Creating multi-step campaigns (workflows)

In this article, you will learn how to create multi-step marketing campaigns.

Genius Marketing is an AI-powered add-on designed to simplify customer engagement and help businesses drive more repeat business with less effort. From targeted email and text campaigns to centralized reputation management, Genius Marketing helps businesses stay connected with customers, automate outreach, respond to reviews faster, and build a stronger online presence — all from one place.

With Genius Marketing, you can create email, text, and multi-step workflow campaigns. These campaigns can be sent as one-time blasts with a static audience or automated with dynamic audiences to ensure your campaign can continue reaching the right audience without requiring manual updates.

Here, we will cover how to create multi-step campaigns, whether you start from a template, generate one with AI, or build it from scratch.

To learn more about creating single-message campaigns, please see this article.

When to use a workflow campaign

Workflow campaigns are designed to send a series of messages over time based on rules, delays, and client actions. With Genius Marketing, these campaigns can guide clients through a structured journey, automatically adapting based on their behavior.

Creating a workflow campaign

Workflow campaigns can be created and set live in just a few minutes.

1. From the sidebar menu, select Marketing
2. Select Create campaign
3. Select Blast campaign or Automated campaign, then select Next
4. Select Workflow, then select Next
5. Choose how you want to build your workflow: from a template, generated with AI, or from scratch (see the sections below)

Choosing a template (optional)

Workiz makes it easy to launch automated workflows with professionally designed templates tailored to your industry and common service scenarios. Unlike one-off campaigns, workflow templates include pre-built sequences of emails and texts, along with built-in delays and logic that guide your clients through a structured communication journey.

For example, an HVAC welcome workflow might include a welcome email, a timed delay, and a follow-up text message, all automatically arranged in the right order. Each workflow template is thoughtfully structured with messaging and timing designed to support the specific goal of the campaign.

You can use a template as-is, customize the messages, adjust delays and conditions, generate a workflow with AI, or build a workflow entirely from scratch to fit your process.

Generating a workflow with AI (optional)

Don't see a template that fits? Describe the campaign you have in mind in plain English, and Genius Marketing will build the workflow for you, including the audience, email and text steps, delays, and conditions.

1. On the Templates page, select Generate with AI

2. Under Describe your workflow, enter what you want the workflow to do (up to 1,000 characters)

3. Select Generate
4. Review and/or edit the workflow that opens in the canvas

5. Continue to the next section to review your entry point, messages, and delays

Your AI-generated workflow is saved as a draft, so you can come back to it at any time. We recommend reviewing every step, especially the audience filters and message content, before setting your campaign live. If there is anything you want to change, you can edit at any time.

Setting your entry and exit point criteria

Before your workflow starts sending messages, you'll choose which clients you want to target. You do this by setting rules that determine who should receive the campaign.

How this works depends on the type of campaign you selected:

• Blast campaigns: You choose your audience using filters. This creates a fixed list of existing clients who meet the conditions, and the campaign is sent to that list once.
• Automated campaigns: You set a trigger (like a completed job or time since last service). Workiz will look for clients who meet the conditions moving forward and send messages as they qualify over time.

You'll also choose when the workflow should stop for a client (exit criteria).

This is based on a goal, like booking a job, clicking a link, or something else. Once a client completes that goal, they're automatically removed from the workflow so they don't keep receiving messages they no longer need.

Blast campaigns

When setting the audience for your blast campaign, you'll specify which clients qualify for this campaign using filters. You can choose to only include clients who've spent over a certain amount, last clicked an email on a certain date, and more.

1. In the workflow canvas, select the Entry Point step

2. Under Filter by client details, select Add filter and choose the filter you want to apply (e.g., total spend, client tag, city etc.)

3. Repeat Step 2 as needed
4. Under Filter by client activities, select Add filter and choose the filter you want to apply (e.g., last service date, last job type, last email click, etc.)
5. Repeat Step 4 as needed
6. (Optional) Select View audience to see which clients are included and remove any you don't want to target
7. In the Goal & Exit section, add filters to specify when clients should be removed from the workflow (e.g., client tag, last email click, last service date)
8. Select Save

As you apply filters, your campaign's estimated reach updates in real time to include only the clients who match your criteria. Workiz shows you the exact number of clients who will receive the campaign, so you can quickly see whether your targeting is too broad, too narrow, or just right.

