Automatic Contract Flows
After a contract is sent there is always something to do: remind the client to sign, alert the closer, and after signature the onboarding. With automatic flows you write it once on the contract template, step by step, and SalesControl runs it on its own for every contract sent.
Flows are available on the Professional plan and above. They are edited by admins and by members with the “Can edit contract templates” permission; whoever can send contracts can pause and resume the flow of a contract.
Where to set it up
Each contract template (once saved) has its own flow. In Contracts › Templates open a template: the Automations section shows status, steps and contracts in progress, and Open the flow (or Create the flow) leads to the template’s Automations page, with three columns:
- Contract sent: starts when the contract is sent (the follow-ups).
- Signed: starts after signature, once the signed-contract email has gone out (the onboarding).
- Link expired: starts if the signing link expires without a signature.
An empty column means the flow ends once it gets there. Changes apply only after Save; the Active switch turns on once there is at least one step. On the same page, the On every event section shows and edits the template’s GHL tags on events, which apply even without a flow.
The steps
With Add a step (or the + between two steps) you choose the type:
| Step | What it does |
|---|---|
| Wait | A pause before the next step, in minutes, hours or days (from 1 minute to 60 days). |
| If… | A branch on a condition (below), with two paths, Yes and No, each continuing on its own. |
| Send email | An email to the signer, with the subject and text you write and the column’s variables. |
| GHL tag | Adds or removes a tag on the GoHighLevel contact. |
| Alert the team | A notification (push and bell) to the contract’s closer, setter or the admins. |
| Webhook | Notifies an external system with one of the template’s webhooks. |
| Renew the link | Only in Link expired: a new signing link, sent to the client in the same thread. |
After a branch you cannot add steps to the same column: what both paths need goes before it or is repeated. Limits: 40 steps in the whole flow, 10 emails per column, 4 branches inside one another.
Branch conditions
- Opened the contract / Read the contract (by the template’s reading threshold).
- Opened at least N times (1–50, the team’s opens with a copied link count too) and Read for at least N minutes (1–240, adding up all opens).
- Replied to an email: to an email about this contract, after the flow started. Replies are only visible with Communications turned on.
- First installment collected: only in the Signed and Link expired columns. It is the installment of the contract’s current cycle, even after a renewal.
- Payment type (all upfront or monthly installments), Contract value at least… (the amount as it is, without currency conversion) and Contract service (the one chosen when sending).
Emails
- In the same thread as the contract (on by default): the email replies to the latest contract email, with the subject “Re: …”, in the same conversation. When off, you write the subject.
- Variables per column. In all of them:
{{customer_name}},{{customer_full_name}},{{customer_last_name}},{{service_name}},{{agency_name}},{{closer_name}}. In Contract sent (and in Renew the link) also{{signing_link}}and{{link_expiry_date}}; in Signed{{chat_link}}. A variable outside its column cannot be saved. - The signing link is always the valid one, even after Send again; in Contract sent, if the text does not mention it, it is added at the end.
- Preview shows the email with sample data (client Mario Rossi, your agency, you as the closer). The sender is the one of the contract email.
Webhook and link renewal
- Webhook: sends one of the template’s webhooks with When it fires: Flow step, created in the Webhooks (signature and flows) section of the template editor (Outbound webhooks). If the external system does not respond, it is retried later; a webhook that is off makes the step skip.
- Renew the link: a new link valid for N days (by default the template’s validity), sent in an email in the same thread (added at the end if the text does not mention it). Then the flow waits for the signature or a new expiry; if the link expires again, the steps already done are not repeated.
The “Signed” column
The first step is fixed: Signed-contract email, sent right away with the signed PDF; its text is changed in the template (The Post-Signature Page and Email). The onboarding emails reply to it, in the same thread.
When it starts and when it stops
- It starts for every contract from the template sent after it was turned on, Renewals included. Contracts sent before do not enter.
- On signature the steps of Contract sent not done yet stop at once and Signed starts, from wherever the flow was.
- Contract cancelled: the flow stops.
- A more recent contract to the same person, for any service: the old one’s follow-ups stop.
- Contract abandoned: the flow is paused; Restore resumes it from where it was.
- After signature it continues to the end of the column, but stops if the client is finished, inactive, renewed or paused.
- Flow turned off: contracts in progress are paused and resume when you turn it back on.
Changes with contracts in progress. They apply from the next step (if the step being waited on was deleted, the contract continues from the next remaining one); a wait already started is not recalculated.
Flow settings
- Emails and alerts only during business hours (on by default, Monday–Friday 09:00–18:00): outside the window emails and alerts wait for the next one; waits, tags and branches do not. The time zone is the contact’s market’s, otherwise the agency’s.
- Stop emails if the contact replies: if the contact replies to an email about this contract, the automatic emails of the current column stop and the closer gets an alert; tags and alerts continue, and on signature onboarding restarts. It needs Communications turned on.
Each agency sends at most 300 automatic emails per day. Beyond the limit, emails move to the next day, during business hours, and the admins get an alert.
Following a contract
- Lead or client record: in the Contracts card each contract shows the flow status and next step, with Pause and Resume; on resume, a step already due runs at the next round, during business hours.
- “Automations” log: from the link next to the contract you see every step done, with its outcome (Done, In progress, Skipped, Failed) and reason.
- Flow page: each step shows how many contracts are sitting there (“3 contracts here”).
- Contracts page: the flow status sits under the contract status.
- Timeline of the lead or client: Automatic contract email sent and Contract automations stopped, with the reason.
Examples and copies
Start from an example offers two ready-made flows you can edit:
- 3-step follow-up (Contract sent): after one day, if the client has opened the contract it alerts the closer; otherwise it emails them in the same thread and, two days later, adds the tag
contratto-non-aperto. - Basic onboarding (Signed): a welcome email in the same thread and, the next day, an alert to the admins if the first installment has not been collected.
The example replaces the steps in the column it fills; the others stay as they are. Copy from another template puts the steps and settings of another template into the editor. Either way nothing changes until you press Save. Duplicate in the template list copies the flow too, but off: check the texts and turn it on.