Marketing workflow mapping
Map client marketing workflows visually
Document workflows on a visual canvas with trigger and action references, if/else branches, A/B paths and clear Draft, Live and Paused review states. Try the demo below, or start your own workspace.
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- Plans from $99/month
- Built for multi-client agencies
- Your brand across the console
Workflow mapping
A visual marketing workflow mapping tool for agencies
A marketing workflow that lives in a spreadsheet or a teammate's head is hard to review and easy to misunderstand. Strategy Maps in AI Marketing Dashboard gives your agency a visual canvas for documenting the intended flow: place a trigger, add the actions that should follow, show decision points with branches, and connect the steps with visible arrows. The result is one picture the team can review together on screen before work moves into the tools that execute it.
Draw the flow
From a trigger to a map anyone can read
Fifteen step types, placed on a canvas and joined with arrows, describe what should happen and in what order.
Start with a trigger
A new lead, a form submission, a tag added or a schedule marks where the flow is meant to begin.Add the actions
Email, SMS, task, CRM update, team notice or webhook, placed in the order they should happen.Branch with logic
If / else, wait, filter, A/B split and goal steps show the decisions and delays. An if / else has Yes and No ports; an A/B split has A and B.Note each step, then set a status
Select a step to name it and write down its settings in the Inspector, then mark the map Draft, Live or Paused.
What a map is
A picture of the plan, not a running automation
A map records the flow you intend to build in the tools that carry it out. It makes the intent reviewable before the work starts.
The flow in a spreadsheet
- Steps listed as rows, the order left to guess
- Branches explained in a message thread
- A review that begins with what happens if
- Each client's flow kept in a different file
Easy to write, hard to review.
The flow on a canvas
- Every step placed and wired with a visible arrow
- Branches labeled Yes and No, or A and B
- A status on each map: Draft, Live or Paused
- Each map filed under its client, with an all-clients view
A map documents the flow. Marking it Live does not deploy or run anything.
Draw the next client's flow on one canvas
Place the trigger, wire the steps and mark the map's status. The map records the plan; your tools run it.
Plans start at $99/month.
On this page
A visual flow canvas you build by dragging and wiring
Document a workflow as a map, not a form
Every map opens on an infinite canvas where each step is a node you can grab and position exactly where it belongs. Drag from a node's output port and a connector follows your cursor as a rubber-band line, snapping into the next step with a clear arrowhead — so the order and the dependencies of a workflow are something you see at a glance rather than something you have to infer from a list of rules.
Because it is a visual canvas, you can pan across a large flow and use zoom, reset and fit-to-screen controls, so a detailed workflow stays legible whether you are reviewing the high-level shape or one precise handoff. Arrange the layout to match how your team discusses the work: left to right, top to bottom or branch by branch.
Trigger references that show where a flow begins
Document the event that starts the intended workflow
Each map can begin with a trigger reference for the event your team expects to start the workflow, such as a new lead, a form submission, a tag change or a schedule. The trigger node sits at the head of the map with no input port, making the intended starting point clear to reviewers.
Choosing a trigger reference makes the workflow's scope explicit. It lets the team document whether a plan begins with intake, a specific form, a contact-state change or a scheduled cadence, without implying that the map itself listens for or processes that event.
Action references that describe the intended follow-up
Lay out the steps your team or connected tools should handle
Action nodes document what should follow the trigger. Arrange references for an email, SMS, task, CRM update, team notification or webhook in the intended order, then rename each node so the sequence reads like a clear visual checklist.
Together, these references describe the planned spine of a campaign workflow. They give account, delivery and technical teams one shared picture of what is supposed to happen and in what order, while execution remains with the people and systems responsible for each step.
Logic and branching that shape how a flow moves
Fork, wait and filter the path with logic steps
Real workflows are not always a straight line, so the map includes logic references for if/else decisions, waits, filters, A/B splits and goals. These nodes let the diagram show the conditions, delays and intended outcomes that shape each path.
Branch nodes make each fork visible: an if/else node has labeled Yes and No output ports, while an A/B split has A and B ports with distinct colored connectors. Reviewers can follow each proposed branch without treating the diagram as an active routing or experimentation engine.
Per-client workflow maps, organized in their own workspace
Keep each account's process documentation in its own lane
Strategy Maps are scoped to a client, matching the way the rest of the workspace is organized. Pick a client and the list narrows to that account's maps, while an all-clients view adds a client badge to each map for a broader view of the agency's workflow documentation.
