Workflows 101: How to Build, Modify, and Run at Scale

Imagine you're running a business and there are tons of repetitive tasks you and your team handle every day—researching clients, creating content, tracking sales performance, etc.

But worry not, as Workflows have the solutions for you. Workflows in Copy.ai are like your ultimate helper that takes these tasks off your plate and does them automatically.

Mastering Workflows can save your team hundreds (or even thousands) of hours by automating tedious, labor-intensive processes, such as:

• Account research
• Deal health
• Sales call insights
• Sales coaching
• SEO-content generation
• Thought leadership content

And much more. By leveraging AI workflow automation and machine learning technologies, these processes can be streamlined to improve operational efficiency. But as with any new technology, getting started can sometimes be the hardest part. That's why, in this guide, we'll cover everything you need to know in order to build, modify, and run your Workflows at scale. We'll also highlight the benefits of AI and its role in enhancing business processes.

Let’s start with the basics: what are Workflows?

1. What Is a Workflow?

Automating tasks has become increasingly popular with the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) and chat tools.

But Workflows takes things to the next level by allowing you to automate entire processes, rather than just one-off tasks.

Here's how you can leverage Workflows to streamline your team's operations:

1. Understand Workflows: Unlike traditional chat tools that automate single tasks like writing a LinkedIn post or drafting an email, Workflows automates complete processes. It can research your prospects, infer their job responsibilities, and then create personalized content to engage them effectively. This use of AI technologies ensures greater customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
2. Access Prebuilt Workflows: Copy.ai offers a library of prebuilt workflows that you can access and use right away. One example is the "Lead Contact Enrichment from LinkedIn Profile" workflow, which scrapes a prospect's LinkedIn profile, summarizes their work history, extracts education and location details, and recommends use cases based on your product knowledge.
3. Customize Workflows: While prebuilt workflows are handy, you can also create custom workflows from scratch. Workflows allows you to modify actions, change language models, and add context using an infobase to get richer output tailored to your needs.
4. Align Your Team: By automating processes, Workflows ensures that your entire team is aligned and working towards the same goals. You can send data to different departments via Slack or email, update CRMs, and eliminate silos to improve your go-to-market efforts.
5. Focus on Strategy: With Workflows handling the grunt work, you and your team can focus on higher-level strategies that drive growth and move the needle for your business.

2. Chat vs Workflows

Copy.ai offers two powerful features— Chat and Workflows—to streamline your content creation process. Here's how you can leverage them:

a. Using the Chat Feature

1. Open the Chat Tool: Navigate to the Chat tool in Copy.ai. You'll see the language model (GPT-4) being used displayed at the top.
2. Brainstorm Ideas: Use the chat as a brainstorming buddy. Type in a prompt like "Give me some good ideas for a blog post on go-to-market strategies."
3. Receive Instant Suggestions: The AI will instantly provide you with relevant ideas and suggestions that you can use as a starting point.
4. Ideal for One-Off Tasks: The Chat feature is best used for one-off tasks like writing a single blog post, crafting content for social media posts or a LinkedIn post, or getting ideas on a specific topic.

b. Using the Workflows Feature

1. Navigate to Workflows: Go to the Workflows section in Copy.ai. Here you can create automated processes for content creation.
2. Choose a Workflow: Select from pre-built workflow templates or create a custom one from scratch.
3. Input Relevant Information: Enter the necessary details (e.g., keyword, topic) that the workflow requires.
4. Automate Tasks: The workflow will then execute a series of tasks autonomously, such as:
   • Searching Google for the topic
   • Extracting top results and headings
   • Finding related keywords
   • Building a content brief and outline
   • Writing a long-form blog post
5. Customize Steps: You can customize each step of the workflow to suit your needs.

3. How to Build a Workflow from Scratch

You no longer need to be a coder or programmer to automate tasks and build powerful workflows. With the right no-code platform—like Copy.ai, you can create sophisticated workflows using simple natural language instructions, just like describing a task to an intern. Here's how it works:

Step 1: Access the Workflow Builder

• Log into Copy.ai and navigate to the workflow builder section.
• Click on "Add a Workflow" in the top right-hand corner.

Step 2: Describe Your Desired Workflow

• When prompted, describe the workflow you want to build in plain English.
• Be clear and specific, just like you would explain a task to someone.
• Example: "Given a [LinkedIn URL], tell me about this person's role and the most likely pain points they experience within that role."

Step 3: Let the Platform Build the Workflow

• After entering your instructions, let the no-code platform work its magic.
• It will automatically generate a multi-step workflow based on your description, usually within 60–90 seconds.

Step 4: Test the Workflow

• Once the workflow is built, test it by providing the required input (e.g., a LinkedIn URL).
• The platform will execute the workflow, scraping data, analyzing information, and generating the desired output.

Step 5: Review and Refine

• Check the workflow's output to ensure it meets your expectations.
• Modify individual actions within the workflow to improve accuracy and results if needed.

4. What are Actions?

Actions are the building blocks of workflows. They represent the individual steps that make up a workflow. Here's how to work with actions when building workflows:

1. Identify Existing Actions
   • Each step in your workflow is considered an action.
   • Examples: scraping LinkedIn data, extracting role information, inferring pain points.
2. Add New Actions
   • Click the "Plus" icon to add a new action.
   • Browse through categories like images, research, text, integrations, and more.
   • Alternatively, type in the action you want to add.
   • Example: To draft an email after extracting role information, simply type "draft an email."
3. Modify Actions
   • Click on an action to customize it.
   • Adjust the prompt, background information, and advanced settings for that specific action.
4. Remove Actions
   • If an action is no longer needed, delete it from the workflow.

