CRM workflow automation: what it is and four setups you can build in Mavibot

Short answer: CRM workflow automation means setting rules in your CRM so routine steps happen on their own: a trigger (for example, a deal moving to a new stage), optional conditions (for example, the deal amount) and an action (for example, a message to the client or a task for a manager). On October 7, 2026, Mavibot added robots to its CRM, which do exactly this. A robot runs when a deal enters a pipeline stage and can message or email the client, create a task, change a tag, move the deal or start a bot scenario, either immediately, after a delay, at a set time, or a set time before a date stored in the deal.

A deal moves to "Invoice sent", and then it sits there until somebody remembers it. Workflow automation closes that gap. The feature came out on October 7, so we haven't run it on a live project for months. We built a test pipeline, described below, and everything else here comes from Mavibot's documentation and the interface. The setups after the test pipeline are ones we'd build, not results we've measured.

What CRM workflow automation is

CRM automation, also called CRM workflow automation, means the CRM carries out routine steps by rules you set instead of waiting for a person. Most CRM workflows have the same three parts:

• Trigger: the event that starts it, such as a new deal, a form submission or a deal changing stage.
• Condition: an optional filter that decides which deals qualify, such as an amount above a threshold or a particular client tag.
• Action: what the CRM does, such as sending a message, creating a task, moving the deal or updating a tag.

A step that depends on someone remembering will be missed on a busy Friday and at 2 a.m. An automated step happens every time.

In Mavibot's CRM the trigger is a deal entering a pipeline stage, the condition is a setting on the robot, and the action is the robot itself.

A test pipeline from first message to closed deal

To see how the pieces fit, we built a four-stage pipeline on a test project: lead, Consultation, main product and sale. Each stage has its own robots.

• Lead. When someone writes to us from a messenger or from the website, three robots run. One sends a welcome message in the messenger, set to go out in 1 hour. One adds the tag "from website". One notifies the deal owner: "New client!!!".
• Consultation. When the deal moves here, a task called "Zoom" is created for the deal owner right away. An email titled "Reminder" goes to the client an hour later, but only if the client is on the "test" list.
• Main product. The client gets a message: "Deal is still open".
• Sale. One robot removes the tag "payment", and another closes the deal as won.

It's a sketch, not a tuned funnel, but eight robots cover the path from the first message to a closed deal.

We think robots help in two ways. A beginner sees every change on the board, which is easier to follow than the same actions written as code they may not know. Someone who has built automations before already knows what each function is for, so they pick the robots up faster.

Seeing it on a board doesn't make CRM automation simple, though, and the principles behind it still matter. A new robot runs for every deal at the stage unless you add a condition, so one wrong action can send thousands of emails to the wrong people, and that can mean thousands of dollars a business never receives. That is why we limited the Consultation email in this pipeline to a "test" list, and why we'd build a pipeline slowly, one stage at a time, testing each robot before switching on the next.

Where to find robots and how to add one

1. Open the CRM section and choose your pipeline.
2. Click Robots in the top panel, next to the pipeline filter and settings.
3. Each stage is a column. Click Add robot under the cards in the stage you need.
4. Choose an action. There is a search field at the top of the window.
5. Set the action's parameters in the panel on the right, and click Done.
6. Click Save in the top panel.

The last step matters: new robots, edits, deletions and reordering take effect only after you click Save. The number next to the button shows how many changes are still unsaved.

What a robot can do

The Add robot window has 26 actions in six groups: To the client (5), To employees (4), Deal (7), Tags and lists (6), Bot and scenarios (3) and Integrations (1).

The first group, actions for the client, has five:

• Send a message sends text, buttons and an attachment to the client's selected channels.
• Send an email sends the client an email from the project's email bot.
• Grant course access enrolls the client in a course plan by their email.
• Unsubscribe from mailings removes the client from the project's mailings.
• Cancel scheduled messages removes the client's scheduled messages across all their deals.

Our test pipeline also used Add a tag, Remove a tag, Notify an employee, Create a task and Close the deal, which marks the deal as won. The documentation adds moving a deal to another stage. If the action you want isn't there, Bot and scenarios, then Start scenario sends the client to any branch of your bot, where you can build whatever the robot lacks.

When a robot runs, in what order, and for whom

Besides its action, a robot has three settings that decide timing and audience. Its protection settings are covered further down.

Robots in a column run from top to bottom, and you can reorder them by dragging the cards. Without a condition, a robot runs for every deal at the stage. On the Robots page each card shows its run time ("Immediately", "In 1 hour") and its condition, such as "if client lists include test", and has its own on/off switch.

Four CRM automation examples we'd build first

1. Invoice, reminder, call

This is the example from the documentation. Put three robots on an "Invoice sent" stage:

1. Send a message with the invoice, immediately.
2. Send a message with a reminder, After previous, after 1 day.
3. Create a task for the manager to call the client, After previous, after 2 hours.

The client gets the invoice, then a reminder a day later, and two hours after that the manager gets a task. If the client pays earlier and the deal leaves the stage, the rest don't run, as long as the "Cancel if the deal leaves the stage" protection is on.

