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Creating workflows
Creating workflows

How to create workflows to automate your tasks, emails and questionnaires

Justin Morabito avatar
Written by Justin Morabito
Updated over a week ago

A Workflow in Sprout Studio allows you to define a step-by-step process one time and then apply it over and over again. This allows you to save time and create a more consistent experience for your clients.

A workflow is made up of a series of Milestones, Timeslots, and Actions.

Milestone

These are key points that happen to trigger your Timeslots and when to apply them. The items which are considered Milestones can fall into two categories:

  • Date Milestones

  • Booking Milestones

Timeslot

A timeslot can be a complex structure of multiple actions, follow-ups and tasks. Most Milestones only allow for Timeslots to exist after the Milestone is triggered. You can also make additional Timeslots apply before your Milestone such as "X days before Shoot Date" or "X days before Custom Date".

Action

Inside each Timeslot will be what we call Actions. An action is something the workflow will do, such as send an email, create a task, send a questionnaire, etc.

Together, the three elements of a workflow step come together to get a singular action. In the example above - 1 week before the client shoot date, send an email. When you add multiple timeslots to a workflow, you create a powerful engine that can automate your to-do list and automatically send emails and questionnaires to your clients at the right time.

The "Milestone" workflow step component, explained

The "Milestone" component of a workflow step is the event that triggers the Timeslot in the workflow. Even if you apply a workflow to a Lead or Shoot, a timeslot will only be triggered when the "Milestone" event occurs.

Dates:

  • Workflow applied.

  • Inquiry date.

  • Booking date.

  • Shoot date.

  • Custom date.

Booking:

  • Booking Proposal sent.

  • Booking Proposal signed.

  • Booking Proposal cancelled.

  • Lead Becomes a shoot.

  • Status change to.

  • Status change from.

The "Timeslot" workflow step component, explained

The "Timeslot" component of a workflow step is the amount of time in relation to the "Milestone" event when the workflow step should trigger. It can be one of:

  • Immediately

  • Relative to (before or after)

The "when" component in combination with the "Timeslot" component, dictates exactly when the workflow step is triggered. For example:

  • Immediately upon the inquiry date

  • 5 days after the booking proposal is sent

  • 2 days before the shoot date

  • 1 week after status changes to "follow-up"

The "Action" workflow step component, explained

The "Action" component of a workflow step is the action that happens when the workflow step is triggered. It can be one of:

  • Send email

  • Create task

  • Send questionnaire

  • Change status

  • Apply another workflow

When a workflow Milestone is triggered the action occurs. So, for example:

  • Immediately upon the inquiry date, send a "thank you" email

  • 5 days after the booking proposal is sent, change the status to "not booking"

  • 2 days before the shoot date, create the task "Call bride to confirm times"

  • 1 week after status changes to "follow-up", apply "follow-up" workflow

Automatically applying workflows

To specify automatic workflow settings, go to Settings > Automation > Lead/Shoot Workflows. Lead workflows can be automatically applied to leads that are a certain shoot type by specifying this in the Default Workflow section.

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