Creating Action Groups

Create powerful automations based on your leads' behaviors. Action groups are collections of actions, triggers, and filters that can be used and reused to make workflow management easier.

Action Group Distinctions

You can create reusable action groups, which are collections of standalone events that can be referenced within a visual workflow or manually scheduled to a list. With reusable action groups, you do not have to continuously recreate common action groups.

Branches are a collection of actions created for use only within a visual workflow. Branches are not action groups. As the name implies, this collection of actions branch out from the action group and are dependent upon additional criteria to function. Branches will not be added as reusable, standalone action groups.

Once built, action groups you create can be inserted into new automations for faster workflows. 

To learn more about the Action Group page, including how the filters work, where folders are located, and options to manage created groups, read Action Groups Overview. 

Note: Standard action groups are available on the Trial and Essential plans. Standard, time-based, and Recurring action groups are available on the Advanced and Ultimate plans.

Creating Action Groups 

Lead Gen & CRM allows you to create standalone, reusable visual action groups. With reusable visual action groups, you do not have to continuously recreate common action groups. To create action groups using the Visual Editor, do the following:

Important: The Visual Workflow Builder is not supported in Internet Explorer 11. Use one of the other browsers supported by Lead Gen & CRM to create visual workflows.

1. Click Automation > Action Groups in the left toolbar.
   
   
   
   
2. Click Create Action Group.
   
   
   
   
3. Choose a type of Action Group:
   
   • Event Based
   • Time Based
   • Recurring
     
4. Click Get Started.
   
   
   
   
5. Enter a name for the action group.
6. Optionally choose a non-default action group folder.
7. Click any of the following checkboxes:
   • Make this action group available in the Contact Manager - Allows you to add contacts to this action group directly from their contact profile. 
   • Make this action group repeatable - Allows the lead to go through this action group more than once.
     Note: Standard action groups are available on the Trial and the Essential plan. Standard (Event-Based), Time-Based, and Recurring action groups are available on the Advanced and Ultimate plans.
8. Click Next.
   
   
   
   

Setting up Actions

Once you have created the blank action group, you will need to add and configure actions and options for it to function. To set actions for an action group, do the following:

1. Click Automation > Action Groups in the left toolbar.
   
   
   
   
2. Create or edit an action group.
   
   
   
   
3. In Event-based action groups, click   > Action under Start or an applicable branch.
   
   Note: Other options can include Triggers, Time Delays, Yes/No branches, and Action Groups. Read Understanding Visual Workflow Branching for more. 
   
   
   
   
   In time-based or recurring action groups, click the   sign to build an action above (before) or below (after) the date of interest.  
   
   Note: In addition to Actions, you can select Yes/No branches and Time Before or Time After to add time delays before or after the date of interest. For example, if you'd like to schedule a birthday celebration email 1 day before your contact's birthday, you might use the Time Before option and set it to 1 day, then, above that, select the Send the email action.
   
   A Yes/No branch could be included to filter between contacts who have received the email before and those that haven't. 
   
   
   
    
4. Select the action to use in this visual action group.
   
   
   
   
5. Set action parameters as necessary, then click OK.
   
   
   
   
6. Add additional branch options as necessary.
7. Set the action group toggle to Active.
   
   

When creating action groups and setting actions, consider the following:

• Action groups can be set as reusable. Reusable action groups are collections of standalone events that can be referenced within a visual workflow or manually scheduled to a list.
• Action groups can have multiple branches. Branches are collections of actions created for use only within a visual workflow. As the name implies, this collection of actions branches out from the action group and is dependent upon additional criteria in order to function. This means that action groups can be complex, with multiple branches stemming from a single action.
• Branches are not action groups. Branches will not be added as reusable, standalone action groups.

To learn more about the Action Group page, including how the filters work, where folders are located, and options to manage created groups, read Action Groups Overview. 

Questions?