Smart Workflows is ClubRight's automation tool. It lets you set up sequences of messages that trigger automatically based on member activity, so your club stays in contact with members without you having to do it manually. Whether you're chasing a failed payment, welcoming a new member, or trying to win back someone who has lapsed, Smart Workflows handles the follow-up for you.
Why use Smart Workflows?
Save time on routine communications. Once a workflow is active, it runs automatically whenever the trigger condition is met. You do not need to take any action.
Reach members at the right moment. Workflows fire based on real events in ClubRight, such as a missed payment or a new sign-up, so your message is always timely and relevant.
Start quickly with ready-made templates. ClubRight provides a template library covering the most common use cases. You can be up and running in minutes.
Stay in control. You can pause any workflow at any time, and edit it once it's paused. You can also archive a workflow, but this stops it for everyone in it and can't be undone.
How to find Smart Workflows
Click the burger menu in the top left-hand corner.
Click Communication.
On the left-hand side under Navigate, click Smart Workflows. On a phone, first tap the round grey button with the sliders icon at the bottom right of the screen to open this menu.
This page shows all the workflows you have already set up, along with their current status.
How to set up a new workflow
From the Smart Workflows page, click New workflow in the top right.
The template library will open. Choose a template that matches your goal. Templates are grouped by use case:
Engagement, such as birthday greetings
Finance, including payment chasers
Onboarding, such as a welcome series or prospect nurture
Retention, such as winning back lapsed members
Select the template you want to use, or choose Blank workflow to build from scratch. You will see the workflow structure: the trigger at the top and the sequence of steps below it.
On the right-hand side of the editor, give your workflow a Name and an optional Description. This helps you identify it on the Smart Workflows page, especially if you have several workflows running at once.
To change the trigger, click on it at the top of the flow. A list of available triggers will appear. Select the one that fits your workflow.
To edit a message, hover over the step and click the pencil icon. In the Send Message panel you can set when the message sends (Immediately or After a delay), update the subject and message body, add personalisation, choose a channel, and set the consent type. The panel also has a Saved Replies picker, so you can drop in a pre-written template rather than writing the message from scratch. Messages always go to the member or prospect who triggered the workflow. You can't add a different recipient, such as a staff member or another email address.
To remove a step, hover over it and click the delete icon (bin) next to the pencil.
Adjust the timing between steps by hovering over a Wait step and clicking the pencil icon.
Check the Ready to go live? panel on the right-hand side. This shows three checks: trigger chosen, steps added, and every message has a channel. All three must show a green tick before you activate.
When you are ready, click Save to save the workflow as a draft, or Activate to make it live. Once activated, the workflow runs automatically in the background whenever the trigger condition is met.
Available triggers
Joining
Joins as prospect: when someone is added as a new prospect
Starts a membership: when a member begins a new membership plan
Leaving / At risk
Membership cancelled: when a membership is cancelled
Membership expires: when a membership reaches its end date. Use Trigger days before to start the workflow a set number of days before, for example 21 days before the membership expires.
Requests a freeze: when a member asks to freeze their membership
Requests cancellation: when a member asks to cancel their membership
Freeze actioned: when staff approves a membership freeze request
Cancellation actioned: when staff approves a membership cancellation request
Activity
Records a visit: when a member checks in at your club
Attends a class: when a member attends a class session
Makes a booking: when a member books a session or appointment
Becomes inactive: when a member hasn't visited for a set number of days
Payments
Payment overdue: when a scheduled payment is missed or late
DD mandate cancelled: when a Direct Debit mandate is cancelled
AI Predictions
AI: high churn risk: when the AI churn model first flags a member as high risk
AI: payment likely recoverable: when the AI payment-recovery model rates a failed payment as recoverable
AI: new joiner at risk: when the AI first-30-day model flags a new joiner as likely to leave
AI: payment may fail: when the AI payment-failure model thinks an upcoming collection will bounce
Other
Purchases a product: when a member buys a product from your shop. Use Filter by product to choose a specific product, so the workflow only runs when that product is bought. Leave it set to Any product to trigger on any shop purchase.
Member's birthday: on the member's birthday each year. Use Trigger days before to start the workflow a set number of days before, for example 7 days before the birthday.
Sales funnel changes: when a prospect moves to a different funnel stage. Use Moved to stage to choose a specific stage, or leave it set to Any stage.
