Triggers, conditions and actions: the reference

The complete list of triggers, conditions, actions and delays available to build your Joinways automations.

A Joinways automation always follows the same four-part logic: a trigger starts the scenario, conditions filter the relevant cases, actions run, and delays can space out the steps. Understanding these four building blocks means understanding everything you can build in Joinways without writing a single line of code. This article is a reference guide: it covers the main triggers, conditions, actions and delay types available, with their meaning, so you know exactly what you have to work with when you assemble a workflow.

Think of an automation as a sentence: "WHEN this happens (trigger), IF these criteria are met (conditions), WAIT a while (delay), THEN do this (action)." Each block has a precise place and the blocks combine freely. The same action — sending an email, say — can be triggered by ten different scenarios depending on the trigger and conditions you choose.

Prerequisites

Before building a workflow, a few things need to be in place for the blocks to work correctly:

An account with automation access: the Workflows section must be visible in your workspace.
Real data to work with: events, quotes or inquiries in Inquiries, otherwise triggers have nothing to fire on.
A connected mailbox: essential if your actions send emails on behalf of your venue.
A defined pipeline: your pipeline stages act both as conditions and as action targets.

What you'll learn

The exact role of each of the four building blocks of an automation.
The list of every available trigger and the precise event that activates it.
The filtering conditions and how to combine them.
The executable actions and the delay types that pace a scenario.

Understanding triggers

The trigger is the event that starts the automation. It's the "WHEN" of your sentence. Without a trigger, nothing happens: an automation stays dormant until the expected event occurs in your workspace. Choosing the right trigger means deciding the exact moment your scenario should kick in along a deal's journey.

Here is how a trigger operates, step by step:

An event happens in your workspace (an inquiry arrives, a quote changes status, etc.).
Joinways detects this event and checks whether it matches the trigger of an active automation.
If it does, the scenario starts and moves on to evaluating the conditions.

Understanding conditions

Conditions refine the trigger: the action only runs if the criteria are met. It's the "IF" of your sentence. A single trigger can concern hundreds of deals; conditions let you handle only the ones that truly matter — for instance only weddings, or only quotes above a certain amount.

Filtering proceeds like this:

The trigger has fired and provides a record (event, quote or inquiry).
Joinways compares the record's attributes against the conditions you set.
If all conditions are met, the scenario continues; otherwise it stops without doing anything.

Understanding actions

The action is what the automation actually does. It's the "THEN" of your sentence. Once the trigger has fired and the conditions are met, Joinways runs the action: send an email, create a task, move the deal forward or notify the team. A scenario can chain several actions.

Running an action follows this flow:

The conditions pass and any delay has elapsed.
Joinways performs the action on the record (send, create, change stage or notify).
If further actions or delays remain, the scenario moves to the next step.

Understanding delays

A delay pauses the automation before the next step (e.g. wait 3 days before a follow-up). It's essential for natural follow-up scenarios that don't feel robotic. Without a delay, every action would run within the same second, which would feel artificial to your clients.

A delay slots into a scenario like this:

A first action runs (or the conditions have just passed).
The delay puts the scenario on hold for the duration you defined.
Once the delay has elapsed, the next step resumes automatically.

Reference: all triggers

Here are the triggers available for an event venue, each with the precise event that activates it:

New inquiry received: an incoming message arrives in Inquiries. Ideal for replying to a prospect instantly.
Event created or updated: an event is created, or changes stage or status. Use it to react to any change in a deal.
Quote sent / signed: a quote changes status (sent or signed). Lets you follow up a quote or celebrate a signature.
Relative date: X days before or after the event date. Ideal for D-7 reminders or post-event follow-ups.

Reference: all conditions

You can filter a trigger with the following criteria, which can be combined:

Event type: handle only weddings, seminars, birthdays, etc.
Venue: restrict the automation to a specific venue or space.
Quote amount: act only above or below a threshold (e.g. greater than €5,000).
Pipeline stage: target only deals at a given stage of the pipeline.
Inquiry AI score: prioritise or filter by the AI's estimate of a prospect's quality.

Reference: all actions

Here are the most common actions an automation can run once its conditions are met. Generating a deposit or balance invoice is also among the available actions: it runs through the Stripe Connect integration and can be triggered after a quote is signed or on a payment schedule.

Send an email: automatic message to the contact (follow-up, confirmation, thank-you).
Create a task: assign a reminder to yourself or a colleague (e.g. "call the client").
Change the event stage: move the deal forward in the pipeline automatically.
Notify the team: send an internal alert about an important event.

Reference: delays

Delays exist to space scenario steps out over time:

Wait before the next step: pauses the scenario for a defined duration (e.g. 3 days) before continuing.

How it works

When you assemble an automation, you wire these blocks end to end. Joinways reads the scenario from left to right: it waits for the trigger, evaluates the conditions, applies the delay, then runs the action — and repeats if further steps follow. Here is the full cycle:

The trigger waits in the background for its event to occur.
On firing, the conditions are evaluated against the record concerned.
If they pass, any delay begins.
Once the delay has elapsed, the action runs; subsequent steps chain on the same way.

Edge cases

A few situations deserve attention when you combine these blocks:

The record changes during a delay: if a quote is signed during the 3-day wait before a follow-up, a well-placed "not signed" condition will prevent the unnecessary follow-up.
No conditions set: the action runs for EVERY record that fires the trigger. Use this deliberately.
"Relative date" trigger in the past: if the target date has already passed when you create the automation, the past step does not replay retroactively.

💡 Tip: combine several conditions to target precisely (e.g. "wedding" AND "amount > €5,000"). The finer your conditions, the less you risk sending a message to the wrong recipient.

Best practices

Start simple: one trigger, one action, then progressively enrich with conditions and delays.
Test on a real event before enabling the automation for everyone.
Document each automation's purpose directly in its name.
Always add a safety condition (e.g. "not signed") before any follow-up.

Troubleshooting

Problem: the action never fires. Cause: the chosen trigger doesn't match the real event, or the conditions are too restrictive. Solution: check the trigger and temporarily remove the conditions to isolate the problem.

Problem: an email goes out at the wrong time. Cause: the delay is misconfigured or missing. Solution: insert or adjust the delay between the trigger and the send action.

Problem: a client receives a follow-up although they already signed. Cause: no "not signed" condition protects the scenario. Solution: add that condition so the delay acts as a safeguard.

Real-world example

Trigger: quote sent. Condition: not signed. Delay: 3 days. Action: send a follow-up email + create a "call the client" task. Result: no follow-up ever forgotten. The delay gives the client time to respond, and the "not signed" condition avoids following up those who have already said yes.

Another example

Trigger: new inquiry received. Condition: event type "wedding" AND high AI score. Action: notify the team + create a reminder task. Result: your most promising wedding inquiries never go unnoticed and a salesperson is assigned immediately.

FAQ

Can I chain several actions in a single automation?

Yes. A scenario can combine several actions, for example sending an email then creating a task, with or without delays between them.

Are several conditions cumulative?

Yes. When you set several conditions they combine: the record must meet them all for the scenario to continue.

What happens with no conditions?

The action applies to every record that fires the trigger, with no filtering. Useful for generic messages, but handle with care.

Is a delay mandatory?

No. If you add no delay, the action runs immediately after the conditions pass.

Can the AI score be used as a condition?

Yes. An inquiry's AI score is one of the available conditions, used to prioritise your most qualified prospects.

Can an action change the pipeline stage?

Yes. The "change the event stage" action moves the deal forward in the pipeline without manual intervention.