Build Your First Automation

Difficulty: Intermediate | Time: 15 min | Tier: Business & Above

In this walkthrough you will build a real automation from scratch. By the end, every new contact who submits your web form will automatically receive a welcome email, get added to your sales sequence after a 2-day warm-up, and generate a follow-up task for the assigned sales rep. This is one of the most popular automation patterns in DreamFlow.

What We Are Building

Here is the complete flow:

1. Trigger: Contact created via web form
2. Action 1: Send welcome email
3. Action 2: Wait 2 days
4. Action 3: Add contact to sales sequence "New Lead Nurture"
5. Action 4: Create follow-up task for assigned rep

Total build time: about 10 minutes.

Prerequisites

• A published web form (see Form Builder)
• An email template for your welcome message (see Templates Library)
• A sales sequence named "New Lead Nurture" (see Sequences Overview)

If you do not have these yet, you can still follow along and substitute placeholder values. You can always update the automation later.

Steps

Step 1 — Create the Automation

1. In the sidebar, click Tools > Automations.
2. Click the + New Automation button in the top-right corner.
3. Name your automation "New Lead Welcome Flow".
4. Optionally add a description: "Sends welcome email, waits 2 days, adds to nurture sequence, creates follow-up task."
5. Click Create. The visual flow builder opens with an empty canvas.

Step 2 — Add the Trigger

1. Click + Add Trigger on the canvas (the starting node).
2. In the trigger picker, select Contact Created.
3. Under Source filter, choose Web Form so the automation only fires for form submissions — not manually created contacts.
4. Optionally restrict to a specific form by selecting it from the dropdown. Leave it as "Any form" if you want this to fire for all forms.
5. Click Save Trigger. You will see a green "Contact Created" node on the canvas.

Step 3 — Send the Welcome Email

1. Click the + button below the trigger node to add an action.
2. Select Send Email from the action list.
3. Under Template, choose your "Welcome to [Company]" email template.
4. The To field is automatically set to the triggering contact's email address.
5. Review the From address — it defaults to your verified sending domain.
6. Click Save Action.

The canvas now shows: Contact Created → Send Email.

Step 4 — Add a 2-Day Delay

1. Click the + button below the Send Email node.
2. Select Wait / Delay from the action list.
3. Set the delay to 2 days.
4. Click Save Action.

The delay gives the contact time to read your welcome email and explore your site before the sales sequence begins. This warm-up period significantly improves engagement rates.

Step 5 — Add to Sales Sequence

1. Click the + button below the Wait node.
2. Select Add to Sequence from the action list.
3. Choose your "New Lead Nurture" sequence from the dropdown.
4. Leave "Start from step 1" selected (default).
5. Click Save Action.

The contact will start receiving the sequence emails on the schedule you defined in the sequence builder.

Step 6 — Create a Follow-Up Task

1. Click the + button below the Add to Sequence node.
2. Select Create Task from the action list.
3. Set the task title to "Follow up with {{contact.full_name}}". The {{contact.full_name}} merge tag inserts the contact's name automatically.
4. Set Due date to 3 days from trigger (this gives 1 day after the sequence starts).
5. Under Assign to, select Contact owner — the task goes to whoever is assigned to the contact.
6. Set priority to Medium.
7. Click Save Action.

Step 7 — Review and Activate

1. Your canvas should now show: Contact Created → Send Email → Wait 2 Days → Add to Sequence → Create Task.
2. Click Review in the top-right to see a summary of all steps.
3. Verify each step is configured correctly.
4. Click Activate.
5. Confirm the activation in the dialog. The automation status changes to Active.

Testing Your Automation

1. Open your published form in an incognito browser window.
2. Submit a test entry with a real email address you can check.
3. Go back to Tools > Automations and click your automation.
4. Check the Enrollments tab — you should see your test contact with a status of "Active".
5. Verify the welcome email arrived in your test inbox.
6. After 2 days (or use the Dry Run feature to simulate), confirm the contact was added to the sequence and the task was created.

Troubleshooting

• Automation not firing? Check that the trigger source filter matches how the contact was created. Also verify the automation status is "Active" (not "Draft" or "Paused").
• Email not sending? Make sure your sending domain is verified in Settings > Email Sending Domain.
• Wrong person assigned? Verify the contact has an owner set. If no owner is assigned, the task defaults to the automation creator.

Next Steps

Now that you have a working automation, consider extending it:

• Add a condition after the delay to check if the contact opened the welcome email. If yes, send a case study. If no, send a simpler follow-up.
• Add a tag action to mark contacts who completed the full flow.
• Create separate automations for different form types (e.g., demo request vs. newsletter signup).

Related Articles

• Automations Overview — Core concepts and use cases
• Automation Triggers — All trigger types explained
• Automation Conditions and Branching — Add if/else logic

Need help designing a more complex flow? Ask Sally in the chat bubble — she can suggest automation patterns for your specific use case.