Workflows: Introductory guide

Available on: All Pabau plan
Where you can use it: Pabau web and the Pabau GO iOS app
Set-up time: Within minutes, if you use our pre-built workflows templates. However, is is dependent on other features in Pabau already being set up beforehand.
Ideal for: Clinics that want to automate routine, repeatable tasks
Best-kept secret: Pabau includes 30+ ready-made workflow templates, based on workflows real clinics use. From following up Facebook leads to sending recall reminders for clients who haven't rebooked, there's a template for almost everything. Templates are available every time you create a workflow, including your first one — see the Workflows: Detailed walkthrough.

What are workflows?

A workflow is a set of automated actions that run when something happens in Pabau.

When a trigger fires - a booking, a completed treatment, a submitted form — your workflow carries out the actions you've set: sending a reminder, assigning a task, updating a record. No one has to remember, and it happens the same way every time.

Workflows work across your whole clinic, for clinical, operational, scheduling, and financial task

👉 How workflows are charged

Every Pabau plan includes unlimited workflows: you can create and switch on as many as you need. Credits are only used by the actions your workflows run.

Each calendar month includes a free allowance of 50 actions. After that, each action that runs uses 0.5 credits. An action could be sending an email or an SMS, for example, so a workflow with several actions may use a few credits each time it runs. Actions that fail, lookups and data operations never use credits. We recommend switching on auto top-up so your balance doesn't run low. See Pabau Features Requiring Credits.

Prefer not to track credits? With Marketing Plus, workflow actions use no credits at all.

What you can do

Trigger recalls and follow-ups to bring clients back
Send aftercare instructions automatically
Chase outstanding payments, hands-free
Route and nurture leads
Run on a schedule across many records at once
Connect to outside tools via webhooks, Zapier, or Make

Does Test Workflow send messages to real clients?

It depends on the trigger:

Most triggers: clicking Test asks you to choose one record (for example a recent appointment or client) and shows the journey that record would take - the conditions, branches and what each action would do. Nothing is actually sent.
Run for real: from the same test panel, Run for real runs the workflow against the record you picked. It logs a real run and performs real changes, so only use it on a test client.
Schedule triggers: a schedule cannot be simulated. Test offers a genuine run instead, and a genuine test also publishes the workflow, so it keeps running on its schedule. A confirmation appears before anything runs.

TIP: To test safely, create a test client with your own email address and mobile number, then pick that client when you test or run for real.

Get started

Not a current Pabau user? Book a demo to see workflows in action
Already a customer? Go to Marketing→Workflows in your account to get started
Want to run workflows without credits? Upgrade to Marketing Plus from Setup→Billing→Manage Subscriptions. You can read more about everything included in this Marketing Plus article.

Related resources

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For more guides, browse the related articles below or use the search bar at the top of the page. You can also watch our video learning series, the Pabau Academy, or visit the Support page for additional help.