Newcomer follow-up workflow

This recipe builds the workflow most churches set up first: when somebody is registered as a new member, automatically reach out at three touchpoints over the next month. You set it up once, it runs forever.

What you'll achieve

A member.registered trigger that fires three actions on a schedule:

When	Action
Immediately	Send a welcome WhatsApp message
7 days later	Invite them to your next service
30 days later	Assign them to a small-group leader for personal outreach

Prerequisites

• WhatsApp messaging configured (see WhatsApp).
• At least one small-group leader on staff with the small-group.assign permission.
• A name for your workflow: e.g. "New member welcome — 30 days".

Step 1 — Create the workflow

1. Go to Workflows → New.
2. Name it and click Create.
3. You'll land in the visual builder with one empty trigger node on the canvas.

Step 2 — Set the trigger

1. Click the trigger node.
2. Pick the member.registered event from the dropdown.
3. Save.

The workflow now fires every time a member is added — manually, via bulk import, or via the visitor form.

Step 3 — Add the welcome message

1. Drag an Action → Send message node onto the canvas.
2. Connect the trigger to it.
3. Configure:
   • Channel: WhatsApp
   • Recipient: {{trigger.member}}
   • Template: Welcome to {{org.name}} — pick or create a template.
4. Save.

TIP

Personalize the template with {{member.first_names}}. Generic "Hello, valued member" reads cold.

Step 4 — Add the 7-day invite

1. Drag a Delay node onto the canvas. Set it to 7 days.
2. Connect it after the welcome message.
3. After the delay, add another Send message node.
4. Pick a "Come back on Sunday" template that mentions your next service time.

Step 5 — Add the 30-day handover

1. After the 7-day branch, add another Delay node, set to 23 days (so total is 30 from registration).
2. Then add an Action → Assign to leader node.
3. Configure:
   • Assign to: pick a small-group leader (or use the round-robin option if you have multiple).
   • Send leader a notification: yes — they'll get a WhatsApp message with the new member's contact info.

Step 6 — Activate

1. Click Publish in the top-right corner.
2. The workflow status flips from draft to active.
3. Test it by adding yourself as a member with your real phone number — you should get the welcome message in under 30 seconds.

What happens behind the scenes

Each step is a row in workflow_runs. The delay nodes are stored with a next_fire_at timestamp; a cron job picks them up when their time comes. If a member is marked lost mid-sequence, the remaining steps are auto-cancelled.

What's next

• Add a fourth step: if the member hasn't attended any service after 30 days, send a "miss you" message.
• Layer in a first-time visitor recipe so visitors get a different sequence than registered members.
• See Workflow monitoring to track how many people are mid-sequence.