How to Create an Automation

Video Walkthrough

Before You Begin

• Login to your account at https://app.joinzipper.com/auth/login
• Ensure you have owner or admin permissions
• Check that you have the class, appointment, event, form, product, or other item created that you want to trigger an automation from

Steps

Step 1: Navigate to Marketing → Automations

1. From the dashboard, go to Marketing → Automations
2. You’ll see the Automations page with your existing automations

Step 2: Create a New Workflow from Scratch

1. Click the New Workflow button in the top right
2. Choose Start from Scratch (scroll to the bottom)

You’ll see the automation creation form.

Want a shortcut? Select a pre-built template instead — built to support industry best practices. Be sure to review and customize the messages before publishing.

Step 3: Select a Trigger Rule

Choose the event that will start your automation. Available trigger rules:

• Form Submission — a customer submits a form
• Event Registration — a customer registers for an event
• Product Purchase — a customer purchases a product
• Class Registration — a customer registers for a class
• Workflow State Change — a lead moves to a different stage in your pipeline
• New Customer — a new customer is added to your customer list
• Appointment Type Scheduled — a customer books an appointment
• Events Attended Milestone — a customer hits an event attendance threshold
• Appointments Attended Milestone — a customer hits an appointment attendance threshold
• Credit Expiration — a customer’s booking credits are about to expire
• Monthly Anniversary — a customer hits a monthly milestone (e.g., 3 months as a member)
• Birthday — a customer’s birthday is approaching
• Before Appointment — X hours or days before a scheduled appointment
• Before Class — X hours or days before a registered class
• Customer Inactivity — a customer hasn’t engaged for a set period
• Checkout Abandoned — a customer starts a checkout but doesn’t complete it

Click the trigger rule that fits your use case.

Step 4: Narrow Your Trigger Rule (Optional)

After picking a trigger rule, you can narrow it down to fire only for specific items:

• Any — the automation fires for any item that matches the trigger rule
• Specific — use the checkboxes to pick which forms, events, products, classes, etc. should fire the automation

Leaving “Any” selected casts the widest net; choosing specific items gives you tighter control over when the automation runs.

Step 5: Configure Trigger Timing

1. In the Trigger section, set when the automation runs:

   Immediate: Actions execute immediately when the event occurs

   • Select Immediate timing
   • Actions run right away

   Delayed: Actions execute after a delay

   • Select Days After or Days After Event Occurs
   • Enter the number of days to delay
   • Example: “Send follow-up email 3 days after event registration”

   Relative to Event: Actions execute relative to event dates

   • Select timing relative to event dates
   • Set days before or after the event occurs

2. Only Run Once: Toggle this option if you want the automation to run only once per customer

   • Prevents duplicate communications
   • Useful for welcome emails or one-time actions

Timing options help you send communications at the right time.

Step 6: Add Actions

1. In the Actions section, you’ll see action steps

2. Select action type for the first action:

   • Send Email: Automatically send emails to customers or instructors
   • Send SMS: Automatically send SMS messages
   • Add Tag: Automatically assign tags to customers
   • Create Customer: Automatically create customer profiles
   • Move to Workflow State: Automatically move leads through pipeline stages

3. Configure action settings based on the action type:

   • Send Email: Select email template, choose recipient (customer or instructor)
   • Send SMS: Select SMS template, choose recipient
   • Add Tag: Select which tag to assign
   • Create Customer: Configure customer creation settings
   • Move to Workflow State: Select target workflow state

4. Add more actions if needed:

   • Click Add another action
   • Configure additional actions
   • Actions execute in sequence

You can add multiple actions to create complex automated workflows.

Step 7: Review and Save

1. Review your automation configuration:
   • Trigger rule is selected
   • Specific items are chosen (if applicable)
   • Trigger timing is configured
   • Actions are added and configured
   • All required fields are filled in
2. Click Add automation (blue button)
   • The button will show a loading state while creating
   • If there are validation errors, you’ll see error messages
3. You’ll see the automation added to your list

Your automation will be:

• Active and ready to run
• Triggered automatically when events occur
• Executing actions based on your configuration
• Tracked in History

Automation Examples

Welcome Email Automation:

• Trigger: Customer registers for class
• Timing: 1 day after class
• Action: Send welcome email to customer

Event Follow-up Automation:

• Trigger: Customer registers for event
• Timing: 2 days after event occurs
• Action: Send follow-up email asking for feedback

Form Submission Tag Automation:

• Trigger: Form is submitted
• Timing: Immediate
• Action: Add tag to customer based on form response

Tips

• Use our pre-built templates to get started — you can edit or customize everything in them
• We recommend only using one trigger per automation — keeps the flow predictable and easy to debug
• Test automations with a small group before enabling broadly
• Use “Only Run Once” to prevent duplicate communications
• Set appropriate delays for follow-up communications
• Combine multiple actions for comprehensive workflows
• Monitor History to ensure automations are working
• Keep automations simple and focused

Troubleshooting

If you don’t see the Automations page, only organization owners and admins can create automations — reach out to your organization owner if you need access.

If your automation isn’t running, try these checks:

• Automation is enabled (toggle on the dashboard is green)
• Cards in your automation are connected via lines
• Trigger conditions are met (trigger rule matches, timing is correct)
• Required items (events, forms, etc.) exist
• Customer hasn’t already received automation (if “only run once” is enabled)

If you see “Invalid automation configuration”, it usually means:

• Automation would create infinite loops
• Trigger and action configuration is invalid
• Required fields are missing
• Business rules are violated

If your customers don’t receive automated emails, try these checks:

• Email template exists and is configured
• Customer email address is valid
• Email sending isn’t failing (check email status)
• Automation actually triggered (check History)

If the “Add automation” button is disabled, fill in any required fields:

• Trigger rule is selected
• Trigger timing is configured
• At least one action is added and configured
• Action settings are complete

The button will enable automatically when all requirements are met.

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Need a hand?

Email our team at support@joinzipper.com and we'll usually reply within a few hours.

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