From the list you can create a map under the active client, duplicate an existing structure, rename it and search by name. Draft, live and paused filters help the team find maps by review status while each account's documentation stays organized and separate.
Inspect each step, then mark the map's review status
Document a node in the Inspector and set the map's status
Select any node and the Inspector panel opens with that step's documentation, where you can rename it and capture the configuration the eventual workflow should use. With nothing selected, the same panel becomes the reference-node library, keeping mapping and editing in one consistent surface.
When the map is ready for review, its status can move among Draft, Live and Paused so the list reflects the team's current decision. A Live label marks an approved workflow map; it does not deploy or execute the underlying automation.
What a strategy map is, and what it is not
A strategy map is a drawing of a workflow you intend to build: where a contact enters, what happens next and where the path forks. It is the plan for an automation, not the automation.
Agencies lose time to workflows that live in someone's head or in a spreadsheet nobody can read. A map puts the intended flow on a canvas where each step is a node and each connection is an arrow, so a strategist, an account manager and a developer can argue about one picture before anything is built.
A map documents a flow. It does not carry one out. Nothing on the canvas sends an email, texts a lead, creates a task, changes the CRM or calls a web address, and marking a map Live switches nothing on. The work happens in the tools that own each step, which the later sections point to.
Note
Where a map is saved
A map is saved only in the browser of the person who edits it, under their sign-in and workspace. Signing out, switching workspace, a change to your access or clearing site data can remove it, and a teammate on another device never sees it. Treat the canvas as a working surface, and put anything the team must rely on in a Projects task, a plan or a CRM note.
The 15 step types and what to write into each
The canvas offers 15 step types in three groups: 4 triggers, 6 actions and 5 logic steps.
| Group | Steps | What to write down |
|---|---|---|
| Triggers | Form submitted, New lead, Schedule and Tag added | The event that starts the flow: which source, form or tag, or how often a schedule repeats |
| Actions | Create task, Notify team, Send email, Send SMS, Update CRM and Webhook | The template and subject, the message, the task title and owner, the field to change, the channel and note, or the web address and method |
| Logic | A/B split, Filter, Goal, If / else and Wait | The condition, the length of the wait, the filter rule, the split ratio or the goal event |
A branch step draws two outputs: If / else offers Yes and No, while A/B split offers A and B. A Goal has no outputs, because it ends a path. A step takes one incoming arrow and an output holds one connection, so paths split but never merge: end each branch at its own step. A new map starts as a Draft with a single New lead trigger on the canvas.
The Inspector holds the details of whichever step is selected, and it is where a map earns its keep. A step that says only Send email documents nothing, while one that names the template, the subject and the delay can be built without a meeting. Rename a step so its title carries the intent, for example the reason a contact is being filtered out.
Four maps worth drawing first for a client
Each map below is a drawing. A later section says where its steps are built.
A lead nurture map
Start with a New lead trigger, add a Filter for contacts with an email, then the welcome email, a Wait and an If / else on whether the email was opened. Send the opened path to a Create task step so a person follows up, give the other path a second email, and end each path at its own Goal, such as Booked a call.
A webinar follow-up map
Begin with a Tag added trigger for the registrants' tag, wait until the day after the event, then use an A/B split to compare two follow-up emails. Give each branch its own Update CRM step that moves the lead's stage, and end each path at a Goal.
A client onboarding map
Use a Form submitted trigger for the intake form, then a Create task step for account setup, a Notify team step for the kickoff and a Send email step for the welcome pack. Add a Wait and a check-in task. The onboarding checklist holds the items themselves; the map shows their order and owners.
A re-engagement map
Use a Schedule trigger, for example every month, then a Filter step renamed to say who counts as inactive, since the filter offers a short list of rules. Send an email, wait, and branch on Replied: replies go to a task, and the rest get a tag change through Update CRM.
Reviewing a map with a teammate or a client
Read it left to right
Check that every path starts at a trigger and ends at a goal or a deliberate stop. A step other than a trigger with nothing leading into it is a mistake in the draft, not a design choice.
Run the flow check
On tablet and desktop screens, the Test button checks the map's structure. It looks for a missing trigger, a step that nothing leads into and a required field left empty, reports the first problem and selects the step. It checks the drawing and sends nothing.
Question every wait and every branch
Ask what happens to a contact who never opens, never replies or fits no branch. A good map has an answer for each.
Write the settings into the Inspector
Fill in the template, subject, owner and delay, so whoever builds the flow does not have to ask.
Set the status
Mark the map Draft while it is being discussed, Live once the team agrees it is the intended flow and Paused to park it. Publish sets Live. The status is a label for the team and starts or stops nothing.
