Creating a Flow

This guide walks you through creating a complete flow from start to finish, focusing on the creation workflow and essential concepts.

Planning Your Flow

Before building, consider these key questions:

Who should enter this flow? (Define your audience)
What actions should they receive? (Email, webhook, etc.)
When should things happen? (Timing and delays)
How should users progress? (Linear or branching paths)

Step-by-Step Flow Creation

Step 1: Create a New Flow

From the Flows dashboard, click Create New
Choose either:
- Template: Start with a pre-built flow
- Build Your Own: Start with a blank canvas
Enter a descriptive name for your flow
Click Create flow

Step 2: Configure the Trigger Step

The trigger step is automatically created and defines who enters your flow.

Click on the trigger step to open the sidebar
Select your audience: Choose from existing audiences in your account
Set entry conditions: Choose how users enter:
- Added to: Only new additions to the audience trigger entry (recommended for most flows)
- Member of: All current members plus future additions enter
Configure re-entry if users should be able to go through the flow multiple times

Note: For detailed trigger configuration options, see Flow Steps - Trigger Step.

Step 3: Add Flow Steps

Add steps by clicking the + button after any existing step. Each step type serves a specific purpose:

Wait Steps: Control timing and enable personalization
Export Steps: Send user data to external systems
Conditional Splits: Create branching paths based on user attributes

Note: For detailed configuration of each step type, see Flow Steps.

Step 4: Build Your Complete Flow

Example: Welcome Series Flow

Here's a complete welcome series flow structure:

Trigger: When added to "Has Email Address" audience
Export: Send welcome email immediately
Wait: 1 day delay
Export: Send product tour email
Wait: 3 days delay
Conditional Split: Check if user has made a purchase
- Yes path: Exit Flow
- No path: Send discount offer email

Naming Your Steps

Give descriptive names to each step for better organization:

"Welcome Email"
"Product Tour Delay"
"Purchase Check"
"New Customer Thank You"

Names appear in the flow canvas, user profiles, and metrics reporting.

Step 5: Validate Your Flow

Before publishing, ensure your flow is properly configured:

Common Validation Issues:

Wait steps without time or condition specified
Export steps not properly configured
Conditional splits without rules defined
Missing connections between steps

Validation Process:

Click Publish in the action menu
Review any validation errors
Fix issues before proceeding
Activate any draft export jobs

Advanced Configuration Tips

Using Personalization Keys

Personalization keys enable real-time website customization:

// Example: Check if user is in a specific flow step
jstag.call("entityReady", (profile) => {
  const targetKey = "welcome-series-delay";
  let isInWelcomeSeries = false;

  try {
    const activeSteps = profile?.data?.user?.flows_step_slugs || {};
    const personalizationKeys = Object.values(activeSteps).flat();
    if (personalizationKeys.includes(targetKey)) {
      isInWelcomeSeries = true;
    }
  } catch (error) {
    console.warn("Error checking for active steps:", error);
  }

  if (isInWelcomeSeries) {
    // Show welcome banner or special offer
    document.getElementById("welcome-banner").style.display = "block";
  }

  console.log(`User ${isInWelcomeSeries ? "is" : "is not"} in welcome series`);
});

Best Practices

Flow Structure:

Keep flows focused on single objectives
Use conditional splits sparingly
Document complex flows with step names

Next Steps

Once your flow is created:

Learn about Publishing and Managing Flows
Understand Monitoring and Metrics