---
title: Adding marketing actions to automation processes
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

> **Info:** **Enterprise license required**
>
> Features described on this page require the **Kentico Xperience Enterprise** license.

[Automation processes](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation.md) can perform various types of marketing actions. By integrating actions into processes, you can automate tasks that users would otherwise need to do manually. For example, you can have a process send an email to contacts that meet a certain [condition](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/defining-automatic-decisions-in-processes.md) or move contacts between different accounts.

You can add actions into the flow of processes via **action steps**. When a contact reaches an action step in a process, the system automatically performs the given action.

The following action steps are available:

| Action step              | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Change account           | Adds or removes the contact from an [account](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/organizing-contacts-into-accounts.md).                                                                                                                                                                      |
| Change group             | Adds or removes the contacts from a [contact group](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/segmenting-contacts-into-contact-groups.md).                                                                                                                                                                                |
| Delete contact           | Deletes the contact currently going through the automation process.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| Import to Salesforce     | Replicates the contact into a lead in a target Salesforce organization.<br>You need to have [Salesforce replication](https://docs.kentico.com/13/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration.md) set up to use this action.                                                                                                                                                               |
| Log custom activity      | Logs a [custom activity](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-and-customizing-your-on-line-marketing-features/configuring-activities/adding-custom-activity-types.md) for the contact.                                                                                                                                                                               |
| Newsletter subscription  | Subscribes or unsubscribes the contact from a [newsletter](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md).                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Send marketing email     | Sends a [marketing email](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md) (i.e., part of a newsletter or email campaign) to the contact.<br>**Note**: When performing this action step, the process automatically adds the contact as a recipient.                                                                             |
| Send transactional email | Sends an email (for example subscription confirmation) to any address. The email content can be based on an [email template](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-email-templates.md) or defined directly within the step properties.                                                                                                                                        |
| Set contact property     | Inserts a new value into one of the contact's properties (fields).<br>Culture-dependent data used in the 'Property' value of this action need to be entered in the 'en-US' culture format. For example, the MDY format should be used for dates (12.21.1989).                                                                                                                                      |
| Set contact status       | Changes the contact's [status](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/assigning-statuses-to-contacts.md).                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| Start another process    | Triggers a different marketing automation process for the contact.<br>Based on the [recurrence settings](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-marketing-automation-processes.md) of the target process, this action can result in multiple unnecessary instances of the process running concurrently. |

## Managing contact accounts

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Change account** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Specify the step's properties:

   - **Account name** – select an account for the action to manage.
   - **Contact role** – you can have the process assign a specific role within the account to the contact.
   - **Action** – you can either add the contact to the specified account or remove it from the account.
5. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Organizing contacts into accounts](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/organizing-contacts-into-accounts.md)

## Managing contact groups

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Change group** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Specify the step's properties:

   - **Contact group** – select a contact group for the action to manage.
   - **Action** – you can either add the contact to the specified group or remove it.
5. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Segmenting contacts into contact groups](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/segmenting-contacts-into-contact-groups.md)

## Setting contact properties

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Set contact property** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Select which contact property the action changes (**Property name**).
5. Type the new **Property value**.
6. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Working with contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts.md)

## Setting contact statuses

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Set contact status** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Select the **Status** that the action assigns to contacts.
5. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Assigning statuses to contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/assigning-statuses-to-contacts.md)

## Deleting contacts

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Delete contact** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.

**See also**: [Working with contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts.md)

## Replicating contacts to Salesforce

**Requirement**: You need to have [Salesforce replication](https://docs.kentico.com/13/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration.md) set up to use this action.

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Import to Salesforce** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Specify the step's property:

   - **Deferred replication** – if selected, the action step delays the replication of the contact until the system executes the [scheduled replication process](https://docs.kentico.com/13/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration/replicating-contacts-to-salesforce.md). Otherwise the action replicates the contact immediately when the step is reached within the process. Using deferred replication helps reduce the number of Salseforce API calls made by your application.
5. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Salesforce integration](https://docs.kentico.com/13/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration.md)

## Logging custom activities

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Log custom activity** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Specify the step's properties:

   - **Activity type** – select one of your custom activity types.
   - **Activity site** – select the site for which you want to log the activity.
   - **Activity title** – add basic information about the event that the activity represents.
   - **Activity value** – you can assign a value to the activity. You can associate values with activities such as e-commerce purchases.
   - **Activity URL** – enter the URL of the page where the activity occurred.
   - **Campaign** – you can select a marketing [campaign](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/campaigns.md) associated with the activity.
   - **UTM source**
   - **Comment** – here you can add any additional information related to the activity.
5. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Tracking contact activities](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/tracking-contact-activities.md), [Adding custom activity types](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-and-customizing-your-on-line-marketing-features/configuring-activities/adding-custom-activity-types.md)

## Managing newsletter subscriptions

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Newsletter subscription** action step onto the process designer grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Select a **Site** and a specific **Newsletter**.
5. Select the **Action** – you can either subscribe the contact to the newsletter or unsubscribe from the newsletter.
6. Select the **Inherit double opt-in setting** check box if you want the _Enable double opt-in_ setting to be inherited from the selected newsletter (the system sends newsletter subscription activation emails for newsletters with enabled double opt-in). If you clear the check box, the double opt-in setting from the newsletter is ignored and double opt-in is always disabled.
7. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Email marketing](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md)

## Sending transactional emails

**Requirement**: You must have at least one [SMTP server](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/configuring-smtp-servers.md) configured for your websites.

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Send transactional email** action step onto the grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Enter the sender's address into the **From** field.
5. Specify the recipients of the email in the **To** field.
   - You can enter multiple addresses separated by semicolons.
   - Use macro expressions to load the address dynamically. For example, _{% Contact.ContactEmail %}_ gets the address of the current contact in the process.
6. Choose the content type of the email:

   - **Email template** – the content of the email is based on the selected [Email template](https://docs.kentico.com/13/configuring-xperience/managing-email-templates.md).
   - **HTML formatted text** – manually write the _Subject_ and _Body_ of the email.
7. Click **Apply**.

## Sending marketing emails

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Send marketing email** action step onto the grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Select a **Site** and **Email feed** from which you want to send the email.
5. Choose the specific **Email** that you want the action to send.

   > **Note:** **Note**: You can only choose marketing emails that have the **Use in Marketing automation** flag enabled in their properties. You can enable this flag for existing emails in the _Email marketing_ application.

   - You can adjust the content of the selected email by clicking **Edit**, or create a new email under the selected feed by clicking **New**.
6. Click **Apply**.

**See also**: [Email marketing](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md)

> **Info:** **Email statistics**
>
> Once the automation process has been started for at least one contact, the _Send marketing email_ step can display the overall statistics for the related email (number of sent emails, open and link click rate). Click the information icon in the bottom-right corner of the step in the process designer.

## Starting other automation processes

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/managing-automation-process-steps.md) the **Start another process** action step onto the grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/marketing-automation/working-with-the-automation-process-designer/connecting-automation-process-steps.md) a preceding and following step.
3. Edit the step by clicking it in the designer grid.
4. Select the automation **Process** that you want to start for the contact.
   - You cannot start a new instance of the same process that you are designing (to avoid the possibility of a process loop).
5. Click **Apply**.

## Adding custom actions

The system allows developers to create custom action steps for use in automation processes. Developing actions step requires knowledge of programming and the Xperience API.

See [Developing custom marketing automation actions](https://docs.kentico.com/13/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-and-customizing-your-on-line-marketing-features/configuring-marketing-automation/developing-custom-marketing-automation-actions.md) for more information.