5. How to Customize Your Workflow

As you build and polish workflows, you might find that the initial output doesn't give you exactly what you want right away. That's okay—it's part of the process of working with AI. Here's how you can modify and refine the individual actions within a workflow to get the desired output:

a. Modify the Prompt

• The prompt tells the AI what you want it to do in that specific action step.
• Click on the action you want to modify to access the prompt field.
• Use highlighted text to pull in context from previous steps.
• Add the "#" symbol to reference workflow inputs, actions, or infobase entries.

b. Update the Background

• The background tells the AI what kind of expert it is for that particular task.
• Provide details on the role it should take (e.g., content strategist) and its skills.
• Include examples or outline the desired structure for the output.

c. Adjust Advanced Settings

• Choose the language model to use (e.g., GPT-4, Claude).
• Set the temperature (creativity level) of the output.
• Specify a max/min character or word length.

d. Rinse and Repeat

• Go through each action, updating the prompt, background, and settings.
• Save your changes and publish the updated workflow.

6. How to Use Infobase in Your Workflows

Infobase is a powerful feature that allows you to add context and relevant information to your prompts. Here's how to use Infobase:

1. Access Infobase
   • In your home dashboard, click on "Infobase" in the left-hand menu.
2. Add a New Entry
   • Click "Add Info" to create a new Infobase entry.
3. Name the Entry
   • Give your entry a descriptive name related to the context (e.g., "GTM Bloat").
4. Add Content
   • Upload a relevant document or paste text directly into the entry.
5. Save the Entry
   • Click "Save" once you've added all the relevant content.
6. Use the Entry in a Workflow
   • When running a workflow, pull in your Infobase entry using the "#infobase" tag.
7. Add Examples (Optional)
   • Create Infobase entries with example content to train the AI on your desired brand voice and style.

7. How to Test Your Workflow (for 0 Credits)

Testing your workflows before publishing and running them at scale is essential to ensure you get high-quality outputs. Here's how you can quickly test your workflows:

1. Go to the Workflow Library
2. Navigate to the Build Section
3. Enter Test Data
4. Run Workflow Test
5. Review Test Results
6. Modify Workflow (Optional)
7. Re-Test as Needed

8. Run a Workflow and Scale with Tables

Running individual workflows is useful for testing, but to truly harness the power of Copy.ai Workflows, you'll want to run workflows at scale. Here's how you can do it:

1. Start with a Workflow: Select the workflow you want to run at scale (e.g., "Enrich a Person from a LinkedIn Profile").
2. Test the Workflow: Run it once in the Build view to ensure it's working as expected.
3. Move to the Table View: Switch to the Table view by clicking the "Table" button.
4. Import Your Data
5. Run the Workflow at Scale
6. Review the Results
7. Export or Integrate (Optional)

9. How to Integrate Workflows into Your Tech Stack

Copy.ai allows you to integrate your workflows with other tools and platforms, streamlining your processes. Here's how to set up workflow integrations:

1. Identify the Integration You Need
2. Set Up the Integration

10. How to Use Forms With Workflows

Forms allow you to share your workflows and gather valuable feedback and insights. Here's how to use them:

1. Build Your Workflow: Create the workflow you want to share in the "Build" tab.
2. Access Your Form: Go to the "Form" tab to create a form for your workflow.
3. Embed or Share the Form
4. Customize Form Settings
5. User Submissions
6. Leverage Form Data

Benefits of Using Copy.ai Workflows

Increased Efficiency‍

Routine tasks like data entry, prospect research, and drafting content can eat up valuable time. But with AI models like ChatGPT and tools powered by Natural Language Processing (NLP), you can automate these processes.

Enhanced Personalization‍

Customers expect personalized experiences, and generative AI is the key to delivering them.

Better Alignment Across Teams‍

Nothing slows down progress like miscommunication or outdated information. Automated workflows ensure that different functions within the GTM team—such as sales, marketing, and customer support—are consistently updated with the latest data and insights.

Scalability

Here's the beauty of AI workflows: they grow with you. As business needs grow, workflows can be scaled to handle increased loads or to integrate new processes without significant additional resource allocation.

Data-Driven Decision Making

AI-driven workflows excel at real-time data analysis. They don’t just collect data—they interpret it, offering actionable insights.

Cost Reduction‍

Automating tasks reduces the need for manual labor, leading to significant cost savings.

Faster Time to Market‍

In competitive industries, time is everything. By streamlining and automating many of the steps involved in launching products or campaigns, GTM teams can reduce the time it takes to go from concept to market.

Continuous Improvement‍

AI systems learn as they go. AI-driven workflows can learn from outcomes and continuously refine processes based on feedback and changing market conditions.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Automated workflows can provide quicker and more consistent responses to customer inquiries and issues.

Final Thoughts and Follow-up Resources

The adoption of AI-driven workflows presents a transformative opportunity for go-to-market teams. The benefits extend across multiple aspects of GTM strategies—from enhanced personalization and improved alignment between teams to more informed decision-making and faster market entry.

For more information, check out these helpful resources:

• What Is GTM AI?
• What Is GTM Bloat?