Automate your team's follow-up without losing the human touch. A task object in the automation builder assigns a manual follow-up responsibility to a specific user in your CRM. Tasks are designed for predictable touchpoints in your customer journey — such as a welcome call after a new purchase or a 30-day check-in survey — where a personal action is required rather than an automated message. When the automation creates a task, the assigned user is responsible for completing it manually and marking it done.

This article covers how to create and configure a task object inside an Advanced Automation sequence. For an overview of the automation builder, see how to get started with Advanced Automations.

How to Create a Task in Advanced Automation

1. Click Automations in the left-hand navigation.
2. Click the button to create a new automation and select Advanced Automation from the options that appear. 
   
   
3. Enter a unique name for your automation. Adding a category is optional. Click Save to continue. 
   
   
4. Add a When trigger to define what event starts the automation. Connect the When trigger to your sequence, then add a Task object to the sequence. 
   
    
   
   
5. Click into your sequence to open the sequence editor. 
   
   
6. Click the Task object tile to open the task configuration panel. 
   
   
7. Enter the task title and description.
   • Title — The task title appears on the assigned user's task list. Type # to access merge fields and personalize the title with contact-specific information such as the contact's first name. 
     
     
   • Description — The task description is visible when the assigned user clicks the task title to view the full task details. Use the description to provide instructions, a call script, or a list of action items the user should complete for this task. 
     
     
   • Type — Select the task type from the dropdown to categorize the action the user needs to take. Available task types include Call, Email, Appointment, Fax, and Letter. 
     
     
8. Configure task outcome options, assignment, notifications, due date, and priority.
   • Task outcome options — Select the possible outcomes for this task. Outcome options determine what choices the assigned user sees when they mark the task complete. 
     
     
   • Assign the task — Choose who is responsible for completing the task:
     • Assign to Contact's owner — Check this box to assign the task to the user who is the assigned owner of the contact record. Use this option when the task should go to the contact's sales rep or account manager.
     • Assign to (backup) — Select a backup user from the dropdown. The backup user is assigned the task when no owner has been assigned to the contact record, or when you want a specific user to always receive this task regardless of contact ownership.
     • Change the backup user — To replace the current backup user, click the dropdown, press the backspace key to remove the existing user, then start typing the name of the replacement user and select them from the results. 
       
       
   • Notify the owner when the task is created — Check this box to send an email notification to the assigned owner at the moment the automation creates the task. 
     
     
   • Set the due date, time, and priority — The due date determines whether the task is marked on time or overdue when the user completes it. The due date is separate from the date the task is assigned. The task is created and assigned based on the sequence timer that precedes the task object in the sequence — not based on the due date setting. 
     
     
9. Add additional users to notify (optional). To send email notifications to users other than the task owner when the task is created, type a user's name in the notification field or click a name to select a user from the list. Repeat this step to add multiple users. Every user added to this list will receive an email notification each time the automation creates this task. 
   
   
10. Enable a pop-up reminder (optional). Check the pop-up reminder option to trigger a browser notification that reminds the task owner and any notified users when the task due date is approaching. 
    
    
11. Set the task priority. Priority indicates the urgency level of the task and determines how the task is sorted on the assigned user's task list. Select Normal or High priority from the priority dropdown. 
    
    
12. Set the task status to Ready. Click the Draft slider on the task object to switch its status to Ready. The task will not be included in the automation until its status is set to Ready. 
    
     
    
    
13. Set the sequence status to Ready. Click the Draft slider on the sequence to switch its status to Ready. Both the task object and the sequence must be set to Ready before the automation can be published. 
    
     
    
    
14. Publish your automation. Click Publish to make the automation active. The task will be created and assigned automatically each time the When trigger fires.