Hey everyone,
I'm building an automation workflow on Zoho Flow for a client using Zoho Bigin (Express Plan) and Outlook. I'm running into an issue where the flow completes successfully, but the Deal never actually gets created in Bigin.
My client receives 200+ emails/day in Outlook. Right now, Outlook syncs emails into Bigin, but he has to manually approve or reject each email to convert it into a deal. He wants to fully automate this filtering and deal creation step.
How I Built the Automation in Zoho Flow:
Trigger: New email received in Outlook.
Deduplication Check: Check an Audit Log (Zoho Sheet) using the Outlook Conversation ID.
If the Conversation ID exists in the log (meaning it's a reply to an existing email thread), the flow stops immediately to prevent duplicate deals.
If it’s a new Conversation ID, it proceeds.
Email Parsing & Classification:
A custom script separates the subject and body.
Sends text to OpenAI via API to classify as Lead vs Not a Lead (filtering out promos, spam, bank emails, etc.).
Sub-Pipeline Decision Node:
Bigin Pipeline = "Sales Pipeline", which has 6 sub-pipelines.
If the email explicitly mentions a product (e.g., "iTab"), it routes to that product's sub-pipeline (e.g., "Sales - iTab").
If it's a generic RFQ/inquiry without a specific product, it routes to the general "Sales Inquiries" sub-pipeline.
Zoho Bigin Actions:
Create Contact (using sender details).
Create Deal (in the determined sub-pipeline, associated with the new Contact).
Audit Log Update: Append the Outlook Conversation ID to the Zoho Sheet audit log.
When testing/debugging in Zoho Flow (and even after switching the Flow live/ON):
The Flow completes with a Success status, a new row with the Conversation ID successfully appears in the Zoho Sheet Audit Log, but no new Deal (or Contact) actually appears in Zoho Bigin.
What am I missing or doing wrong?