Do Calculations with the Math Operation Action

Not every automation is about messages. Sometimes you need a workflow to add points to a score, push a renewal date forward a year, or work out a discounted price. The Math Operation action performs that arithmetic for you and saves the answer into a field.

What it supports

• Numeric and Monetary fields: add, subtract, multiply, or divide.
• Date fields and the current date: add or subtract days, months, or years.

The field you read from and the field you write to must be the same type, though they can be the same field.

Add a calculation

1. Open a workflow in Automation > Workflows and click +.
2. Choose Math Operation.
3. Under Select Field, pick the number or date to start from. Values captured by your trigger are available here too.
4. Choose the Operation, then enter a fixed amount or insert a merge field.
5. In Update Field, choose where the result is saved: a standard field, a custom field, or a custom value.
6. Save and publish.

Examples that work well

• Lead scoring: add 10 to a score every time a contact clicks a link, then use If/Else to route "hot" scores to your sales team.
• Renewals: add 12 months to a membership date, then remind the member two weeks before it arrives.
• Deadlines: add 7 days to a project start date to set a due date.
• Pricing: multiply a price by 0.9 to apply a 10 percent discount.

Rules to remember

• A single action performs a single operation. Chain several actions for multi-step formulas.
• If a result would be negative, the field is set to zero. Dates cannot take negative values.
• Only numeric, monetary, and date fields are supported.
• Use If/Else after the action to branch on the result.

Good to know: To protect against unexpected zeros in pricing math, check the value with an If/Else step before subtracting.