Workflows can be a really powerful tool in Beacon, removing some of the classically manual work you do on a day to day basis. Automating a number of these tasks can be a huge game changer for time saving and freeing up precious time and resources.
Note: Workflows are available as an additional element on the Standard and Premium plans, and can be added in Settings > Billing.
Since Beacon is so customisable, use cases for workflows will vary greatly, especially when the manual tasks you regularly do relate to custom fields or record types in Beacon. However, here are some great examples of workflows to get you started.
Export a new subscriber to Mailchimp
So, you've created your 'Subscribe to our mailing list' Beacon form and want anyone that signs up via this form to be exported to Mailchimp. Without workflows, it's likely that you're currently manually exporting a list of new contacts to Mailchimp weekly, or perhaps monthly. Let's see how to automate this process!
Create your workflow, setting the trigger as 'On form submission' and select the specific form that you'd like to trigger this workflow to run
Next we need to filter for the conditions under which we want this workflow to export new contacts to Mailchimp. Since this is a specific mailing list form, it's likely that you want it to run every time the form is submitted. However, just to be extra cautious, lets only export people to Mailchimp if their 'Contact consent' is 'Email'.
Next set the action; what you want to happen when people meet this criteria. 'Add action' and choose the 'Subscribe to Mailchimp option'
Select your Mailchimp audience and add any tags if relevant
And that's it! You've created your first workflow and no longer need to manually export your new subscribers to Mailchimp. Don't forget to enable your workflow before saving.
Send a custom thank you to donors
Beacon forms allow you to automatically acknowledge and thank donors for their donation at the point of form submission. Whilst this is great, it might be the case that you want to tailor the acknowledgements donors receive depending on the value of the donation they've made.
For example: the majority of donations you receive through your Beacon donation form are between £5 - £20. For these donations, you want to send supporters a nice thank you message that summarises their donation and the value they're adding to your organisation. Occasionally however, you'll receive a donation for over £100, at which point you want to send a fully personalised message to that supporter.
Set up two separate workflows to:
a) Send automated 'thank you' emails to people that donated less than £100
b) Create you a task to send a personalised email to those who donate £100 or more.
Tip: you'll first want to ensure that you have switched off automatic acknowledgement emails on your donation form
Workflow 1: Send an automated thank you
First, create your workflow, setting the trigger as 'On form submission' and select the specific form that you'd like to trigger this workflow to run (in this case, your donation form).
Next filter for the conditions under which you want this workflow to send a standard thank you email. Here we want the Payment 'amount' to be 'less than' £100. And just to be sure, we want to make sure the Person is 'type > donor'.
Next set the action; what you want to happen when People and Payment meet this criteria. Here, we want to select 'send email' and choose the 'Person: Email' as the 'To email' field. Next, write the body of your email using the merge tags available.
And that's it! You've created your first workflow and can send generic emails to people that have donated less than £100. Let's take a look at the second workflow we need in this sequence.
Workflow 2: Create a task to send a personalised thank you message
First, create your workflow, this time setting the trigger as 'On record create'. Select Payments as the record type that triggers this workflow.
Next filter for the conditions under which you want this workflow to create a task. In this case, we want the Payment 'Amount (value)' to be 'greater than' £99. You might also want to make sure the Person is categorised as a 'donor'. Add a second filter for 'Payer > meets criteria > Person > Type > is Donor'.
Next set the action; what you want to happen when the Person and Payment meet these criteria. Here, select 'create record' and choose Task as the record type to create. Next, set who you'd like the task to be assigned to (this will be a Beacon user) and give the Task a 'name', a 'due date' and some 'notes' so the assignee knows what to do.
And that's it! You've created your workflow and can send Tasks to your team to let them know when to follow up with those high value donors in a more personal way.
Tip: Want to create a Task for more than one member of the team? Click 'Add action' and follow step three again.
