What Is an Automation?
How triggers and actions work, and what's worth automating.
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.
The Simple Version
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.
The Two Parts of Every Automation
Triggers
A trigger is the event that starts the automation. Noddle watches for this to happen, and when it does, the automation begins.
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
Actions
Actions are what Noddle does after the trigger fires. They run in the order you set them up.
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 — or after every appointment, purchase, or no-show — that's a candidate for automation. Common examples:
- Lead follow-up — automatically text and email new leads within minutes of them submitting a form
- Appointment reminders — send reminders 24 hours and 1 hour before a booking
- Post-appointment follow-up — check in after a service, request a review
- Abandoned lead re-engagement — reach out to contacts who went quiet after initial interest
- New customer onboarding — welcome sequence with next steps and resources
- No-show recovery — automatically reschedule contacts who missed an appointment
Start With a Recipe
Noddle includes pre-built automation templates called Recipes — ready-to-use automations for the most common scenarios. When creating a new automation, choose Recipes instead of starting from scratch. Browse, select one that fits, and customize it to your business.
This is the fastest way to get your first automation running.