AI Branch Automation Step
Table of Contents
Overview
A Switch step routes contacts through different branches of an automation based on conditions. Each branch is defined by a case, and a case can carry an AI prompt as its condition. When the automation runs, the AI reads the contact's enriched profile and the automation's data board context, then routes the contact to the matching branch.
Note: This step requires the AI content generation feature to be active for your account. Reach out to your Success Manager if you do not see AI prompt conditions available in the automation editor.
Adding an AI Condition to a Switch Step Case
- Open the automation you want to edit, or create a new one.
- Add a Switch step, or open an existing one.
- Select the case you want to configure, or add a new case.
- Add an AI Prompt condition to the case.
- Enter a prompt describing which contacts this case should match. See The Prompt Field below.
- Save the automation.
An AI prompt condition can stand alone or sit alongside contact filter conditions on the same case.
Case Name Length
A case's name is limited to 200 characters. This limit is enforced both when you edit the name and when you publish the automation.
AI Prompt Review at Publish
When you publish an automation, each new or changed AI prompt on a case is reviewed and given one of three verdicts: Clear, Vague, or Unanswerable, along with a short note explaining the verdict. A Clear verdict does not affect publishing, and the review is saved on the case either way so you can refer back to it.
An Unanswerable verdict means the prompt isn't something the AI can decide consistently — for example, an instruction rather than a condition (such as "send them a discount"), a self-contradicting prompt, or one too vague to evaluate reliably. Unanswerable blocks publishing, and the prompt must be rewritten before the automation can publish.
A Vague verdict blocks publishing too, but you can choose to publish anyway and accept the condition as written — the reviewer's feedback stays saved on the case for reference.
Note: This review only runs when AI prompt conditions are available for your account — see the Note under Overview.
The Prompt Field
The prompt is a natural-language description of which contacts belong in this branch. The AI reads the contact's enriched profile and the automation's data board context when the automation runs, then decides whether the case matches. Examples:
- "This contact is a homeowner who has inquired about refinancing in the past year."
- "The contact has attended at least one event but has not made a purchase."
- "This contact is a small business owner based in the United States."
Be specific about what distinguishes contacts that belong in this branch from contacts that do not. The AI uses only what is available in the contact profile and data board — a prompt that references information not present there will not match reliably.
When the automation's trigger is tied to a specific record — for example, a donation — the AI's context includes that record's relevant details, such as a donation's campaign name, amount, type, and soft-credit status, so a prompt can reference them directly.
When the automation's trigger is a meeting reminder, the AI's context also includes whether the booking is new or a reschedule, and, if it was rescheduled, the previous booking time. A prompt can reference this directly — for example, "if the meeting was rescheduled" — to route rescheduled bookings to a different branch than newly booked ones.
The branch decision — which case matched, along with the confidence and reasoning — is recorded on the step status for each contact that runs through the step.
Sample Prompts
If you would rather start from an example than write a prompt from scratch, open the Help me write this menu on the prompt field. The menu has three tabs: Samples, My prompts, and Browse all prompts. The Samples tab lists ready-made conditions for a Switch step case, matched to your account's industry.
Choosing a sample saves it right away as the case's AI prompt condition.
Note: Samples appear only when AI prompt conditions are available for your account — see the Note under Overview.
My Prompts and Browse All Prompts
The other two tabs of the Help me write this menu work the same way as Samples:
- My prompts lists prompts you have saved.
- Browse all prompts lets you look through the full set of available prompts in one place.
Choosing a prompt from any tab saves it to the case as its AI prompt condition.
Save as a Prompt
When you have written a condition you want to reuse, choose Save as a prompt from the Help me write this menu. The saved prompt then appears under My prompts, so you can pick it again for another case or another automation.
Note: Saving and picking prompts, like samples, requires AI prompt conditions to be available for your account — see the Note under Overview.
Testing an AI Condition Before Publishing
The automation step preview lets you test a Switch step against a sample contact before publishing the automation. When a case includes an AI prompt condition, the preview evaluates that prompt against the sample contact's profile and data board context, the same way it would run live, and shows which branch the contact would take along with the AI's confidence level and its reasoning for that decision.
Note: If the AI can't evaluate a prompt condition for the sample contact — for example, because the prompt references information that isn't present in the contact's profile or data board — the preview flags that case as unevaluated and shows the contact falling back to the default branch.
FAQs
Q: Can I use both an AI prompt and a contact filter on the same case?
A: Yes. An AI prompt condition and a contact filter can both be added to the same case.
Q: What information does the AI use to evaluate the prompt?
A: The AI reads the contact's enriched profile and the automation's data board context. It does not browse the web or consult outside sources.
Q: Where can I see which branch the AI chose for a contact?
A: The branch decision — including which case matched, the confidence level, and the AI's reasoning — is recorded on the step status for that contact.
Q: Does the AI Branch Condition require the same feature as the AI Email Step?
A: Yes. Both require the AI content generation feature to be enabled for your account. Reach out to your Success Manager to enable it.
Q: Does the step preview evaluate AI prompt conditions, or only contact filters?
A: Both. Testing a Switch step against a sample contact evaluates AI prompt conditions the same way contact-filter conditions are evaluated, and shows the resulting branch, confidence, and reasoning — or a fallback-to-default flag if the prompt can't be evaluated for that contact.