Automations: How They Work & How to Build One
Set up triggers and actions that run on their own — follow-ups, tagging, deal movement, and more.
Automations (called Workflows inside Noddle) are one of the most powerful things in the platform. Set them up once, and they run on their own — sending follow-ups, tagging contacts, moving deals, and more — without anyone on your team lifting a finger.
How It Works
An Automation watches for something to happen (the Trigger), then does something in response (the Actions). That's it.
Example: Someone fills out your contact form → Noddle sends them a welcome text and email, adds the tag "new-lead," and notifies your team.
Triggers
A trigger is the event that starts the automation. Common triggers:
- Contact submits a form
- Appointment is booked or cancelled
- A tag is added to a contact
- A payment is made
- A specific date arrives (e.g., 3 days before an appointment)
- A contact replies to an SMS or email
You can add multiple triggers to a single automation. Contacts that match any trigger will enter the flow.
Actions
Actions are what Noddle does after the trigger fires, in the order you set them. Common actions:
- Send an email or SMS
- Add or remove a contact tag
- Update a contact field
- Move an opportunity to a new pipeline stage
- Assign the contact to a team member
- Wait a set amount of time, then continue
- Send an internal notification to your team
What's Worth Automating?
Anything repetitive. If you or your team does the same thing every time a lead comes in, after every appointment, purchase, or no-show — that's a candidate. Common examples:
- Lead follow-up — text and email new leads within minutes of a form submission
- Appointment reminders — send reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before a booking
- Post-appointment follow-up — check in, request a review
- Re-engagement — reach out to contacts who went quiet after initial interest
- New customer onboarding — welcome sequence with next steps
- No-show recovery — automatically reschedule contacts who missed an appointment
Building an Automation
Step 1: Create a New Automation
- Go to Automations in the left menu.
- Click + Create Automation.
- Choose Start from Scratch or Recipes to start from a pre-built template (recommended for your first one).
- Give your automation a clear name (e.g., "New Lead - Form Submission Follow-Up").
Step 2: Add a Trigger
- Click Add New Trigger.
- Browse or search the trigger list and select the event you want to watch for.
- Configure it — most triggers have filters to make them more specific (e.g., "Form Submitted" → filter to only the Contact Us form).
- Click Save Trigger.
Step 3: Add Actions
- Click + Add Action below the trigger.
- Select an action, configure it, and click Save Action.
- Repeat to add more actions in sequence.
Step 4: Add Wait Steps (Optional)
Between actions, insert a Wait step to create a delay — wait 1 hour, then send a follow-up SMS; wait 1 day, then send a check-in email. This prevents contacts from receiving multiple messages at once.
Step 5: Test and Publish
- Use a real test contact to trigger the automation and verify it runs correctly.
- Check the Execution Log inside the automation to see exactly what ran and when.
- Toggle the automation to Published when everything looks right.
Re-entry note: By default, a contact can only enter an automation once. If you're testing repeatedly with the same contact, enable "Allow Re-entry" in the automation settings.
Troubleshooting
- Nothing fired? Check your trigger filters — they may be too restrictive.
- Actions skipped? The contact may have already run through this automation (re-entry disabled).
- Wrong contacts entering? Add more specific filters to your trigger.
- Testing looks off? Use a live contact rather than the "Test Workflow" button, which has limitations.