Automations

Workflow Troubleshooting: Start Here

When a workflow misbehaves, work through this checklist in order: the trigger, its filters, the contact's history, the workflow's execution history, the actions, the waits, the email setup, and the exit conditions. Most problems are found in the first three steps.

Check the trigger

Confirm the workflow is actually live and the trigger you expect is the one attached.

  • A workflow runs only after it is Published. A Draft never processes triggers or takes real actions.

  • A workflow can have multiple triggers, and any trigger that meets its conditions can start the workflow. A contact you did not expect may have entered through the other trigger.

Check the trigger filters

If an automation ran unexpectedly, check the trigger filter first: a missing or too-loose filter is the most common cause.

  • Without a filter, a Form Submitted trigger may respond to every form submission in your account, not just the form you had in mind.

  • Without filters, a Payment Received trigger runs for both successful and failed payment attempts, and for one-time purchases and subscription charges alike.

  • Two triggers that can both fire for the same contact, such as Form Submitted plus a tag trigger where the form also adds the tag, can enroll a contact twice.

Understanding Workflow Triggers: Why Did This Automation Run? covers these cases in detail.

Check the contact's history

Two views show where a contact stands: their contact record and the workflow's Enrollment History.

  1. Open the contact record and go to Actions > Workflows. This shows the contact's current workflow participation, including contacts waiting on a future action or delay.

  2. Open the workflow and click the Enrollment History tab, then search for the contact.

  3. Open the contact's path (path icon) to see the route they took, or the history icon (clock) to see their step-by-step log.

Enrollment History covers the last 30 days. If it has been longer, or the person never went through the workflow, you will see No Enrollments Found.

Check the workflow execution history

The Execution Logs show every step a contact experienced and make errors easy to spot.

  1. Open the workflow and select Execution Logs.

  2. Click View Details on a step when you need more information about that step. When an action has an error, its status or View Details link is highlighted.

  3. Use View Contact History to review the contact's actions across enrollments for that workflow.

Enrollment statuses tell you how a contact left the workflow: Workflow Completed (finished naturally), Removed by Workflow Action (an action in this workflow removed them), or Removed by External Workflow Action (an action in another workflow removed them). The workflows list also has a Needs Review tab for workflows containing errors.

Workflow History and Logs documents all of these tools.

Check the actions

Failed actions are flagged in the logs, but only some actions notify you automatically.

  • Error notifications email you when a covered action fails. They are off by default; turn them on in Workflow Settings.

  • Covered actions include Webhook and Custom Webhook, Slack, Array, Custom Code, ChatGPT, Google Sheets, and the Facebook and Instagram actions.

Check the waits

A contact parked mid-workflow is usually sitting on a Wait step, and that is often by design.

  • A Wait Step pauses the workflow for a duration or condition. A wait set to A user to reply resumes when the reply is delivered; with a timeout configured, the contact moves forward when the timeout expires, and without one the workflow waits until a reply.

  • Changing a Wait action does not change a contact's already-existing wait. The contact completes the current wait before any later change applies.

Check the email setup

When an email did not arrive, check both the action and the workflow's sender settings.

  • Each Send Email action uses the integrated Email Template Builder. Confirm the action has a subject, a body, and the content you expect.

  • The workflow's sender details set a default sending email address and name. An individual email action in the workflow can override these defaults, so check the action itself as well as the settings.

Check the exit conditions

A workflow that ended sooner than expected usually hit one of its exit conditions.

  • Stop on response ends the workflow as soon as the contact replies.

  • A Goal Event can move the contact to the goal and end the workflow with End this workflow.

  • A Remove from Workflow action, in this workflow or another one, removes the contact from enrollment.

  • Manual removal from the contact record stops the remaining steps.

  • With Allow re-entry off, a contact who already completed the workflow cannot enter again, which can look like a trigger that silently did nothing.

How Workflow Re-Entry Works explains re-entry and early exits.

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