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What are automation logs? (workflow logs, event logs, contacts in workflow)

Automation logs are detailed records that capture every step, action, and event in your automations, website, forms, emails, and more. They are categorized into three types of logs, each providing distinct information. By examining these logs, you can identify issues, optimize processes, and ensure your marketing and transactional efforts function as intended.

➡️ Access your automation logs

To access your automation logs

  1. Go to Automations > Logs. From there, you will find 3 types of logs.
  2. Go to the corresponding tab to view each type of logs:
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    • Workflow logs
      View everything that happened within a specific automation, monitor the progress of contacts through the automation, and identify if a contact is blocked at a certain step.
    • Event logs
      Analyze and gain detailed insights into how your customers interact with your forms, website, emails, automations, and more.
    • Contacts in Workflow 
      Monitor which contacts are currently active or waiting in a specific automation. Delete up to 50 contacts at a time from an automation in case of an error.

Workflow logs

Workflow logs are detailed records of every step, action, and event that happened within a specific automation, step, or for a specific contact. They are a useful tool for identifying a contact's position in a process, detecting blockages, and understanding why certain communications have not been received.

➡️  For example
If a contact submits a form and says they didn't receive the email they were supposed to receive through an automation, you can check your workflow logs to see if they received the email, if they are in a waiting step, or if there was an error in the process.

What information can I find in a workflow log?

When looking at a specific log in your workflow logs, you'll first find the following information:

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  1. The date and time when the event recorded in the log happened.
  2. The email address of the contact who performed the action or moved through the automation.
  3. The name of the automation in which the event happened.
  4. The specific step in which the event happened.

  5. The message that describes the event.

Then, you can click the log, which will expand to display more technical details about the event:

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  • message
    The message that describes the event (e.g. "Contact has exited workflow", "Opened the campaign", etc.).
  • type
    The type of event recorded in the log (e.g. form, identify, templates_clicked, etc.).
  • scenario_name
    The name of the automation where the event happened.
  • start_id

    The ID of the entry point of the automation where the event happened. It is displayed only if an automation has multiple entry points.

  • workflow_points
    The entry or exit step of the automation where the event happened. It is displayed only if the event happened when the contact started, restarted, exited, or was manually removed from the automation.
  • date
    The date and time when the event recorded in the log happened.
  • user_email
    The email address of the contact who performed the action or moved through the automation.
  • step_id
    The ID of the step the contact was in when the event recorded in the log happened.

Event logs

Event logs are detailed records that capture every step, action, and event in your automations, website, forms, emails, and more. Like workflow logs, they are a useful tool for identifying a contact's position in a process, detecting blockages, and understanding why certain communications have not been received.

➡️  For example
If you think a contact received an abandoned cart email with products that weren't in their cart, you can check your event logs to see which products were in their cart when the event happened.

What information can I find in an event log?

When looking at a specific log in your event logs, you'll first find the following information:

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  1. The type of event recorded in the log (e.g. form, identify, templates_clicked, etc.).
  2. The date and time when the event recorded in the log happened.
  3. The name of the form, email, automation, etc. where the event happened.
  4. The email address of the contact who performed the action or moved through the automation.
  5. The IP address of the contact who performed the action. If the event was triggered internally, the IP address will be replaced with "internal request".

Then, you can click the log, which will expand to display more technical details about the event:

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  • contact_id
    The internal ID of the contact who performed the action or moved through the automation.
  • created_at
    The date and time when the event recorded in the log happened.
  • email_id
    The email address of the contact who performed the action or moved through the automation.
  • message_id
    The ID of the transactional email that was sent to the contact.
  • sib_type
    The type of event recorded in the log (e.g. form, identify, templates_clicked, etc.).
  • template_id
    The ID of the email template that was sent to the contact.

Which events can be tracked recorded in an event log?

❗️ Important
If a visitor does not accept cookies on your website, we won't be able to track their actions and the events won't be recorded in your logs.

The following events and their data can be tracked and recorded in your event logs:

Event Description
Track Events

An event on your website, such as an order being created or a chat conversation ending, has been tracked by the Brevo tracker. You can also track custom events of your choice by using the track method in the API.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated API documentation Advanced tracking - Track Events.
Track Link

A contact clicked a link on your website and was identified by the Brevo tracker. You can also track links that do not lead to a new page, such as a PDF download, by using the trackLink method in the API.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated API documentation Advanced tracking - Track links.
Identify

A contact clicked a link in a Brevo transactional email, submitted a Brevo form, or created an account on your website and was identified by the Brevo tracker. You can also identify contacts who do not perform these actions by using the identify method in the API.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated API documentation Advanced tracking - Identify users.
Page

A contact visited a specific page on your website and was tracked by the Brevo tracker. You can also track virtual page views, such as for popups, by using the page method in the API.

➡️ To learn more, check our dedicated API documentation Advanced tracking - Track page views.
Form

A contact submitted one of your Brevo forms.
Add a contact to a list (list_addition) A contact was added to one of your Brevo lists. 
Opened a Campaign A contact opened one of your Brevo email campaigns.
Unsubscribed from a campaign A contact unsubscribed from your Brevo email campaigns.
Clicked a Campaign A contact clicked a link inside from your Brevo email campaigns.
Opened a Template/Tag Email A contact opened one of your Brevo transactional emails.
Unsubscribed from a transactional email (Template/Tag) A contact unsubscribed from the one of the senders of your Brevo transactional emails.
Clicked a Template/Tag Email A contact clicked a link in one your Brevo transactional emails.

These events and their data can then be used to trigger automations, segment your contacts, or personalize your emails. For example, with the data from the order_created event, you can:

Contacts in workflow

💡 Good to know
You can see what automation a contact is in directly from their contact details page, in the Active automations section.

The Contacts in workflows page displays which contacts are active, meaning they are currently progressing through an automation, and those on hold, who are at a waiting point within an automation. This is a useful to understand why certain communications have not been received.

Additionally, if you do not want a contact to continue through an automation or if there was an error, you can manually remove them from the automation, causing them to immediately exit.

➡️  For example
For example, if a contact is in an abandoned cart automation and still hasn't received an abandoned cart email, you can check whether they are still at a waiting point within the automation. If you do not want the contact to receive the abandoned cart email anymore, you can then manually remove them from the automation.

What information can I find on the Contacts in workflows page?

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  1. The email address of the contact currently in the automation.
  2. The name of the automation the contact is currently in.
  3. The specific step the contact is currently in.
  4. The date and time when the contact entered the automation they're currently in.

Remove a contact from an automation

You can manually remove contacts from your automation from the Contacts in workflows page, whether they are currently in an active or waiting state. 

To remove contacts from an automation:

  1. Go to Automations > Logs.
  2. Go to the Contacts in workflows tab.
  3. Select the contacts you want to remove from an automation. You an select up to 50 contacts at a time.
  4. Click ACTION > Remove selected contacts from workflow. 
    Contacts_in_Workflows_Action_remove_contacts.jpg
  5. Click OK.

That's it, the contacts have been removed from the automation they were previously in. A "Contact has been manually removed from workflow" log will also be generated in your Workflow logs for each contact removed:

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💡 Good to know
You can view the statistics for Suspended contacts on the Automations page for each automation. These correspond to the contacts you have manually removed from the automation.

📥 Download your logs

To download your logs as a CSV file:

  1. Filter your logs by dates.
  2. Click the Download 📥 icon.
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A CSV file will be downloaded on your device.

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo expert partner.

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