⚠️ Note: If you can't see a trigger listed here in your account, click the chat button to talk to our Customer Success team.
Can a workflow message only members who haven't attended?
Not at the moment. A workflow can check a condition and carry on only for members who match it. It can't carry on for members who don't match. So you can message members who have attended enough classes, but a workflow can't message members who haven't.
To add a check, click Add step and choose Condition ("Only continue if member matches criteria"). You can check whether a member:
Has visited recently: visited in the last X days (7 by default)
Has active membership
Has specific membership
Attended enough classes: has attended at least X classes (1 by default)
Has overdue payment
Is still a prospect
Has active direct debit
On the workflow, the condition splits into Yes — continue and No — end workflow. Members who match carry on to the next step, and members who don't match leave the workflow. You can only add steps after Yes, and a condition can't be reversed to check for the opposite.
💡 Tip: To reach members who haven't been in, use the Becomes inactive trigger, which starts a workflow when a member hasn't visited for a set number of days. For a one-off message, send a group message and use More Filters > Last seen. To follow up members who booked a class and didn't turn up, use Missed Sessions in the diary. See Tracking class attendance.
Managing your workflows
All your workflows are listed on the main Smart Workflows page, with a status indicator showing whether each one is active or paused. Select a workflow from this page to pause, edit or archive it. To edit a live workflow, pause it first. Archiving stops the workflow for everyone in it and can't be undone. To see who has gone through a workflow and what happened at each step, open the workflow, click the ⋮ menu and choose Member activity. The same menu also has Apply to existing members, Archive and Delete.
Can I add members who already match the trigger?
Yes, depending on the trigger. You can include existing members when you activate a workflow, or add them later with Apply to existing members. Some triggers don't allow this, and the workflow then applies only to members who match from the day it goes live.
When you activate the workflow
For triggers such as Joins as prospect, clicking Activate asks "Who should this workflow apply to?" and tells you how many existing members already match the trigger. Choose:
New members only to apply it only to people who match from now on.
Also enrol the [number] existing members to add everyone who already matches as well.
After the workflow is live
Open the workflow and click the ⋮ menu.
Choose Apply to existing members.
A box asks "Enrol all [number] existing members?". Click Yes, enrol all [number] to go ahead, or Cancel.
If the workflow's trigger doesn't support this, Apply to existing members shows "Not available for this trigger", and the workflow applies to members from now on.
⚠️ Note: Enrolling existing members can't be undone. The confirmation box tells you how many real messages will go to how many real members, so check the number and your messages before you confirm.
What happens to members already in a workflow when I change it?
Members already in a workflow stay where they are when you pause, edit or reactivate it, and carry on from the step they're on. What happens next depends on the change you make:
Pausing and reactivating: pausing doesn't stop the clock on a Wait step. If a member's wait is still running when you reactivate, it simply carries on. If their wait ran out while the workflow was paused, they're held at that step. When you reactivate, their wait starts again in full, at the step's current length, from that day.
Changing a Wait step: you need to pause the workflow before you can edit it. Members already at that Wait step keep their original end date. Saving the change doesn't recalculate it for them.
Deleting a step: members at that step move on to the next remaining step. If there isn't one, they finish the workflow and nothing more is sent.
Triggers while paused: anything that would have started the workflow while it was paused is missed completely. It isn't caught up when you reactivate. For example, if you use Membership expires with Trigger days before, members whose trigger day fell during the pause won't go through the workflow, and Apply to existing members can't add them afterwards.
Removing one member: there's no way to take a single member out of a workflow on screen. The only option is Skip, at an Await approval step. Skipping ends their run as Exited rather than Completed. If Allow members to re-enter this workflow is switched off, they can never go through it again.
Archiving: this stops the workflow for everyone in it and can't be undone.
Memberships aren't affected: no workflow step, and no Skip, Archive or Delete, changes a member's membership plan, dates, status or payments. Workflow steps can change awards, notes, tasks, sales funnel stage and Mailchimp list.
⚠️ Note: If members were held at a step that sends a message while the workflow was paused, that step runs straight away when you reactivate it. If several members have built up during the pause, they'll all be sent the message at the same time.
Helpful tip: If you are new to Smart Workflows, the Payment Chaser template is a good place to start. It covers one of the most common and high-value use cases, and the setup is straightforward. Once you are familiar with how workflows are structured, the other templates will feel easy to configure.