Sales rep, Sales manager
Gong Engage*
Gong Engage flows help you engage with people at scale using a predetermined series of actions. Flows offer a time-saving combination of automation and personalization when it comes to sales engagement.
Types of flows
Your flows: These are the flows that reps can create for themselves. If reps duplicate any company flows and save them with changes, they’ll appear in this section. You can define which users can create and manage personal templates through the available permission settings in their permission profile.
Company flows: These flows are available to everyone in your org. They can only be edited by people who are authorized to do so through their permission profile, but anyone can duplicate them and save them as their own flows.
Starter flows: These flows are available to everyone in your org. They’re pre-built by Gong to help team members speed up onboarding and reach out to prospects faster.
To get started with flows, you can choose a starter flow or a company flow and duplicate it, or create a new personal flow from scratch.
How to create a personal flow
Engage > Flows > Personal flows
Open the Personal flows section and select the folder where you want the new company flow to live, or create a new folder
Click to create a new flow
Click at the top to give your flow a descriptive name
Add steps to the flow. To learn more about how each step type works, see Understanding flow steps.
Available step types are:Manual email: Craft an email or generate one using AI
Auto email: Set up an email that sends automatically. The sender/to-do assignee is the person who adds the contact/lead to the flow. If flow automations are set up, the to-do assignee and sender can be specified by an automation.
Call: Schedule a call step
LinkedIn connect: Plan a LinkedIn connection request
LinkedIn message: Plan a LinkedIn message
Task: Any actions that aren’t necessarily call, email, or LinkedIn-related, like sending a gift, prepping for an upcoming meeting, or researching a company
Set time delays between steps. After adding each step, define the delay before the next step occurs
Review step order and rearrange as needed
Define the flow’s visibility: Enable or disable the flow at the top left corner.
Enabled means you can add contacts and leads to the flow and the flow appears in the Add to flow menu for you, but not for other team members
Disabled means that no one can add contacts and leads to the flow. It does not appear in the Add to flow menu for you or other team members.
Select the flow’s ruleset. If your company allows contacts and leads to be active in multiple flows at once, you have the option to set the flow as exclusive. To learn more about rulesets, see Understanding rulesets.
Go to the Settings tab
Click Change ruleset to select a different ruleset
Save the flow.
How to add attachments to a flow step
Add attachments to flow steps by clicking . The email body size can be up to 3 MB. Body size does not include attachments, but it does include in-line images and GIFs. The total size of an email including attachments can be up to 20 MB.
When adding an attachment to a step in a flow that hasn't been saved yet, you'll be prompted to save the flow first in order to add the attachment. If you add an attachment to the flow step and then add a template that has attachments, any attachments you previously added will be removed or replaced with the template's attachments
How to edit a flow
Drag and drop flow steps on the left side to rearrange them or add and remove steps. You can edit a flow any time, even when there are contacts and leads in an active flow.
When you make changes to a flow, those updates apply to to-dos that have already been generated, including scheduled auto emails, so you can fix mistakes or make improvements.
Edits applied to existing to-dos
Message edits: Updates to the content of a step, like email copy, will reflect in existing to-dos
Timing adjustments: Changes to delays or scheduling between steps will update accordingly
New steps added to the end of the flow: These will be assigned to active contacts and leads as they reach that point in the flow.
Edits not applied to existing to-dos
Reordering steps: Changing the order of steps won’t affect contacts already in the flow to maintain a logical progression. For example, if step 5 is moved to the beginning, contacts currently on or past step 5 won’t go back and repeat earlier steps.
How to duplicate a flow
When you duplicate a company or starter flow and save it as your own personal flow, the automations that were set up for automatically adding people to that company flow don't carry over to the duplicated version, as automations can be applied to company flows only.
Hover over the flow you want to duplicate. Click and select Duplicate
Choose the folder where you want the duplicated flow to live
Open the duplicated flow to edit it.
How to move a flow between folders
Hover over the flow you want to move. Click and select Move
Choose the folder where you want the duplicated flow to live
To move a personal flow into a company folder or a company flow into a personal folder, use the Duplicate option instead.