Blast campaigns send emails/text to a fixed audience. This means that the audience you see when setting your campaign live will not change over time.

Automated campaigns

When setting the trigger for an automated campaign, you'll use the same automation builder found elsewhere in Workiz. However, some fields are intentionally locked.

You can edit the trigger event, conditions, and trigger window (e.g., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.), but options like recipient selection and message timing are fixed and cannot be changed.

1. In the workflow canvas, select the Entry Point step

2. Select Edit trigger
3. Select this happens
4. Select the category and trigger (e.g., a job is created, an estimate is pending, an invoice is paid, etc.)
5. Select Add condition to refine the criteria for your campaign audience (e.g., only if client tag = X, job type = Y, etc.)
   
6. Select Add trigger
7. In the Goal & Exit section, add filters to specify when clients should be removed from the workflow (e.g., client tag, last email click, last service date)
8. Select Save

Automated campaigns send emails/texts to a dynamic audience. This means that the audience for your campaign may grow over time.

Editing workflow messages

By default, most workflow templates and AI-generated workflows will include pre-written email and text messages, all carefully crafted and structured to help support the goal of your campaign. You can leave these messages as is or edit them to better fit your branding.

1. In the workflow canvas, select one of the Email or Text steps

2. Edit your message as desired (e.g., subject line, wording, images, etc.)
3. Select Save
4. Repeat Steps 1-3 for all remaining messages in your workflow

To learn more about how to edit the content of a Genius Marketing campaign, please see this article.

Editing workflow delays

Delays help you control the timing of your messages so your clients aren't overwhelmed. By spacing out emails and texts, you give customers time to read, respond, or take action before receiving the next message.

Without delays, messages may be sent back-to-back, which can feel spammy and reduce engagement. Adding thoughtful wait times creates a more natural, professional experience and often leads to better results.

1. In the workflow canvas, select one of the Delay (Wait) steps

2. Enter the number of Days, Hours, and/or Minutes to wait before the next step
3. Select Save

Adding extra workflow steps

Templates and AI-generated workflows come pre-built with steps connected in the right order. If you're building from scratch or want to expand an existing workflow, you can add steps at any point along the way.

1. Select Add Step in the upper-right corner of the canvas

2. Choose the type of step you want to add:

• Condition: Create branches in your workflow based on filters, so different clients follow different paths
• Email: Add an email message
• SMS: Add a text message
• Delay: Add a specific delay between steps

3. Connect the new step to your workflow by selecting the end of the arrow from the previous step and dragging it to the left side of the new step

4. Finish setting up the step you added
5. Select Save in the upper-right corner to save your changes to the workflow

Setting your campaign live

Your workflow campaign is saved as a draft as soon as it's created, so you can leave and come back to it at any time. Once your content and audience filters are all set, it's time to set it live. Before you do, please note the following:

• Your workflow cannot end in a condition or delay step.
• If your campaign contains text message steps, you will need to be registered for text messages before you can send it.
• All email steps must contain a subject line.
• Automated campaigns must have a trigger set on the Entry Point step.
• Two-factor authentication is required to launch campaigns with Genius Marketing. To learn more about setting up 2FA in Workiz, please see this article.

To send your campaign:

1. Select Send (blast campaigns) or Set live (automated campaigns) in the upper-right corner
2. Enter the one-time passcode sent to your phone
3. Select Send to launch your campaign

Setting your campaign live will instantly send the email or text you prepared. If you're sending a text campaign, Workiz may notify you if:

• Your current phone plan doesn't include enough texts to cover the campaign
• On-demand texting needs to be enabled to reach your full audience

Make sure to take care of any required steps first so your campaign reaches everyone it's meant to.

Campaign statuses

Each campaign you send through Genius Marketing has a status. Understanding these statuses helps you track progress and know what to expect at each stage of your campaign.

• Blast campaigns: After sending your one-off campaign, the status will change from Draft to Live before changing to Complete once all messages have been sent.
• Automated campaigns: Like blast campaigns, automated campaigns will experience a status change from Draft to Live once it has been sent. Because automated campaigns are ongoing, they will never have a status of Complete.