot of the delay panel and its options.

Add a condition

Conditions let you create complex automation flows by defining criteria for continuing the flow. In the ‘THEN’ path, the automation flow continues only if the condition is met. You can set an ELSE path to define what happens if it isn’t.

See an example of a condition

To add a condition:

  1. Click + to add a step

  2. Click Condition.

  3. Click the Select a property drop-down and choose the dynamic field that the automation collects when it runs (e.g. Party Size).

  4. Click the Select logic drop-down and choose an operator that will compare the received data with the value (e.g. 'is greater than').

  5. Click the Enter value drop-down or text box that appears to set the right value (e.g. 3).

  6. (Optional) Click + Add Criterion to add any additional criteria.

Note: If you add more than one criterion, you can choose ‘and’/’or’ relations between criteria of the same condition.

Screenshot of how conditions appear in the builder with IF/ELSE pathways.

Choose an action

Actions are what the automation performs. For example, if your trigger is 'Form submitted', you might want to send that visitor an automatic thank you email. In the actions selection panel, you can find the action offering relevant to the selected trigger, which can be customized to suit your needs.

To choose an action:

  1. Click + to add a step.

  2. Click Action.

  3. Choose an action from the panel.
    Note: The actions available will differ based on your trigger choice.

Screenshot of the panel that appears when you are selecting an action: including the search bar.

  1. Set up the action using the available settings. Click the relevant action below to learn how:

Send an email

  1. Click Edit in the Sender details section to edit your sender details:From name: This is the name that appears in the recipient's inbox.
    Reply-to email: This is the address that replies are sent to.
    Screenshot of the sender details section in the send an email action panel.

  2. Click the Create an email section and choose what you want to do:Click Edit to update the default template generated by this automation.
    Click Switch template to use an email template from a different automation or email marketing campaign.
    Click More Actions to preview and test the email or reset to default template.

Screenshot of the create an email section in the send an email action panel.

3. Under Set email type section, select a type for your email to determine how or when your recipients can mute or unsubscribe from your emails:

  • Promotional: Non-essential business information or marketing content.

  • Business transactional: Essential information to your customers, directly related to their activity on your site.

  • Business critical: Only meant for critical cases.

4. Under Set recipients section, select who will receive this automated email when it's triggered:

  • Include trigger contact: Recipient who triggered this automation.

  • Include additional recipients: Additional recipients who didn't trigger this automation

Tips:

  • If you want to send emails to yourself and your team, deselect the Include trigger contact checkbox and select all contacts or roles who you want to receive the email.

  • Make sure to create email automations that don't overlap with other emails. Many apps already send emails to your contacts for specific events (e.g. making purchases in Wix Stores).

Send a chat message

  1. Enter the chat message you'd like to send in the Message field.

  2. Click the Send this message only when I'm online to chat toggle to specify when these messages are sent:Enabled: This chat message will only be sent when your chat status is online.
    Disabled: This chat message will be sent whether your chat status is online or offline.

Screenshot of the send a chat message action panel.

Note: You must have installed Wix Chat to set up this action.

Send a push notification

Send a push notification that appears on a customer's device screen ("pushed" by their mobile app). Enter the notification's title and message, and choose whether it takes customers to your app's home screen or a specific product or service.

Note: This action is only available with a Mobile App Premium plan and when your app is live in stores.

Send an SMS

If you are subscribed to a Wix Business Phone Number plan, you can send SMS messages to contacts who have provided cell phone numbers. Learn more about sending automated SMS messages.

Create a task

Add a task for yourself or your team members and set a due date for it.

  1. Enter your task in the Add a task for you or your team field.

  2. Click the Assign to you or your team drop-down to choose to have the task sent to you or a member of your team, or left unassigned.

  3. Click the Set a due date toggle to choose whether to set a due date:Enabled: Select a value in the Number of days to complete task field.
    Disabled: Your task will not have a due date.

Screenshot of the create a task action panel.

Learn more about tasks and reminders.

Assign a badge

Badges allow you to label your contacts so they can be easily differentiated (for example, a badge could mark a certain milestone being met). Learn more about badges.

Click x beside the badge(s) you don't want to assign, until you can only see the badge(s) you do want this automation to assign.

Screenshot of the add a badge action panel.

Note: Click + Add Badge to create your first badge if you don't see any listed.

Add a coupon

  1. Select whether to send a unique coupon each time in the Set Coupon section.

  2. Click the Select or create a coupon template drop-down to choose the coupon you want to use or create a new one.

Screenshot of the add a coupon action panel.

Adding a coupon does not automatically send that coupon. You need to attach the coupon to a relevant action and add it as a dynamic value to send. For example, you can use the coupon code in ‘Send an Email’, ‘Send an SMS’ and more.

Move card in a workflow

A workflow is a list that displays all of the steps of a project in columns so you can easily keep track of every phase. Create or move a card in a workflow automatically with Automations.
Learn more about workflows.

  1. Click the In This Workflow drop-down to select the workflow you'd like to move a card in.

  2. Click the To This Step drop-down to select the step you'd like to move the card to.

Screenshot of the move card in a workflow action panel.

Give loyalty points

Reward your visitors for their loyalty by assigning loyalty points. Learn more about the Wix Loyalty Program.

  1. Enter a description of this way of earning points in the Tell customers how they can earn points field.
    Note: This description should reflect the trigger you've chosen for this automation (for example, if your trigger is a visitor submitting a form, this will be the way they earn points).

  2. Enter the number of points awarded in the Customer earns field.

Screenshot of the give loyalty points action panel.

Note: You can also add ways to earn loyalty points within the Loyalty Program area of your site's dashboard.

Add a label

Adding labels to your contacts helps you to  filter your contact list and categorize your mailing lists. Learn more about labels.

Click + Add Label to select the label(s) you'd like to add.

Screenshot of the add a label action panel.

Send via webhook

Send data to a third-party app or your own server using a webhook.

Connect to Zapier

Connect your automations to more than 1,000 apps like Google Docs, Trello, Slack and more. To use this feature, you'll need to enable Velo and sign up to Zapier. Learn more about connecting your automations with a third-party app using Zapier.

Update Google Sheets

Send site data, such as form submissions or store orders, directly to a Google spreadsheet.

Invite to a group

Send an email to contacts to invite them to join your group.

Select an existing group you want to invite contacts to, or create a new group.

Step 4 | Activate the automation

Click Activate to save and activate the automation. It now appears on your Automations page where you can monitor, edit, deactivate, or delete according to your needs.

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