List of Available Steps in Automated Journeys
LeadsWithDemos Automated Journeys offers a selection of flexible, purpose-built steps to help you create and optimize seamless, personalized workflows for your subscribers. Each step serves a unique role within your automation, allowing you to control timing, personalize content, branch journeys by subscriber data, trigger actions, and tag subscribers for advanced segmentation.
Below are the main steps you can add to your automated journey:
Delay Step
The Delay step lets you pause the progress of your automated journey for a set period before subscribers proceed to the next action. This function helps you space out communications or actions according to your preferred schedule. When you add a Delay step in your LeadsWithDemos site, you can decide exactly how long the system should wait before moving forward. You have several options:
Select an Action
Update or change the setting if you want to switch to a different step.
When
Choose when the delay should begin—immediately, at a specified time, or on a set date.
Wait for
Set the duration of the delay in minutes, hours, or days, based on your workflow needs. This step helps you manage the timing of your automated journeys in a flexible and controlled way, leading to better outcomes and a more organized communication flow.
Paths Step
The Paths step allows you to split your automated journey into multiple branches, based on specific conditions or criteria. This feature lets you direct subscribers down different paths, ensuring they receive communications and actions most relevant to their behavior or profile.
When you add a Paths step, you will typically see two default branches: Path A and Fallback.
Path A
This is the initial path, where you can set a variety of conditions (such as user attributes) to control which subscribers continue down this branch. These conditions are similar to those used in the LeadsWithDemos Advanced Filter, making it easy to segment based on detailed criteria.
- Adding a New Path: To add another path, simply click the plus (+) icon after your current path block. By default, the first path is called Path A; as you add more, they are automatically labeled Path B, Path C, and so on. You can create up to 10 paths, allowing for granular segmenting of your audience.You can also create new paths within the same branch, up to a maximum of 10, further enhancing your segmentation options.
- Adding Path Conditions: To add conditions to any path (A, B, C, etc.), click on the path you’d like to configure, then select the “Add path conditions” button. You’ll be presented with all available conditions, as well as options to combine them using various logic rules, just like in the Advanced Filter. You can also update the name of each path for easier identification.
- Drag to Reorder: The drag to reorder feature allows you to easily rearrange the order of paths or branches within your automated journey. To reorder, click and hold the drag handle (shown as a set of dots) on the desired path, drag it to the new position, and release. The system will instantly update the sequence, and your automation will follow the new order during execution.
Fallback
The Fallback path is activated if none of the other path conditions are met, ensuring every subscriber always has a clear next step. Using the Paths step, you can easily build dynamic, multi-branch journeys that adapt to your subscribers’ data and activity, leading to more targeted communication and improved outcomes.
AI Email Writer Step
The AI Email Writer Step automates the drafting of your marketing emails using a custom-trained AI Assistant. At this point in your journey, you can select any AI Assistant you have previously set up for this purpose, whether named “AI Email Writer”, “AI Email Writer Assistant”, or a name of your choosing. The selected AI Assistant will draft each email for you, based on your guidance and available subscriber data. The AI Email Writer Step is designed to work alongside the Send an Email step. To use this feature correctly, first add the AI Email Writer Step and select the AI Assistant you wish to use for drafting. Next, add a Send an Email step and choose an automated email that supports AI-generated content. For proper integration, your automated email must include the variables {{ai_email_subject}} and {{ai_email_body}}. These placeholders will automatically be replaced with the subject line and body content generated by your selected AI Assistant. This step is ideal if you want a custom-trained AI Assistant to draft email content on your behalf, using your specific instructions and key data fields. The drafted content is driven entirely by your prompts and information collected during form submission, ensuring every message remains relevant and on-brand, saving you both time and effort on manual drafting.
When you add an AI Email Writer Step, you will see the following settings:
Select an Action
You can update or change the action if you want to switch to a different step in your automation.
Select Assistant
Use the Select Assistant dropdown to choose which of your custom-trained AI Assistants will generate the email drafts for this step. Each assistant can be uniquely trained and named (such as “Email Assistant” or “AI Email Writer”) to reflect its specific purpose or expertise. Once you select an AI Assistant, you will be prompted with additional options, including:
Configure Prompt
The Configure Prompt setting in the AI Email Writer Step allows you to instruct your custom-trained AI Assistant on exactly how to draft your marketing emails. In this field, enter clear and specific instructions (also known as a “prompt”) to outline the purpose, context, audience, and key points for each message. Think of this as giving a copywriter a brief: the AI will follow your directions to generate highly relevant and on-brand content. In addition to your instructions, you can enhance each prompt with dynamic data that varies based on user interactions or behavior. This is ideal for creating hyper-personalized emails and for giving the AI additional context beyond the core prompt. To add these data fields, simply click on “Select data field” and choose from available options, such as first name, downloaded resource from an email capture campaign, browser language, or other captured information.
Using data fields alongside your prompt ensures every email feels unique to the recipient and leverages all collected subscriber data for maximum personalization. The more detail and context you provide, the more relevant and effective the AI’s output will be. With the Configure Prompt feature, you combine your strategic guidance and real-time user data to create marketing emails that are timely, tailored, and consistently aligned with your brand’s voice.
Preview
The Preview button allows you to see how the AI-generated email content will look before it is sent or finalized.
