---
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:** **Kentico EMS required**
>
> Features described on this page require the **Kentico EMS** license.

[Automation processes](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 contact account   | Adds or removes the contact from an [account](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/organizing-contacts-into-accounts.md).                                                                                                                                                                      |
| Change contact group     | Adds or removes the contacts from a [contact group](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration.md) set up for your websites to use this action.                                                                                                                                             |
| Log custom activity      | Logs a [custom activity](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md).                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Send transactional email | Sends a transactional email (for example subscription confirmation) to any address.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| Send marketing email     | Sends a [marketing email](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md) (i.e., newsletter or email campaign) to the contact.<br>**Note**: When performing this action step, the process automatically adds the contact as a recipient.                                                                                       |
| 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/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts/assigning-statuses-to-contacts.md).                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| Start process            | Triggers a different marketing automation process for the contact.<br>Based on the [recurrence settings](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Specify the step's parameters:

   - **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 **Save**.

**See also**: [Organizing contacts into accounts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Specify the step's parameters:

   - **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 **Save**.

**See also**: [Segmenting contacts into contact groups](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Select which contact property the action changes (**Property name**).
5. Type the new **Property value**.
6. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Working with contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Select the new **Contact status** that the action assigns to contacts.
5. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Assigning statuses to contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Working with contacts](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/working-with-contacts.md)

## Replicating contacts to Salesforce

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Specify the step's parameter:

   - **Deferred replication** – if checked, the action step delays the replication of the contact until the system executes the [scheduled replication process](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration/replicating-contacts-to-salesforce.md). When disabled, the action replicates the contact immediately. Using deferred replication helps reduce the number of Salseforce API calls made by your application.
5. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Salesforce integration](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/integrating-3rd-party-systems/salesforce-integration.md)

## Logging custom activities

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Specify the step's parameters:

   - **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 ratings or 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/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/campaigns.md) associated with the activity.
   - **Comment** – here you can add any additional information related to the activity.
5. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Tracking contact activities](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/contact-management/tracking-contact-activities.md), [Adding custom activity types](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon () next to its name.
4. Select a **Site** and a specific **Newsletter**.
5. Select the **Action** – you can either subscribe the contact to the newsletter or unsubscribe the contact 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 **Save**.

**See also**: [Email marketing](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md)

## Sending transactional emails

> **Note:** **Prerequisites**: You must have at least one [SMTP server](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/configuring-kentico/configuring-smtp-servers.md) configured for your websites.

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
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/k12sp/configuring-kentico/managing-email-templates.md).
   - **HTML formatted text** – manually write the _Subject_ and _Body_ of the email.
7. Click **Save**.

## Sending marketing email

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
4. Select a **Site** and an **Email** that the action step sends.
   - You need to choose both the email feed and specific email.
5. Click **Save**.

**See also**: [Email marketing](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/managing-your-on-line-marketing-features/email-marketing.md)

## Starting automation processes

1. [Place](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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 process** action step onto the grid.
2. Integrate the step into the flow of the process by [connecting](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/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 the pencil icon next to its name.
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 process loops).
5. Click **Save**.

## Adding custom actions

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

See [Developing custom marketing automation actions](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sp/on-line-marketing-features/configuring-and-customizing-your-on-line-marketing-features/configuring-marketing-automation/developing-custom-marketing-automation-actions.md) for more information.