My workflow isn't working as expected

Workflow issues almost always come from one of three causes: the trigger does not fire, contacts are filtered out by conditions they do not meet, or the workflow is active but contacts do not enter. Work through the sections below based on what you see.

The workflow is active but no contacts are entering

Go to your workflow report and check the "x contacts" section of the start block. This shows how many contacts have entered your workflow. If the count is zero or lower than expected:

• Check the trigger: verify that the trigger event actually occurred for the contacts you expect. For example, if your trigger is "contact subscribes to an interest", check whether any contacts have recently subscribed to that interest.
• Check entry conditions: if you added entry conditions to limit who can enter the workflow, check whether your target contacts meet all those conditions.
• Check whether the workflow was active at the time of the trigger: contacts who already matched the trigger before the workflow was activated do not enter retroactively.
• The workflow starts on opens and the contact has no consent. A trigger or condition on "opened" only works for contacts with open tracking consent "Yes" when the consent policy is active. Contacts with "No" or "Not set" do not receive a tracking pixel, so there is no open to respond to. If open tracking is off, Flexmail does not record an open for anyone. Check the open tracking consent field for the contact. If possible, choose a trigger based on clicks or on time.

Contacts enter but skip steps or leave early

If contacts enter the workflow but do not move through it as expected:

Condition blocks

A condition block splits contacts into two paths based on whether a condition is met. Contacts who do not meet the condition follow the "No" or "Else" path, not the "Yes" path. Check each condition block in your workflow and verify that your contacts actually match the criteria.

Wait blocks

Contacts at a wait block do not skip the next step, they are waiting. Check the Contacts tab in your workflow to see if contacts are currently waiting at a specific step. This is normal behaviour.

The workflow performed an action I did not expect

If a contact received an email they should not have received, or if a field was updated unexpectedly:

• Review the path that contact followed in the workflow. Open the workflow report, click the "x contacts" section of each block and find the contact. This allows you to trace the contact's path.
• Check your condition logic carefully. A condition set to "is NOT subscribed to interest X" also includes contacts for whom no interest data was ever recorded, not only those who explicitly unsubscribed.
• Check the order of the blocks. Actions run in sequence from top to bottom. If an action block sits before a condition meant to gate it, the action runs for all contacts regardless of the condition.

Contacts entered the workflow more than once

By default, each contact can only enter a workflow once. If a contact entered the workflow multiple times, it is either a recurring workflow based on a date, or the contact was unsubscribed and re-subscribed to the account. Check the workflow settings and set the trigger to 'once' if that was not the intention. Create a contact report to check if a contact was added to your account again.

The workflow stopped after editing

Changes to an active workflow only affect contacts who enter the block after saving the change. Waiting contacts continue the workflow from where they are, provided the workflow is active at the exact moment the contact is due to stop waiting.

The "when to stop" condition is not working as expected

If contacts exit earlier than expected, an unintended stop condition might be triggered. Check the configuration of all if/else blocks in your workflow.

See "When to stop your automation campaign" for a full explanation of stop conditions and when to use them.

Common mistakes

Activating a workflow without testing it first

There is no undo button for workflow actions that have already run. You cannot reverse a workflow that sends the wrong email or updates contact details incorrectly. Always test with a small internal group before activating it for your full contact list.

Editing an active workflow while sending

Editing a workflow while contacts are actively inside it can cause unexpected behaviour. If you need to make major changes, deactivate the workflow first.

Next steps

• See "Create a workflow" for a full explanation of the workflow setup process.
• See "Edit active workflows" for guidance on making changes to workflows that are already active.
• See "When to stop your automation campaign" for configuring stop conditions correctly.
• See "Workflow blocks and triggers reference" for a full overview of available triggers, conditions and actions.