After you have set up your prompt with any dynamic data fields (such as personalized names, descriptions, or other relevant information), click Preview to review the potential output. When you click the Preview button, a dropdown list appears that prompts you to select a lead (subscriber) for testing. The system will use this subscriber’s data to show how the AI Email Writer drafts the email content with real examples. Once you select the subscriber from the dropdown list, you can:
- Click Test to have the AI assistant (AI Email Writer) generate the email content based on the selected subscriber’s data, allowing you to see exactly how the email will look.
- Click Edit to make changes to the prompt and adjust your instructions as needed.
Review the AI-generated output: if you’re satisfied, you can proceed by clicking “Save”; if not, you have the option to modify the prompt and preview again until the output meets your expectations.
Send an Email Step
The Send an Email step allows you to automatically deliver a targeted email to every subscriber who reaches this point in your automated journey. This action helps you connect with leads promptly and ensures consistent communication throughout your journey, whether you’re sending a welcome message, a nurture sequence, recipe inspiration, or any other automated update.
When you add a Send an Email step to your journey, you can specify which automated email message will be delivered to your subscribers. As part of this step, you’ll see the following options:
Select an Action
Ensure that “Send an email” is chosen as the action for this step. If needed, you can switch to a different action at any time.
Select an Email Template
Choose from your existing automated email templates. Select the message you want subscribers to receive at this stage, such as a thank-you or follow-up email. Note: Only automated emails that are activated and assigned to the automated journey emails category will be displayed for selection.
Send Emails During Business Hours Only
To help your emails arrive at the most appropriate times, LeadsWithDemos lets you restrict email delivery to specific business days and hours. You can enable the Send emails during business hours only option to activate this setting. If this option is not enabled, the automated email will be sent as soon as the subscriber reaches this step.
- Business Days: Choose which days of the week emails may be sent (e.g., Mon–Fri).
- Business Hours: Define the start and end times for sending emails on those days.
- Select Timezone: Set the appropriate timezone to ensure emails are delivered at the correct local time for your recipients.
Sending an Email After an AI Email Writer Step
When you add a Send an Email step immediately after an AI Email Writer Step in your journey, the email sent to each subscriber is automatically drafted by your selected AI Assistant (AI Email Writer). This setup is perfect for creating dynamic, personalized email messages using real-time subscriber data and your custom instructions.
How it works:
- The AI Email Writer generates the subject line and body content based on your configured prompt and any data fields you choose.
- The Send an Email step then populates your automated email with the AI-generated content, using the variables {{ai_email_subject}} and {{ai_email_body}}. It’s important to select an automated email that contains these variables.
- When the journey runs, the Send an Email step delivers the email, and these placeholders are automatically replaced with the AI-generated content. This results in a unique, tailored message for every subscriber.
Sending an Email Without an AI Email Writer Step Before
If you add a Send an Email step on its own without an AI Email Writer Step immediately before, it will use your chosen standard automated email template for every subscriber.
How it works:
- You select a pre-written automated email from your activated templates.
- Each subscriber who reaches this step receives the same message, as defined in the template. You can still use personalization tokens, like name or other email variables, but the core subject and body content remain as drafted.
Assign Tags Step
The Assign Tags step in LeadsWithDemos automated journeys allows you to automatically add specific tags to subscribers as they progress through your workflow. Tags are a simple yet powerful way to organize, segment, and keep track of your subscribers based on their actions, interests, or stage in your journey. When you include an Assign Tags step, every subscriber who reaches this point will receive the tags you specify. Key settings for this step include:
Select an Action
Ensure that “Assign tags” is selected for this step. If you wish to change the purpose of the step, you can always choose a different action from the dropdown.
Select Tags
Use the dropdown to choose one or more tags you want to assign. Tags can represent categories such as “Engaged Subscriber”, “Requested Recipe”, or any custom classification that supports your marketing workflow.
Remove Tags Step
The Remove Tags step in LeadsWithDemos automated journeys allows you to automatically remove specific tags from subscribers as they move through your workflow. Tags help you organize and segment your audience; removing tags is useful for keeping subscriber profiles accurate as their actions, interests, or journey stage change. When you include a Remove Tags step, every subscriber who reaches this point will have the tags you specify removed from their profile. Key settings for this step include:
Select an Action
Ensure that “Remove tags” is selected for this step. If you need to change what this step does, you can choose a different action from the dropdown.
Select Tags
Use the dropdown to choose one or more tags you want to remove. For example, you might remove tags like “New Subscriber” or “Waiting for Confirmation” once subscribers progress to the next phase, helping you keep your contact lists relevant and up to date.
Unsubscribe Step
The Unsubscribe step in LeadsWithDemos automated journeys allows you to automatically remove subscribers from your communications at a specific point in your workflow. When a subscriber reaches this step, they will be marked as unsubscribed and will stop receiving further messages from your automated sequences. Key settings for this step include:
Select an Action
Ensure that “Unsubscribe” is selected for this step. If you would like to use a different action, you can choose one from the dropdown.
Unsubscribe Settings
There are no additional tags or options needed for this action. Once reached, the subscriber will be automatically removed from your email list, helping you maintain a positive sender reputation and respect subscriber choices.
Set Custom Field Value Step