Automations are here to help you automate your workflows and maximize key lead events so you can get the most out of each and every lead and still have time to focus on what you do best - closing deals!
Automations can automatically start action plans, reassign an agent, and/or add a note to an existing lead profile based on a Trigger event and optional Conditions. An example of an Automation is, "When stage changes to Nurture, start the Buyer Long Term Nurture action plan". You can view your Automations at Admin > Automations. Note* Automations will not be triggered on new leads, use the Lead Flow page to add Action Plans to new leads. *Automations can not be triggered on a group of leads with a mass action.
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How Automations work
Creating Automations
While everyone on your team can view Automations, only account owners and admins can Create Automations. To create an Automation goto Admin -> Automations (or click here). Click on “+ Add automation” in the top right.
From the Create Automation screen, you will choose a name. If you do not choose a name, we will choose one for you:
+ Add An Automation Trigger
Triggers are what will prompt your automation to begin. Triggers include:
- Stage Changed
- Tag Added
- Deal Stage Changed
- New Inquiry
- Property Saved
- Property Viewed
- Calendar Date (Including Deal Close Date and Custom Date Fields)
- NOTE: When an Automation triggers based on a Calendar date, that Action Plan will start at 8 AM that day, based on the time zone settings on your Company page.
Boss Tip: Install the Follow Up Boss Pixel today to start tracking website activities (New Inquiry, Property Saved, & Property Viewed) to be used in your automations!
You can add additional triggers by pressing "+".
If any of the triggers happen the automation will run.
+ Add Conditions
Conditions are additional criteria that a contact needs to meet along with the trigger in order for the action plan to begin. They add an AND element to your trigger.
In this example, the action will only run if the stage is changed to nurture AND the email is good.
Conditions closely mirror the filters you use under Smart Lists. Conditions are completely optional and you can specify more than one condition per automation. All of the conditions must be met in order for the automation to run.
+ Add Actions
Specify which Action you would like to start when the trigger occurs and the conditions are met. You can add one of each Action per Automation.
Reassign
Reassign the lead to a Pond, Lead Flow Group, or Single User automatically when the Automation is triggered. The newly assigned agent will be notified of the lead reassignment.
Add Note
The Add Note action allows you to leave a note on the lead profile and notify the assigned Agent, Lender, Pond, and/or Collaborators. They will receive an email notification and a bell notification in Follow Up Boss on the desktop.
Note: We do not currently support HTML in notes created via Automations, so we do not recommend using merge fields that include links, e.g. last_five_preview.
Action Plan
Select which action plan you would like to be applied to the lead profile when the Automation is triggered and conditions are met.
You can use any of your action plans here.
*Note: If your action plan includes an initial text message, it will Not be sent if triggered by an Automation, action plan text messages will only auto-send to new leads when the action plan is applied on the Lead Flow page.
Enable & Disable Automations
Easily toggle Automations on and off using the toggle in the "Enabled" column from the list view or the enable button inside of the automation editor:
When an Automation is off, it will not be triggered.
View & Edit Automations
To view/edit an existing Automation, go to Admin > Automations and select the same of the Automation. Admins and owners can edit Automations while agents and lenders can view.
Delete an Automation
To delete an Automation, open the automation and choose "Delete Automation" in the top right:
Automation Rules
Automations are meant for continuing lead nurture and internal workflows, therefore Automations will Not be triggered when a contact is initially created (New Leads). This includes when contacts are added through an import, added manually, added through the API, or added through a Lead Flow. To automate your follow up when a lead is created, be sure to specify an Action Plan in your Lead Flow.
Note: If a tag is sent with the initial event that creates the lead in Follow Up Boss, an automation will not be triggered. The tag can be used on your Lead Flow rules to start the correct action plan.
Automations cannot be triggered en masse. Automations will Not be triggered when performing a Mass Action. If you are mass applying a tag or mass updating a stage, Automations will Not be triggered. There is also an automatic buffer that will stop an automation from being triggered more than 100 times at once. Batch emails are better suited for mass emailing because they have built-in mechanisms to help protect your email reputation and performance reporting so you can ensure they're effective.
Some Action Plans may contain steps to change the Stage or add a Tag, which may in turn trigger other Automations to run.
There are some additional rules for running Action Plans via Automations we have put in place to lessen the chance of a lead receiving Action Plan content multiple times due to Automations.
If an Automation is triggered to start an Action Plan and the same Action Plan...
- is already running, it will continue running, i.e. nothing happens
- is already paused, it will stay paused, i.e. nothing happens
- was completed and was never started by any Automation before (e.g. it was started by Lead Flow or manually started) it will be started again from the beginning
- was already completed and was started by any Automation before, it won't be started again, i.e. nothing happens
Run More than Once
By default, automations will only run once per contact. If you would like the automation to continue to run every time the trigger event happens and the conditions are met, choose this option:
With this option selected, when the trigger happens and the conditions are met, the automation will apply the action plan as long as the action plan is not already running or already paused.
This will be helpful when using workflow-based or task-based action plans. This is not recommended for action plans utilizing email templates because a person could receive the same template more than once.
How do I know if my Automation was run?
If an Action Plan was started by an Automation, you will see "Plan started via [Automation Name] automation" when clicking on the Action Plan details from the Lead Profile:
To see all contacts that have had an automation run, click on the number in the "Times Run" column:
Share Automations
Sharing Automations helps you share and copy Automations within the Follow Up Boss community. Admins can share Automations from their own account by clicking the Share button on the right-hand side of the list and from the drop-down in the automation:
Once you select share, you will be able to toggle on Sharing and enter a description. The description will show on the landing page of the shared Automations.
Once you have your description set, click "Copy" to copy the link. You can now share this link publicly with anyone! Here is an example of what the landing page looks like:
Anyone accessing the landing page will be able to see the Automation in its entirety including the triggers, conditions and action plan (along with the content of the action plan). Other Follow Up Boss Admins and Owners will be able to copy the Automation in its entirety to their own account.
Best Practice Automations
Get started by turning on our Best Practices Automations here!
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