# Automate follow-up work with workflows

Run a series of steps when something happens in a conversation, such as an order being paid, a low rating or a customer left waiting.

A workflow runs on its own when something happens in a conversation: thank the customer when an order is paid, remind them gently when it is still unpaid two hours later, alert the right person after a one-star rating, or hand a waiting customer to someone else. Flows talk with the customer step by step; workflows react to events in the background.

## Start from a template

Go to **Customer Support → Automation** and click **Workflows**. Under **Templates**:

| Template | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Cảm ơn khi khách thanh toán** | Thanks the customer when an order is paid, and asks three days later whether it arrived |
| **Nhắc đơn chưa thanh toán** | Two hours after an unpaid order, the AI writes a gentle reminder |
| **Khách chờ lâu thì chuyển người khác** | When a customer has waited 10 minutes for a reply, runs the distribution rules again |
| **Đánh giá thấp thì báo ngay** | After a rating under 3 stars, tags the conversation and leaves a note for the assignee |
| **Khách để lại thông tin từ popup** | When a campaign form brings a lead, tags it, sends a lead conversion and assigns it |
| **Xin đánh giá sau khi xử lý xong** | An hour after a conversation is resolved, thanks the customer and asks for a review |

Click **Install**. Templates are installed turned off so you can edit the messages, then click **Turn on** in the list.

![The Workflows page with three workflows and the templates](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/automation/workflows.webp)

## Create a workflow

1. In **Customer Support → Automation → Workflows**, click **New workflow**.
2. Enter a **Name**, choose the **Site** and tick **Enabled**.
3. Under **When it runs**, pick the **Event** (see below).
4. Optional: under **Only when**, click **Add condition** to run only for some conversations, and choose whether **all conditions hold** or **any condition holds**.
5. Under **Steps**, pick a step type and click **Add step**. Repeat. A workflow has up to 30 steps.
6. Click **Save**.

![A workflow that tags conversations rated under 3 stars, notifies the assignee and reopens the conversation](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/automation/workflow-editor.webp)

### Events

| **Event** | Runs when |
|---|---|
| **A conversation starts** | A new conversation is created |
| **A conversation is resolved** | Someone (or an automation) resolves it |
| **The AI hands off to an agent** | The AI assistant passes the conversation to your team |
| **A conversation is assigned** | Someone is assigned |
| **A conversation is tagged** | A tag is added; **Only this tag (blank: any tag)** limits it to one |
| **The customer leaves a rating** | A satisfaction rating arrives |
| **An order is created** / **An order is paid** | An order linked to the conversation is created or paid |
| **A lead from a popup** | A visitor submits a [campaign](https://hatang.dev/help/automation/campaigns) form |
| **A visitor is waiting for a reply** | The customer's last message has had no reply for **Waiting longer than (minutes)**, 10 by default |
| **An order is still unpaid after a while** | An order linked to the conversation is still unpaid after **Unpaid after (minutes)**, 120 by default |

The two time-based events are checked every minute. When you turn such a workflow on, it only picks up conversations and orders that became due within the last hour, not your whole history.

### Conditions

A condition compares a **Field** with a **Value** using a **Comparison** (is, is not, contains, greater than, less than, is set, is empty). Fields: **Channel**, **Conversation status**, **Tag**, **Assignee** (`bot`, `human` or `none`), **Office hours** (`within` or `outside`), **Has a phone number**, **Has an email**, **Source (utm_source / ref)**, **Rating (stars)**, **Order total**, **Order status**, and your customer fields.

### Steps

| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Message the customer** | Sends a message in the conversation |
| **AI writes a message** | The AI writes the message from the conversation, following **What the AI should write**. The **Fallback (when the AI cannot run)** text is sent if the AI cannot run (no budget, an error). Counts toward the AI budget. |
| **Email the customer** | Sends an email when the customer has an address; skipped otherwise |
| **Send ZNS** | Sends a Zalo ZNS template to the customer's phone; skipped when there is no phone number. See [Zalo ZNS](https://hatang.dev/help/automation/zns). |
| **Add / remove tags** | Changes the conversation's tags |
| **Assign the conversation** | Gives it to one agent, or **By routing rules** |
| **Notify people** | Adds people to the conversation with an internal note; nobody selected means the assignee |
| **Create a reminder** | A reminder about the conversation after the minutes you set, for someone or the assignee |
| **Change status** | Open, pending or resolved |
| **Send a conversion (GA4/Meta)** | Sends a lead or purchase conversion, when conversion tracking is set up on the website |
| **Send a webhook event** | Sends an event to your webhooks. See [Webhooks](https://hatang.dev/help/integrations/webhooks). |
| **Wait** | Waits up to 43,200 minutes (30 days) before the next step |
| **Condition** | Continues only if the conditions still hold; otherwise the run ends |

Messages can use `{{name}}`, `{{phone}}`, `{{email}}`, `{{order_code}}`, `{{order_total}}`, `{{rating}}` and `{{site}}`.

## Follow the runs

Open a workflow to see its **Recent runs**: when, which conversation, the status (**Running**, **Waiting**, **Done**, **Stopped**, **Failed**) and **What it did** at each step. Click **Stop** to cancel a waiting run, or **Run again** to repeat it for that conversation.

Safety rules:

- A workflow runs at most once per event.
- If the same workflow starts five times in one conversation within ten minutes, Ha Tang treats it as a loop and skips further runs.
- Turning a workflow off stops its runs at their next step.

> [!WARNING]
> **Send ZNS** and **Email the customer** reach customers outside the chat, and Zalo charges for every ZNS message. Test a new workflow with conditions that match only your own test conversations before opening it to everyone.