The first domino: your first workflow

Result

When a client fills in your form her card shows up in the pipeline, and when she books she gets her confirmation and reminder without you lifting a finger.

Estimated time

50 minutes

Cost

US$ 0 to set up: workflows come with the Starter plan and these actions aren't premium. Each email costs less than a cent: US$ 0.675 per 1,000.

Analogy

Step-by-step guide

Menu paths are shown as they appear in the English interface, with the Spanish name in parentheses for teams that work in Spanish. Everything happens inside your sub-account, with the mission 8 form, the mission 7 pipeline and the mission 9 calendar.

1. 01

   Draw your dominoes before touching anything

   On a sheet of paper, draw two rows of dominoes.

   Row 1: the form comes in → the client lands in your contacts → her card appears in the "New inquiry" stage.

   Row 2: she books → she gets her confirmation → the day before, the reminder.

   Each row is a workflow. Each workflow starts with a trigger: the event that pushes the first domino.

   Key points

   • Two workflows give each row one trigger and its own log. Put both triggers in one simple workflow and the form would fall into a wait for an appointment that doesn't exist.
   • The form creates or updates the contact on its own. Your workflow starts at the next domino.

   Source: F10, F19, F3

   Workflow 1 · Form AX-7K2Q

   Form submittedTrigger: the form comes in

   Create opportunityCard in “New inquiry”

   Execution logsThis row’s camera: it recorded how each domino fell

   Workflow 2 · Booking AX-7K2Q

   Customer booked appointmentTrigger: she books

   Send emailConfirmation

   WaitUntil 1 day before the appointment

   Send emailReminder

   Execution logsThis row’s camera: the confirmation went out and the wait is running

   Automation → Workflows

2. 02

   Workflow 1 · From form to card

   Automation → Workflows → Create workflow → Start from ScratchCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Automatización → Flujos de trabajo → Crear flujo de trabajo → Empezar desde cero

   Open Automation → Workflows, click Create workflow ▾, as it shows with an empty list, and choose Start from Scratch. Once you have workflows, the button reads + Create workflow and its menu adds Build Using AI and Import from a campaign.

   The first time, HighLevel asks about autosave: Continue with Manual Save or Enable auto save now. Either works: autosave only runs in draft (Draft), so you still save and publish yourself.

   HighLevel gives it a name like "New Workflow :" followed by a number. Rename it at the top, where the name shows: Workflow 1 · Form AX-7K2Q.

   Click Add new trigger. In the Add trigger panel, choose Form submitted; then + Add filters → Form is → your Contact form AX-7K2Q. Finish with Save trigger.

   Click + below the trigger and choose Create opportunity. Set PIPELINE * to Pipeline AX-7K2Q and STAGE * to "New inquiry." Finish with Save action.

   The action shows Duplicate opportunities · Disabled. It follows the sub-account setting: anyone who already has an open card in that pipeline doesn't get another. Don't touch Enable duplicates for this action only.

   Save (Save) and switch the toggle from Draft to Publish.

   On the workflow's Settings tab, Allow re-entry comes on. Leave it that way: if someone submits twice, the workflow runs again, but no second card is created.

   Key points

   • If you see Create/update opportunity next to Create opportunity, don't use it: HighLevel is retiring it from new workflows.
   • Saving isn't publishing. A workflow in draft (Draft) doesn't do anything for real.
   • The builder opens in Standard builder («Constructor estándar» in Spanish). Leave it as is: in Launch you don't switch builders.
   • In the Spanish interface: «Añadir nuevo activador», the «Formulario enviado» trigger, the «Borrador / Publicar» toggle and, under «Configuración», «Permitir reentrada».

   Source: F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F21

3. 03

   Workflow 2 · From booking to confirmation

   Automation → Workflows → + Create workflow → Start from ScratchCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Automatización → Flujos de trabajo → Crear flujo de trabajo → Empezar desde cero

   Create another workflow from scratch and name it Workflow 2 · Booking AX-7K2Q.

   Under Add new trigger, choose Customer booked appointment. In the WHO SHOULD BE ENROLLED INTO THE WORKFLOW? block, change Contact and guests, the default, to Contact only.

   Add the In calendar filter with your "Lash appointment" calendar and save the trigger (Save trigger).

   Add Send email ("Email — Send an email to the contact"). In From Name, "Alba Studio" (or your business's name). In From Email, if you took path 1 in mission 5, the address on your sending domain.

   Type "Your Alba Studio appointment is booked" in Subject *. Click Create email and write the body: "Hi {{contact.first_name}}, see you on {{appointment.only_start_date}} at {{appointment.only_start_time}}" (adjust it to your voice).