How to share personal flows
While company flows are automatically available to all team members, you may have personal flows or folders that you want to share with specific team members. Once shared, teammates can view it in their flow libraries and use it for sales engagement.
Sharing a single flow
Click next to the flow you want to share.
Click
Select the name of a team member or entire team to share the flow with.
Sharing a folder
Click next to the flow folder you want to share.
Click
Select the name of a team member or entire team to share the flow folder with.
Only the owner of a folder can add content to a folder they share. To un-share a flow or folder, follow the same process and remove the selected team members. Once contacts or leads have been added to the flow, you cannot un-share it.
The ability to share flows, as well as the ability to duplicate personal flows into company flows, are managed through your permission profile. If you don’t have access to share flows or duplicate personal flows to company flows and you think you should, talk to your admin.
Admins can view all personal content of the users in their org, while managers can view all personal content of the users reporting directly to them. Admins and managers cannot edit other team members’ content.
How to view flows shared with you
To see flows that have been shared with you, open the Shared with you folder in your flow library.
You can’t edit content shared with you unless you duplicate it and save it as your own. The Archive option is only available for flows in the Shared with you folder, since you cannot delete a flow that was shared with you. To archive a flow, hover over the flow you want to archive in the Shared with you section. Click and select Archive. Archived flows can be restored depending on whether you want to see them in your library. Archived content is not available for use from your flows library or when adding people to flows.
How to see the list of contacts and leads previously in a flow
While working on a flow, go to the People tab to see the list of people currently or previously in the flow. Search for specific contacts or leads in the list. By default, the list is sorted by the contacts and leads that were most recently added to the flow. See the status of their current flow(s), their “do not contact” status, and quickly add them to other flows from here.
Click View flow history next to someone’s name to see a comprehensive, chronological view of their flow history. You can use flow history for key details such as the reason why an automatic email failed to send, why someone’s flow status changed, why a flow stopped or started, and more.
Managing people in flows
How to add people to flows
Contacts and leads from your CRM are automatically synced into Gong so you can add them to flows. You do not need to be a contact or lead owner to add them to a flow.
Click +Add next to their name.
In People, add multiple people at once by selecting the checkbox to the left of their names, and then from the Actions menu, choose Add to flow.
From the list of people you selected, we’ll identify anyone who is marked as “do not contact”, in an exclusive flow, or in other flows, so you can decide if you want to remove those people from the selection before adding them to another flow.
You can also add people to a flow from person view. Click on their name anywhere in Engage to open person view, then click +Add to flow if they're not already in one.
How to add people to flows on behalf of another person in your company
Add a contact or lead to a flow and assign someone else in your company to the associated flow to-dos. Non-managers require permission to add people to flows on behalf of another person in your company, while managers can assign on behalf without this permission.
or Engage > Accounts > Contacts
Click Add to flow or Manage flows
Choose the flow assignee
Click Save.
How to identify people who finished a specific flow and add them to a new one
Click + Add filter and choose a field that will help you identify the flow the contacts and leads were previously in. If you don’t see the field you need, ask your admin to map that field from your CRM to Gong.
Search for or select the flow the contacts and leads were previously in
Click + Add filter again and select Engage flow status (your admin can map this field in the CRM integration page to make it available for you to use as a filter). Maybe you want to see only the people removed from the flow because they replied, in which case, you’d select the Removed Response status
Now that you have the right list of people, use the checkboxes on the left to select the ones you want to add to a new flow
At the top right, select Add to flow from the Actions menu, and choose the new flow you’d like to add them to.
Add people to the middle of a flow
You may want to add someone to a flow, but you don’t want them to receive step 1 and step 2 for example. Add them to the flow as you normally would, and then skip the relevant steps. You can skip steps from anywhere in Engage where your to-do list is shown.
Link flows to deals
While adding people to flows, whether individually or in bulk, you have the option to link flows to deals. Once you’ve selected people and chosen which flow they should be added to, click Link flow to deal. You can then select the deal you want each person’s flow to be linked to.
How to remove people from a flow
If you remove someone from a flow and then add them back in, they will start from the beginning of the flow.