2. A reminder before the appointment

For consultations, use the "before" option. On a "Consultation booked" stage, add a Send a message robot and set it to run one hour before the date in a deal field, for example "Consultation date".

The documentation is specific about how this behaves:

• The field has to contain a date and time, such as 25.10.2026 14:00. A date without a time counts as midnight.
• The field must be shown on deal cards. You choose that in the pipeline settings under "Display variables on deal cards". If the list of fields is empty, add it there.
• If the field is empty or isn't a valid date, the robot doesn't run, and the log says "Canceled: the deal field does not contain a date".
• If the time has already passed, for example the client booked 30 minutes before the start, the robot runs immediately.
• The date is read when the deal enters the stage. If someone changes it afterwards, the scheduled time doesn't move.

3. Alert on a large deal

Add a Create a task robot to a "Negotiation" stage with the condition "Deal amount is greater than" your threshold. Small deals pass through without a task, and bigger ones reach a manager right away. If you want a particular person to handle them, a second condition on the assignee narrows it down.

4. A different message for each channel

Put two Send a message robots on the same stage, each with its own condition on the client's channel, for example one for your Telegram bot and one for WhatsApp. Each client gets text written for the place where they're talking to you.

What protects clients from bad timing

A new robot has these defaults:

• it's enabled and runs immediately when the deal enters the stage;
• it doesn't wait for other robots and runs without conditions;
• it's canceled if the deal leaves the stage;
• it doesn't message the client while an operator is talking to them.

The last two are the ones we'd keep on. A reminder that arrives after the client has already paid, or a robot message in the middle of an operator's conversation, is the kind of automation that makes people mute a bot.

Until a robot's required fields are filled in, its card is orange and says "Not configured, open to fix". You can save it, but it won't run, and after saving you'll see how many robots are in that state.

Limits to know about

• Robots can only be added to pipeline stages, not to "Unsorted", "Won", "Lost" or the archive.
• A robot's run time is calculated when the deal enters the stage (or when the previous robot finishes, for After previous). If you change "When to run" or "Queue" later, runs that are already scheduled keep the old timing.
• Other changes, such as the message text, conditions and whether the robot is enabled, apply even to runs that are already scheduled.
• After previous waits for the previous robot to finish, not to succeed. If the robot above fails or is skipped, the next one still runs.

Website leads and messenger clients

Robots work for clients from messengers and for requests from your website. A form submission from your site lands in the Leads tab of the site settings, and from there it can be passed into the CRM together with the client's information. Once the deal is on a pipeline stage, that stage's robots take over. If you haven't built a site yet, see how Smart site handles the visitor side.

Try it on your pipeline

If you already have a pipeline in Mavibot, start with one stage where deals tend to stall and add the invoice-and-reminder setup. It's a simple CRM automation that shows quickly whether the approach works for you. Start free if you don't have a project yet, or look at Mavibot's CRM. For the basics, see our guides to setting up a CRM in a minute and to what Mavibot's free CRM includes.

Frequently asked questions

What is workflow automation in a CRM?

Workflow automation in a CRM is a set of rules that runs routine steps on its own. A trigger, such as a deal entering a stage, starts it, optional conditions decide which deals qualify, and an action such as a message, a task or a stage change does the work.

How does workflow automation help a CRM?

It makes routine steps, such as reminders, follow-ups and task assignment, happen every time a deal reaches a stage, so they don't depend on someone remembering.

What are robots in Mavibot's CRM?

Robots are Mavibot's CRM workflow automation. A robot runs when a deal enters a pipeline stage and can send a message or email to the client, create a task for an employee, change a tag, move the deal to another stage or start a bot scenario.

When were CRM robots added to Mavibot?

Robots were added on October 7, 2026.

Where do I set up robots?

Open the CRM section, choose a pipeline and click Robots in the top panel. Each stage is a column, and Add robot adds an action to that stage. Click Save for the changes to take effect.

Can I delay a robot or run it at a specific time?

Yes. A robot can run immediately, after a number of minutes, hours or days, at a specific time of day, or a set time before a date stored in a deal field, such as one hour before a consultation.

Can I chain several robots on one stage?

Yes. Set a robot's queue to After previous and it starts counting its delay only after the robot above it finishes. Robots run in order from top to bottom.

Can a robot run only for some deals?

Yes. Add a condition on the deal amount, client tags or lists, the assignee, the client's channel or a deal field. Without a condition, a robot runs for every deal at the stage.

Will a robot message a client while an operator is talking to them?

Not by default. A new robot doesn't message the client while an operator is communicating with them, and it's canceled if the deal leaves the stage.

Can a robot close a deal automatically?

Yes. The Close the deal action can mark a deal as won, so a robot on a late pipeline stage can close it without anyone clicking.

Do robots work for leads from my website?

Yes. Website form submissions go to the Leads tab in the site settings and can be passed into the CRM along with the client's information, where the robots on the stage take over.