   The appointment fields are in the custom values menu, under the Appointment group. Save the action (Save action).

   Key points

   • Contact only enrolls only the person who books, not their guests.
   • If you leave From Name and From Email empty, HighLevel uses the default values ("Default Values"). A default sender is set on the workflow's Settings tab, under Sender details.
   • This trigger runs on bookings made through the link. An appointment you create by hand inside the account doesn't fire it.
   • Appointment fields only fill in with an appointment trigger. That's why the confirmation goes in this workflow.
   • In the Spanish interface, the trigger is «Cita reservada por el cliente», in the «Citas» group.

   Source: F6, F7, F8, F17

4. 04

   The wait and the reminder

   (Workflow 2) → + → WaitCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: (Flujo 2) → + → Esperar

   Below the confirmation, click + and choose Wait. Under "How long do you want to wait?", choose Until a scheduled date/time.

   Under What type?, choose Appointment / calendar event.

   Under When should the contact proceed?, choose Before and enter 1 in days.

   Under If this date has already passed, choose Exit contact from automation. The one selected by default is different: "Skip all outbound communication actions till next wait or event start date action."

   Save with Save action.

   Add another Send email with the subject "See you tomorrow at Alba Studio" and the same appointment fields.

   Save and publish.

   Key points

   • Exit contact from automation takes the client out if the wait's date has already passed when she reaches it. Nobody gets an out-of-time reminder.
   • The default option doesn't take her out: it only skips outgoing messages (email, text, calls) until the next wait. That's why you change it.
   • If HighLevel won't let you publish, it shows you the step with the error. It's often an empty field, like the email's subject or body.

   Source: F9, F7, F12

5. 05

   Turn off the calendar's notifications

   Settings → Calendars → (your calendar) → Advanced settings → Notifications & policiesCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Configuración → Calendarios → (tu calendario) → Configuración avanzada → Notificaciones & políticas

   Open Settings → Calendars, go into "Lash appointment" and open Advanced settings → Notifications & policies. The notifications you turned on in mission 9 are there, one per row.

   Click the pencil on Appointment booked (Status: Unconfirmed), open the Email tab, switch it to Disabled and save.

   Repeat with Appointment booked (Status: Confirmed) and with Reminder.

   When you're done, click Save changes at the top.

   Key points

   • Your workflow does that job now. If you leave them on, the client gets every message twice.
   • This is an AXIS rule, not a HighLevel one: every message has a single owner.
   • In the Spanish interface, the rows read «Cita reservada (Estado: No confirmada)», «Cita reservada (Estado: confirmada)» and «Recordatorio».

   Source: F13

6. 06

   Push the first domino and watch the camera

   Automation → Workflows → (your workflow) → Execution logsCopy path

   In a Spanish-language account: Automatización → Flujos de trabajo → (tu flujo) → Registros de ejecución

   In a private window, open your form's link (mission 8) and fill it in as Iris Test AX-7K2Q, with a new email of yours, like youremail+iris@gmail.com. For the phone, use yours, never a made-up one. Check only the reminders box.

   Then, from your calendar link, book under the same name and email. Pick the first open slot more than 24 hours from now, like tomorrow, two hours later.

   Open Workflow 1. At the top are the Builder, Settings, Enrollment history, Execution logs and Test workflow tabs. In Execution logs, Iris's card was created with no errors.

   Open Workflow 2: the confirmation went out and the wait is running.

   Check your email: the confirmation arrived. The reminder arrives the day before the appointment.

   Key points

   • The log is the camera that recorded how the dominoes fell. If a step failed, you see it flagged there.
   • HighLevel looks up contacts by email, then by phone. If the run shows the name of an earlier test that used your phone, delete that test contact and fill in the form again.
   • Don't test with the Test workflow tab. HighLevel recommends testing the published workflow, the way a client will experience it.
   • In the Spanish interface, the tabs read «Creador», «Configuración», «Historial de inscripciones», «Registros de ejecución» and «Probar flujo de trabajo».

   Source: F2, F11, F16

7. 07

   What you don't do yet

   Don't move the card automatically when the client books. That takes a condition, and conditions come in lesson II.6.4.

   Don't add premium actions, like custom webhooks or Google Sheets: after 100 free runs, they're billed per use. This mission's actions are free.

   Don't send texts from your workflows yet. In the U.S., texts without A2P registration don't get delivered; your number and A2P come in module I.4.

   Key points

   • Two rows of dominoes that fall cleanly beat one huge workflow nobody understands.

   Source: F14, F15, F18

Interactive

Alba's camera

This interactive is used inside your AXIS account.

If it breaks

The mistakes that repeat most, and the way out.