Tip
Hand it over on screen
Because a map lives in the editor's own browser, walk the reviewer through it on screen, then copy the agreed settings into the task, plan or note that will build them. That record is the one the whole team can open.
Turning an agreed map into real work
Each kind of step has a home in the workspace where the work is actually done.
| Map step | Where it is built | What to carry over |
|---|---|---|
| Form submitted | The form builder in the Library | Which form, and the lead it files into the CRM |
| New lead, Tag added, Update CRM | The CRM | Pipeline, stage and tag names |
| Send email | The email planner, as a one-off send or a drip of up to 9 follow-ups | Templates, subject lines and delays |
| Send SMS | The SMS planner, which hands the send to your own SMS tool | The wording and the audience |
| Create task, Notify team | Projects tasks and team chat | Titles and owners |
| Webhook | Wherever your developer builds the receiving end | The web address and method the map records |
| Schedule, Wait, If / else, Filter, A/B split, Goal | The tool that carries the flow out | Each decision, delay and goal, written down |
Email sequences are the clearest fit. A drip in the email campaign planner takes a first send and its follow-ups through approval and Launch, which sends them where email sending is connected, and the email builder makes the templates. Text steps go through the SMS campaign planner, tasks into Projects, lead updates into the CRM and form entry points into the form builder.
Strategy maps beside spreadsheets, whiteboards and automation platforms
| Tool | Does well | Where it stops for agency work | Strategy Maps |
|---|---|---|---|
| A spreadsheet | Listing steps and owners | The order and the branches are hard to see | Draws the order and the branches |
| A general whiteboard or diagram tool | Free-form sketching | Nothing ties the drawing to a client, and the shapes carry no marketing meaning | Filed under a client, with marketing step types and an Inspector |
| A marketing automation platform | Carrying a workflow out | It is where the build happens, so it is a heavy place to debate a plan | Documents the plan and does not carry anything out |
Plan
Plan availability
No plan gate applies to Strategy Maps: a Studio workspace, at $99 a month, has the same canvas as the larger plans. Each map belongs to one client, and an all-clients view lists every client's maps with a badge.
Frequently asked questions
What is a strategy map?
A strategy map is a visual drawing of a marketing workflow: a trigger, the actions that follow, the decisions and delays between them, and the goal. In AI Marketing Dashboard it documents the intended flow so a team can review it before anything is built. It is a planning surface, not an automation engine.
Does a strategy map automate anything?
No. A map records the intended flow. Nothing on the canvas sends a message, creates a task or updates the CRM, and marking a map Live only changes its label. Build the steps in the tools that carry them out, such as the email planner, Projects and the CRM.
Where are strategy maps saved?
Only in the browser of the person who edits them, under their sign-in and workspace. There is no shared copy: a teammate on another device never sees your maps, and signing out, switching workspace, a change to your access or clearing site data can remove them. Review a map on screen with the team, then record the agreed settings in a task, plan or CRM note.
How many step types does the canvas offer?
There are 15. Form submitted, New lead, Schedule and Tag added are triggers; Create task, Notify team, Send email, Send SMS, Update CRM and Webhook are actions; A/B split, Filter, Goal, If / else and Wait are logic steps. A new map starts with a New lead trigger and the status Draft, and the two branching steps each draw a pair of labeled outputs.
What do Draft, Live and Paused mean on a strategy map?
They are review labels. Draft marks a map still being discussed, Live marks the flow the team agreed is the intended one, and Paused parks it. A new map starts as a Draft and the Publish button sets Live. None of the labels starts, stops or deploys anything.
Why does the Strategy Maps list say Active now and Steps automated?
Those tiles count what is drawn, not what is running. Active now is the number of maps marked Live, Steps automated is the number of steps placed on the canvas, and the runs column stays a dash for maps made in the app. Nothing behind a map carries out its steps, so read the tiles as a tally of labels and steps.
Can I keep a separate strategy map for each client?
Yes. Each map belongs to one client, and picking a client narrows the list to that account's maps. An all-clients view lists every map with a client badge. You can create, duplicate, rename, search and filter by status. Duplicate copies a map within the same client, which suits variations; to reuse a structure for another client, start a new map under that client and rebuild the steps.
Which plans include Strategy Maps?
All of them. Strategy Maps has no plan gate, so the canvas is the same on Studio and on the larger plans. The planners a map points at do differ by plan: Email and SMS planning is open to everyone, while the Paid and Social planners need the Agency plan, at $299 a month.