Your first automation rule: when this happens, do that

What is an automation rule in stipt?

stipt is software for customer contact and work management: email and WhatsApp in a shared inbox, a record per customer or project, an agenda, tasks and quotes. An automation rule is a simple way to automate recurring work inside it. The pattern is always the same: when X happens, do Y. No code involved.

A rule has a few fixed parts. The subject decides what the rule is about: a record, an appointment, a quote, a form, an inbox conversation or a task. The trigger (When) is the moment the rule starts, such as a status change or a number of days after an appointment. Conditions are optional and decide whether the rule actually fires. Actions (Do this) are what stipt then does, such as sending an email or creating a task. Repeat sets how often a rule may fire on the same record. You find rules in Studio, the building area of stipt, in the What dot does group under Rules.

How do I create an automation rule in stipt?

In Studio, go to Rules and click New rule. The rule opens as a page, with the rule in one sentence at the top that updates as you build. Below it, the parts sit in tabs.

Under When you first pick what the rule is about: Record, Appointment, Quote, Form, Inbox conversation or Task, and then which kinds (empty means all). Then you pick the moment, for example Status changed, Quote accepted or Appointment no‑show. You only see the triggers that fit the subject. Under Do this you add one or more actions, such as Send email, Send WhatsApp, Create task, Notify a colleague, Set status, Update field or Add note. Several actions run one after another, from top to bottom.

Under Conditions you narrow the rule down, so it only fires when, say, the status has a certain value. Without conditions it fires on every matching event. Under Repeat you set how often it may fire on the same record: once, or at most once per 24 hours. With Try it you pick a recent record and see what the rule would do right now, without anything being sent. Save with Save (off) or Save and turn on.

How do I set up an automatic quote reminder?

A good first rule: a reminder to the customer when a quote sits unanswered. Pick Quote as the subject and the time trigger Days after quote status. Set how many days after the quote reached a chosen status, for example three working days after it was sent, and at what time. There is also a Days before quote expires trigger, useful when your quotes have an expiry date.

As the action, pick Send email and select an email template, so every reminder has the same content and tone. Prefer to follow up internally? Pick Create task instead, so a colleague calls rather than an email going out.

You can also start from the email template: the lightning icon on a template in Studio opens the same rule builder, with that template already filled in as the action. Older reminders that were set on a quote template are managed for you by stipt; they do not appear in the Rules list.

How do I follow up a no‑show automatically?

When an appointment does not go ahead, for example because the customer was not home, you set it in stipt to Did not happen. That is immediately a moment a rule can react to.

Create a rule with Appointment as the subject and the Appointment no‑show trigger. Optionally pick which appointment types it applies to. Add the actions that fit your process: an email to the customer asking them to pick a new time, a task for a colleague to call them back, and optionally Set status so the record stays visible in your work queue.

Good to know: on appointment triggers the repeat limit counts per appointment instead of per record. If the same record has several appointments, each missed one gets its own follow‑up. That way a missed appointment never drops out of sight.

How do I send new customers a welcome email automatically?

Pick Record as the subject and New CRM record as the moment. That trigger fires as soon as there is a new record, including one that comes in through an import or the API, or when a colleague adds a customer. Optionally pick which kinds of record take part, so that only new requests get a welcome email, for example.

As the action, pick Send email with a welcome template. Use it to tell the customer what to expect: who their contact person is, what the next step is and how to reach you. Want the team to know too? Add a second action, such as Notify a colleague or Create task for an introduction call.

Set Repeat to once. That way the same record never gets two welcome emails. A rule that emails already goes once per record by default, as long as you do not change the repeat setting yourself.

How do time triggers work with business days?

Some rules fire not on an event but on time: before or after an appointment, a number of days after a quote status, or when a status stays unchanged for too long. On such a time trigger you set the number of days, the time of day the rule fires, and the day counting.

For day counting there are two options. Calendar days counts every day, weekends included. Working days counts only the days your company is open, according to the opening hours you set in Settings > Customer contact. On the Repeat tab you can also skip weekends, so a reminder never goes out on a Saturday or Sunday.

An example: a reminder three working days after sending a quote. Send the quote on Thursday and the reminder lands on Tuesday instead of Sunday.

How do I see why a rule did or did not fire?

In Studio, in the Logs group, you find Rule runs: every time a rule was evaluated, with the outcome. For each run stipt explains in plain language why something did not match or was skipped. So you never have to guess.

The outcomes: Executed means the rule fired and its actions ran. No match means the trigger went off, but the conditions did not match at that moment. Rate limited means the rule already fired on the same record within its repeat setting. Failed means an action hit an error. Loop halted means stipt stepped in because rules kept triggering each other. There are also Skipped and Cancelled.

Want to know beforehand what a rule will do? Use the Try it tab in the rule: pick a recent record and stipt tells you what the rule would do right now, with the real data, without sending or changing anything. The rules list also shows per rule how often it ran, for example 23x in 7 days.

Can I build rules by simply asking dot?

Yes. dot is the built‑in AI assistant in stipt. In the chat in Studio you describe what you want in plain language, for example: send customers a reminder when their quote is still open after three working days.

dot proposes the rule on a card in the chat, with choice cards when something is still missing. The card shows the whole rule: what it is about, when it fires, the conditions and the actions.

dot never creates or switches on anything by itself. Only when you confirm on the card does the rule exist. You stay in control and see exactly how the rule is put together. This works for admins and team members with Studio access.