Steps

Automation steps are what happen after a trigger fires. Each step defines a specific action your workflow performs — sending a message, updating a record, creating a task, and so on. You can add multiple steps to a workflow and they run from top to bottom.

Step types

There are two types of steps in the Automation Builder, distinguished by color:

Action steps (blue) do the work — they send messages, update records, create tasks, log activities, and interact with your CRM and connected apps. Most steps are action steps.

Logic steps (purple) control the flow of the automation — they don't perform an action themselves, but decide what happens next. Use them to introduce delays, branch based on conditions, jump to a different point in the workflow, or end the run early.

Choosing the Right Steps

Map out the entire customer journey before selecting steps. Make sure steps are in the right order and have any necessary prerequisites in place. Plan for what happens when a step fails, and always test each step individually and as part of the complete workflow before going live.

Performance Considerations

• Use appropriate delays: Don't make workflows longer than necessary — only add delays when timing actually matters
• Keep conditions efficient: Filter early so unnecessary steps don't run for contacts that don't qualify
• Group related steps: Place steps that work on the same record together to keep workflows readable and easier to troubleshoot

Common Step Patterns

• Welcome new contacts: Contact created → Send welcome email → Create follow-up task
• Lead nurturing: Contact created → Send campaign series → Log activity based on engagement
• Payment follow-up: Payment failure → Notify your team → Create follow-up task
• Opportunity management: Opportunity created → Update contact → Create a sales task
• Review collection: Transaction completed → Delay 2 days → Send review request

Step Reference

Companies

Step	Description
Assign a company owner / salesperson	Assigns a team member as the owner or primary contact for a company record

Contacts

Step	Description
Assign a contact owner / salesperson	Assigns a team member as the owner or primary contact for a contact record

Users

Step	Description
Get my team member	Retrieves a specific team member from your account for use in later steps, such as assigning a record to them or sending them a notification

Businesses

Step	Description	Special Cases
Create a company	Creates a new company record in your CRM	Duplicates are not checked. Company name is required
Create a contact	Creates a new contact record in your CRM
Create an opportunity	Creates a new opportunity and adds it to your sales pipeline	Requires at least one of Company or Contact to be linked upstream. If both are provided, the opportunity is associated with both
Get company from contact	Retrieves the company linked to a contact so it can be used in later steps	Returns an error if no associated company exists
Get contact from company	Retrieves a contact linked to a company so it can be used in later steps	Returns an error if no associated contact exists
Get custom object from company	Retrieves a custom object record linked to a company
Get custom object from contact	Retrieves a custom object record linked to a contact
Get opportunity from company	Retrieves an opportunity associated with a company	Returns an error if no associated opportunity exists
Get opportunity from contact	Retrieves an opportunity associated with a contact	Returns an error if no associated opportunity exists
Find contact	Searches for an existing contact record in your CRM based on specified criteria
Update company	Updates one or more fields on an existing company record
Update contact	Updates a contact record in your CRM. Supports appending to or clearing existing field values

Campaigns and Emails

Step	Description
Pause campaign for company	Pauses an ongoing campaign for the company. This applies to all contacts associated with the company (up to 50)
Pause campaign for contact	Pauses an ongoing email campaign for the contact
Start a campaign for the contact	Enrolls a contact in a specified email campaign
Start a campaign for the company	Enrolls all contacts associated with a company in a specified email campaign
Start a Yesware campaign for the contact	Enrolls a contact in a Yesware email sequence
Send an email to contact	Sends an email to a contact's email address
Send an email to company	Sends an email to the primary address on file for a company
Send a review request	Sends a review request email to a contact

Notifications

Step	Description
Notify a user	Sends an in-app and email notification to a specified team member

Inbox

Step	Description
Send a plain text email via Conversations	Sends a plain-text email from your Conversations inbox to a contact
Send an SMS message via Conversations	Sends an SMS message via your Conversations inbox to a contact
Send an SMS message to a phone number	Sends an SMS to any phone number you specify, including numbers not in your CRM
Send a WhatsApp template to a contact	Sends a pre-approved WhatsApp template message to a contact

Advanced

Step	Description
Send a request to an AI employee	Sends a prompt or context to your AI Employee and retrieves its response for use in later steps
Associate company with contact	Links a company record to a contact record in your CRM
Log a call activity to the company	Logs a call record on a company's activity timeline
Log a call activity to the contact	Logs a call record on a contact's activity timeline
Add a note to the company	Adds a note to a company record
Add a note to the contact	Adds a note to a contact record
Create a CRM sales task for the company	Creates a new sales task associated with a company
Create a CRM sales task for the contact	Creates a new sales task associated with a contact
Get my business profile	Retrieves your business profile data for use in later steps, such as personalizing messages with your business name or address
Modify a call activity for the company	Updates an existing call activity on a company's timeline
Send a webhook	Sends an HTTP POST request with custom data to an external URL
Send a prompt to AI	Sends a text prompt to an AI model and returns the response for use in later steps
Format text	Transforms a text value using formatting rules (e.g. uppercase, trim, replace) before passing it to another step

Integrations

Step	Description
Add contact to Kixie powerlist	Adds a contact to a Kixie powerlist for automated outreach calling
Remove contact from Kixie powerlist	Removes a contact from a Kixie powerlist

Delays (logic steps)

Step	Description	Special Cases
Delay	Pauses the automation for a set amount of time before continuing to the next step	The automation run may be cancelled if the contact or company becomes ineligible for the workflow while waiting
Delay until an event happens	Pauses the automation and waits until a specified event occurs (e.g. a task is completed, a campaign email is clicked)

Conditions (logic steps)

Step	Description
If/else branch	Splits the workflow into two paths based on whether a condition is met, so different steps run for different scenarios
Jump to a step	Skips forward or backward to a specific step in the workflow
Rate filter	Limits how frequently the automation can proceed for a given contact, preventing the same person from moving through too often

Workflow (logic steps)

Step	Description
A/B branch	Randomly splits contacts into two groups so you can test different workflow paths
End this automation	Immediately stops the current automation run

Related resources

• Automation triggers - Events that start your workflow
• Automation conditions - Filter when your automation runs using AND/OR logic
• Messaging steps - Send SMS and email messages via Conversations
• Campaign steps - Pause and start campaigns from a workflow
• Review request automation - Collect customer reviews automatically
• Smart values - Personalize steps with dynamic contact and company data
• Automation settings - Control how often it runs and how errors are handled