Steps are the basic building block of Workflows + Rules. Each Workflow or Rule is essentially a series of steps that Contacts move through.

In each step, action(s) happens to the Contact. That action could be sending them a communication or adding a label to their record. The actions available offer tremendous flexibility in how you can automate communication, engagement, and processes.

A step consists of 3 components:

The specific activities or operations that occur at a particular step in a Workflow or Rule. A step can contain multiple Actions. Actions include things like assigning a label or sending a communication.

For greater control over actions in a step, you’ll want to use conditions.

Exclusive to Workflows, a delay controls when a step happens. It’s an optional part of the step. If you don’t edit it, the step will occur immediately.

But there are many instances when you’ll want to specify a delay. For example:

Conditions let you add logic and more control to what happens and to whom in workflow steps. They also let you indicate who moves on to the next step.

For example, if the trigger for your workflow is a label being applied to people (e.g. prospect) and you want to send a follow-up message to those people if they click a link in an email, you would use a condition to accomplish this. You can even add a separate action for people that don't meet the condition. For example, people who do not click the link in the email.
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Conditions are what allow your workflow to gain the complexity to handle many scenarios by creating "yes" and "no" branches for different actions.