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A lead who hears back in minutes is far more likely to buy than one who waits a day. A workflow can answer every form on your site the moment it arrives: it emails the person a thank-you and gives your team a task to follow up. This guide builds one for the wholesale form on the Northwind site with the AI Workflow Assistant, checks what it made, tests it with a real submission, and then switches it on.

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Start a workflow

1

Open Workflows

Click Workflows in the left rail, then New Workflow at the top right.
The Workflows page with the New Workflow button outlined

New Workflow, on the Workflows page

2

Name it

Give the workflow a name your team will recognize, and a description if you like. Then click Create Blank Workflow. The workflow opens in the editor.
Workflow Name: Thank new wholesale leads, a description, and the Create Blank Workflow button, outlined

The name and Create Blank Workflow

3

Keep it switched off while you build

Check that the switch at the top right reads Disabled. If it reads Enabled, click it. A workflow that is switched on runs for every real submission as soon as it has a trigger, even while you are still building it.
The workflow header with the switch reading Disabled, outlined

The switch, off while you build

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Describe it to the assistant

In the AI Workflow Assistant on the left, say what should happen in your own words: which form starts it, what the email should say, and what your team should do next. Then press Enter. For Northwind:
When someone sends the wholesale form on our Northwind Coffee Roasters site, email them a short thank-you: thank them by name, say we will reply within two business days, and link to our Origin Stories at /blog. Then create a CRM task for our team to follow up within two days. Keep the workflow switched off; I will test it first.
The workflow editor with the request typed into the AI Workflow Assistant box, outlined

The request, in the assistant

The assistant adds the steps to the canvas and tells you what it built. Here: a Form Submitted trigger, a step that prepares the person’s name and email, a Send Email step and a Create CRM Task step.

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Check each step

Click a step on the canvas to open its settings on the right. The assistant works from your words, so check the details before you test.
1

The trigger: which forms start it

Under Site and Forms, check the site and tick the forms that should start the workflow. Leave Forms empty to start it for every form on the site. Here, Northwind Coffee Roasters and both of its wholesale forms are ticked.
The Form Submitted settings: Site Northwind Coffee Roasters and two wholesale forms ticked, outlined

The site and forms that start the workflow

2

The email: what the person receives

Read the Subject and the Body (plain text). The colored chips are filled in from the submission when it runs, such as the person’s name.Then open More options: set Sender name to your business name (otherwise the email comes from “Hiveku Workflows”) and Reply-To to an address your team reads, so a reply reaches you.
The Send Email settings with the Subject Thanks for your wholesale inquiry and the Body, outlined

The thank-you email

3

The task: what your team does next

Click the Create CRM Task step and check its description and due date.
4

Save

Click Save Workflow.

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Test it with a real submission

A test runs every step without sending anything: emails, texts and new records are only simulated, while steps that read data use your real data.
1

Pick a submission to test with

Click the trigger, then the Input tab. Under Test sample, pick a recent submission: the panel then reads “Test run uses the submission from” and their name. The test starts the workflow as if that person had just sent the form.
The trigger's Input tab: Test run uses the submission from Priya Shah, and her submission ticked in the list, both outlined

A real submission as the test sample

2

Run the test

Click Test Run above the canvas. Each step shows Done as it finishes, and the banner reads Test completed with the number of steps and how long it took.
The canvas with all four steps marked Done, the banner Test completed, 4/4 steps, 9s, and the Test Run button, outlined

Every step done, nothing sent

3

See what each step would have done

Click a step, then its Output tab. For the email, the last group of fields shows the address it would have gone to, the message, the subject and the sender name. The fields of a real send stay empty, because nothing was sent.
The Send Email step's Output tab after the test, with the address priya.shah@example.com, the message, the subject and the sender name Northwind Coffee Roasters outlined

The email the test would have sent

If a step shows a warning, open it, fix the setting it names, save, and test again.

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Switch it on

When the test looks right, click the switch at the top right so it reads Enabled. From then on, every new submission of the chosen forms gets the email, and your team gets the task. Click Runs next to the switch to see each run and what every step did.
The workflow header with the on/off switch and the Runs button, outlined

The switch and Runs, at the top right

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Good to know

  • A test never sends. Test Run simulates every step that sends or saves, so you can test as often as you like.
  • Change it any time. Ask the assistant (“also send our team a text”) or click a step and edit it. Save, test again, and the change is live for the next submission.
  • Spam is left out. Submissions filed as spam do not start the workflow.
  • More about workflows: Workflows, and for the leads themselves, Follow Up a Lead from Your Website.