How is a Make.com workflow put together?
In Make a workflow is called a scenario. A scenario consists of modules placed one after another. The first module is the trigger: something that starts the scenario. After that come modules that fetch data, change it or write it somewhere.
Broadly, there are two kinds of triggers:
- Instant (webhook). Another system sends a signal as soon as something happens, for example a submitted form. The scenario runs immediately, and only when there is actually something to do.
- Scheduled. The scenario runs at a fixed time or interval, for example every morning at seven, and then checks what is new.
In between you use a few standard building blocks. A filter only lets through records that meet a condition. A router splits the scenario into several routes, for example per customer type. An iterator breaks a list into individual items and an aggregator combines them again, which is handy for a summary. And a data store is a small table inside Make where you keep track of what you have already processed.
For many packages Make has a ready-made app with its own modules, such as for Microsoft 365, Google Sheets, Moneybird and Teamleader. If a package does not have one, you talk directly to that package's API with an HTTP module. Our integrations page shows which systems we often connect.
How many credits does a Make scenario use?
Make charges in credits. According to Make's pricing page (checked on 7 October 2026), every module action, such as adding a row or fetching data, counts as one credit. The free plan includes 1,000 credits per month and lets a scheduled scenario run at most once every 15 minutes. On paid plans that can be every minute. According to Make, a router and the error handler modules do not use credits.
Two rules of thumb keep your usage low:
- Use a webhook if the source system supports it. A scheduled scenario that checks every few minutes for something new uses credits even when nothing has happened.
- Filter as early as possible. Every module after the filter only runs for the records you actually need.
Not sure whether Make is the right platform at all, for example because your workflows take hundreds of steps per run? Read Make vs n8n first.
Which 7 Make.com workflows save time right away?
We see these seven scenarios come back in many SMEs. They are deliberately small: one trigger, a few steps and a clear outcome.
1. Web form to your CRM, with a task attached
Trigger: the form on your website sends its data to a webhook in Make.
Steps: check in your CRM whether the customer already exists, otherwise create a new record, and set up a follow-up task for the right colleague.
Watch out: decide how you recognise an existing customer, for example by email address. Otherwise the scenario creates duplicates. If you use Cirqll, this scenario is worked out step by step in Cirqll and Make.com: 5 automations.
2. Webshop orders into your accounting
Trigger: a new or paid order in your webshop.
Steps: find or create the contact in your accounting package, create the sales invoice with the right VAT code and link the payment.
Watch out: VAT rates, shipping costs and discounts are where things go wrong. Agree on how webshop data maps to your ledger with whoever does your bookkeeping first.
3. Sending payment reminders on time
Trigger: scheduled, every working day.
Steps: fetch the outstanding invoices, filter on invoices that are a fixed number of days past due and, per invoice, send a reminder or create a task for whoever makes the call.
Watch out: record in a data store who received a reminder and when. That way a customer never gets two on the same day if the scenario runs again.
4. Automatically saving attachments from a shared mailbox
Trigger: a new email in a shared mailbox, such as invoices@ or orders@.
Steps: take the attachments, give them a fixed name with date and sender, and save them in the right folder in SharePoint or OneDrive. From there you can forward purchase invoices to your accounting package's inbound address.
Watch out: signatures and logos in emails are attachments too. Filter on file type and size.
5. A weekly summary in Teams or your inbox
Trigger: scheduled, for example Monday morning.
Steps: fetch last week's figures, add them up with an aggregator and send one message with the headlines to the team.
Watch out: this is a nudge, not a report. If you want trends, comparisons and drill-down, that belongs in a dashboard. See our dashboarding page.
6. Onboarding a new employee
Trigger: a completed intake form or a new employee in your HR system.
Steps: set up the standard checklist as tasks for IT, the manager and HR, send the welcome email and schedule the introduction meeting.
Watch out: personal data flows through this scenario. Only include the fields you really need and record which data goes where.
7. Keeping customer data in sync between CRM and accounting
Trigger: a changed customer record in your CRM.
Steps: find the same customer in your accounting package using a fixed key and update the address, invoice email address and Chamber of Commerce number.
Watch out: pick one system as the source. If both systems update each other, you end up with a ping-pong of changes.
What happens when a scenario fails?
A scenario that fails silently is worse than no scenario. Everyone assumes it works, until a customer calls about an invoice that never arrived.
Make has a few built-in tools for this. You can attach error handling to a module, for example to ignore the error, stop the scenario cleanly or use a fallback value. With the setting for incomplete executions, Make stores the state of a failed run so you can investigate it later and run it again.
Good to know: according to Make's documentation, a scheduled scenario is disabled by default after three errors in a row. That protects you from endless error messages, but also means a scenario can quietly stop. So make sure someone always gets an alert, in a channel people actually read, and that this person knows what to do. More on ownership and monitoring in workflow automation: the first processes.
Step by step: your first Make scenario in five steps
A fictional example to make it concrete. A technical wholesaler with twelve employees receives purchase invoices at a shared address. Every morning a colleague opens the mailbox, saves the PDFs and forwards them to accounting. That is scenario 4 from the list above.
- Write down the process as it works today. Which emails come in, what happens to the attachment, where does it end up, and what exceptions are there? Ask the colleague who does it now; they know the exceptions.
- Define the trigger and the outcome. Trigger: a new email at the shared address. Outcome: the PDF in the right folder and forwarded to the inbound address.
- Build the scenario small. Fetch the email, filter on PDF attachments, save the file, forward it. Test with a few real emails before you switch it on.
- Set up error handling. If saving or forwarding fails, the colleague who does it now receives an email with the original attachment.
- Record who owns it. One name, plus a short description of what the scenario does. After a month, check together whether it runs well and whether new exceptions have appeared.
The result is not a revolution, but a chore that came back every day and now happens by itself. From there you build the next scenario.
When is a Make scenario not the answer?
If the same data is fetched and transformed again in five scenarios, you are quietly building a second administration inside Make. A central data foundation is often smarter then: one place where the data is clean and connected, ready for your reports and your workflows.
And if a step needs real judgement, such as weighing an exception or answering a tricky customer question, leave it with a person. Make can run AI steps and let an agent do the groundwork, but where to draw the line is covered on our agentic AI page.
Need help with your Make.com workflows?
Want to know which of these scenarios would deliver the most for your business, or already running scenarios that are not working smoothly? We are happy to look at your processes and systems and build Make scenarios with error handling and documentation. See what we do in workflow automation or read how we work.