Look for the green In flow label next to any contact or lead's name. Click the green label to manage that person's flow.
To remove multiple people from flows at once, select the checkbox to the left of the relevant people, then click and select Remove person from flow.
From To-dos, you can also click next to the relevant to-do and then click Remove person from flow.
How to pause individual people in a flow
If a flow is paused and then resumed, it will resume from the step in the flow where the person was at the time of the pause. After 30 days, anyone who is still paused in a flow will be automatically removed from the flow.
Click on a contact or lead's name to open person view in a right panel. You can also open person view while working on a to-do by going to the Contact section.
From here, click and select Pause flow for this person.
People in flows are marked with a green In flow label. Click on the label to manage the person’s flow.
How to pause all account contacts in their flows
If there are multiple contacts in an account that are currently active in flows, you can pause them all in their flows in one go. Do this directly from a response to-do, when someone responds to an email that was sent from a flow.
Find the relevant response to-do showing you who responded to an email sent from a flow
Click and select Pause flow for all account contacts. After 30 days, anyone who is still paused in a flow will be automatically removed.
How to resume someone’s flow
Someone’s flow can be paused manually or by an automation rule. If you resume it, they'll continue receiving communications from the flow.
If someone responds to an email sent from a flow, you'll get a Response to-do in To-dos letting you know the flow has been paused for this person. Other contacts and leads who are also active in this flow are not affected.
Find the relevant response to-do showing you who responded to an email sent from a flow
Click and select Resume flow for this person
People whose flows are paused are marked with a yellow Paused label. Click on the label to manage their flows. From here, you can also see who paused the person's flow and when.
Change someone’s flow
Depending on your company’s setup, you may need to remove someone from their flow before adding them to another one.
Click on the green In flow label next to any contact or lead’s name to manage their flows.
How automatic pausing works when someone is in multiple flows
For flow to-dos: Bounced email, Email response, and Meeting booked
If you receive any of these to-dos, only the relevant flow is automatically paused. You can choose to pause all flows for that person or all flows for the entire account. Emails already scheduled to go out from another flow to that bounced address will still send to that address unless action is taken prior to the scheduled send time
If you start drafting a new message via another flow to the email address that bounced, that bounce will have marked that address as invalid. You’ll see that it’s invalid in the “To” field when when writing the draft.
For Out of Office response
If you receive an out of office message, the current to-do for all flows the person is in will be snoozed.
For a missed call back
Only the flow from which the call originated will be paused.
What happens when a contact or lead in a flow is deleted from your CRM?
When a contact or lead is deleted in your CRM, Gong helps keep your flows running smoothly by automatically replacing the deleted person in the flow with a matching duplicate. Gong checks for another contact or lead in your CRM with the same email address.
If exactly one match is found, Gong will:
Replace the deleted person with the matching contact or lead
Automatically continue the flow without interruption
If there are multiple matches or no matches, Gong will
Stop the flow
This automation helps avoid unnecessary flow interruptions when contacts or leads are merged in your CRM, reducing manual cleanup.
Flows FAQs
What are all the possible reasons a flow could be paused or stopped?
A flow will be paused if:
A meeting is booked with the contact or lead in the flow. This is done automatically and a to-do is generated for the rep. The flow can be resumed manually if needed
An email sent as part of the flow bounces. A to-do is generated for the rep to update the email address and resume the flow
A contact or lead in the flow replies to an email within 14 days. This does not include automated replies.
Manually paused by a user
The rep makes a call from within a flow and the recipient calls them back
A contact or lead will be removed from a flow (their flow will be stopped) if:
They’re removed from the flow manually
They’re marked as “do not contact”
If someone unsubscribes via an unsubscribe link, they can decide whether to unsubscribe from just the relevant flow or all flows they’re currently in. They’ll be marked as “do not contact” in Gong whether they unsubscribe from one flow or all of them. If you mark someone as “do not contact” manually, the person is automatically removed from all flows they’re currently in
Their flow is paused for over 30 days
The to-do for the last step in the flow is open for over 30 days (the to-do expires)
The flow is deleted in Gong
The contact or lead is deleted from your CRM
What happens if an email address is marked as invalid?
