Building Your First Automation

An automation is a rule that runs itself: when something happens, do something else. 'When a new lead comes in, wait 10 minutes, then send a follow-up email.' You build it once and it runs forever — no manual reminders, no forgotten leads. Hero Monday's builder is visual: drag blocks, connect them, done.

• A trigger starts it (e.g. 'New lead created')
• An action happens (e.g. 'Send email', 'Add tag')
• Optional delays and conditions control the flow
• You can have as many steps as you need

Every automation starts with a trigger — the event that kicks it off. For a lead follow-up workflow, the trigger is 'New contact created' (or 'New lead from form'). Browse the trigger library or search by name. You can also trigger on a tag being added, a deal moving stages, or a calendar event ending.

• Go to Automations → New automation
• Click the trigger block and search 'contact created'
• Choose the source (any form, or a specific one)
• Name your automation so you can find it later

You rarely want to email the instant a lead arrives — it can feel robotic. Add a delay block so the follow-up lands a few minutes or hours later, when it reads like a real person got to their inbox. Start with 10–15 minutes for form leads; longer for cold imports.

• Drag a 'Delay' block after the trigger
• Set it to 10 minutes (adjust later based on results)
• Delays can be minutes, hours, or days
• You can branch delays with conditions (covered next guide)

Now add the email action. Write a short, human message — not a sales pitch. Reference what they just did ('Thanks for reaching out about…') and give them one clear next step (book a call, reply with a question). Use merge fields to personalize without sounding templated.

• Drag a 'Send email' block after the delay
• Use merge fields: {{first_name}}, {{company}}
• Keep it under 5 sentences — one ask, one next step
• Add a calendar booking link so they can act immediately

Add a final action to ping whoever owns that lead — a Slack message, an in-app notification, or a task. This way no lead sits unread while the automation does its job. Turn the automation on, create a test lead, and watch it run end to end.

• Add a 'Notify' or 'Create task' block
• Assign it to the lead owner or a specific teammate
• Flip the automation from Draft to Active
• Submit a test lead and confirm each step fires