If the contact or lead has an email address that's marked as invalid before the email gets sent, we convert that auto email to a manual email that appears on the rep's To-dos page. The rep can then replace the email address and resend the email.
If an email bounces for any reason, we:
Automatically mark the email address as invalid
Automatically pause the person's flow
Generate a to-do for the rep to replace the email address and send again
Automatically save that new email address for the contact or lead to prevent the next email from bouncing
If your auto emails are still being sent to email addresses that are marked as invalid in Gong, contact support.
Will LinkedIn connection requests and messages be reflected in the activity timeline in Gong?
While you can send connection requests and messages via Gong, responses won't be reflected back to Gong.
Why is my auto email appearing as a manual email in my to-do list?
Auto emails will only appear in your to-do list if they fail to send, in which case they become manual emails. Auto emails can fail to send if:
There are missing variables
The thread is missing
The recipient email address is missing
Your email account was disconnected
To find out why your auto email didn't send and send it manually, go to the To-dos page and hover over the to-do to.
How do flows handle Out of Office replies?
One of the rules Gong provides automatically delays the next flow step when someone replies with an OOO email. The step will be delayed until the recipient's return date.
If you get an Out of Office response from someone in a flow but Gong can't detect a date of return, that person's flow will not be snoozed. The flow will continue as planned.
How long does it take for a contact to be available in Gong once it's added to my CRM?
In general, it should take approximately 2-5 minutes for a contact to be available in Gong once it's added to your CRM.
How long does it take for a contact or lead to be added to a flow once they meet the flow's automation criteria?
It takes a few minutes between meeting automation criteria and getting added to the flow.
Is there a limit to how many emails can be sent out of Engage?
To ensure that your emails won't get marked as spam, your admin can set limits on how many emails you can send out of Engage. Both flow and non-flow emails count towards this limit. However, once you've hit the limit, you will only be prevented from sending flow emails. You can continue sending non-flow emails.
Once you've hit your email limit, the rest of the emails scheduled to send that day will be pushed to the next business day, and the next step in the flow will be snoozed by 1 business day as well.
Your admin can set limits on:
How many emails a rep can send per day/per week
How many emails your company can send per day
How many emails your company can send to the same recipient per day
How many emails your company can send to recipients within the same account per day
Learn more about Email sending limits in Engage. To find out what your company's limits are, talk to your admin.
Are there size limits on emails sent from Engage?
Email draft body size can be up to 3 MB. Draft body size does not include attachments, but it does include in-line images and GIFs.
Total size of an email, including attachments, can be up to 20 MB.
How do we determine the sender for automatic emails in a flow?
The sender/to-do assignee is the person who adds the contact/lead to the flow. If flow rules are set up, the to-do assignee and sender can be specified by a rule.
Will flow activity get exported to my CRM?
Yes, you can export flow activity to your CRM, including dialer calls, emails, LinkedIn connection requests and messages, and custom flow tasks. If any activity is part of a step in a flow, Gong exports flow fields in addition to each activity’s standard fields. These fields need to be set up by an admin in your CRM, not in Gong.
Does Engage give me metrics on flow performance?
Yes, you can get metrics on how your flows perform in Analytics.
Can I bulk pause, add, and remove people from flows?
Yes, you can bulk pause, add, remove people from flows from To-dos, People, and Accounts.
What happens when someone is converted from a lead to a contact while in an active flow?
If a lead is in an active flow when they become a contact, they will stay in the same flow and step. Any notes that were associated with the lead will remain associated with the contact. Unlike notes, one-off to-dos that were associated with the lead will no longer be associated with the contact.
What happens when someone in multiple active flows is marked as “do not contact”?
If someone unsubscribes via an unsubscribe link, they can decide whether to unsubscribe from just the relevant flow or all flows they’re currently in. They’ll be marked as “do not contact” in Gong whether they unsubscribe from one flow or all of them. If you mark someone as “do not contact” manually, the person is automatically removed from all flows they’re currently in.
*The features available to you depend on your company’s plan and your assigned seats.