Triggers

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Triggers

Overview

"Triggers" are conditions that start automations. With them, you determine how contacts are added to automations so they can proceed through your workflow. You can add multiple triggering conditions so that the same automation starts in multiple ways. This article explains each automation trigger, including how they work, when you might want to use them, and notes what plan the trigger is available on. Understanding each trigger will give you an idea of the kinds of things that are possible to automate.

Important Notes

• Triggers available in the automation builder depend on your plan level. For example, some customers may have access to all triggers below, whilst others may not. Learn more about Plans and Pricing.
• When building automations, we recommend creating several smaller, manageable automations over one large one. Here is a Best Practices Guide to learn more.
• If adding any triggers to an “Active” automation, make sure to set the automation to “Inactive” first. Once you’re done editing the automation, set it back to “Active” so contacts can continue to enter your automation and proceed through your workflow. Learn how to make automations active and inactive here.
• Triggers set to run "multiple times": The same contact can enter your automation through the same trigger up to 10 times in a 24-hour window.

Triggers and Plan Availability at a Glance

Base Plans	Automation Triggers
Enterprise	✅
Professional	✅
Plus	✅
Starter	✅

Trigger Types

• Subscribes to a list
• Unsubscribes from a list
• Submits a form
• Opens/reads an email
• Clicks a link in an email
• Shares an email
• Forwards an email
• Replies to an email
• Tag is added
• Tag is removed
• Web page is visited
• Makes a purchase
• Abandons cart
• Order is created
• Order is updated
• Contact field changes
• Contact jumped to
• RSS based
• Date based
• Score changes
• Dismisses a site message
• Event is recorded
• Conversion occurs
• Recurring payment is created
• Recurring payment is updated
• Custom Object is created
• Custom Object is updated
• Account field changes

Detailed Trigger Descriptions

Subscribes to a list

This trigger begins an automation when a contact is added to a list. You can specify a particular list or any list. If you want the automation to run when contacts are added to two or more specific lists, you can add multiple “Subscribes” triggers (one for each list) to your automations.

• Use Cases:

 * Send Welcome emails
 * Create an onboarding sequence

Unsubscribes from a list

This trigger starts your automation when someone unsubscribes from a list. Unsubscribes can be initiated by the contact or by you.

• Use Cases:

 * Reduce a contact or deal score
 * Notify someone on your team that an unsubscribe occurred
 * End other automation workflows

Submits a form

This trigger begins an automation when a contact submits an ActiveCampaign form. You can define whether the automation begins when any form is submitted or when specific forms are submitted.

• Use Cases:

 * Deliver opt-in incentives
 * Apply interest tags to send targeted follow-up communications

Opens/reads an email

With this trigger, you can begin an automation when a contact opens a campaign or 1:1 email.

• Use Cases:

 * Adjust contact or lead scores after an email is opened
 * Tag engaged contacts after an email is opened

Clicks a link in an email

This trigger begins an automation when a contact clicks a link in a campaign or 1:1 sales email.

• Use Cases:

 * Apply interest tags
 * Trigger follow-up messages

Shares an email

This trigger begins an automation when a contact clicks on a social share link in a campaign or automation email.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a notification to someone on your team that the email was shared
 * Thank a contact for sharing your campaign

Forwards an email

This trigger begins an automation when a contact submits the forward-to-a-friend form from a campaign or automation email.

• Use Cases:

 * Thank a contact for forwarding the campaign

Replies to an email

With this trigger, you can begin an automation when a contact replies to a campaign or a 1:1 sales email.

• Use Cases:

 * Create a task to respond to a contact

Tag is added

This trigger begins an automation when a tag you specify is applied to a contact.

• Use Cases:

 * Begin a sequence of messages

Tag is removed

This trigger begins an automation when a tag you specify is removed from a contact.

• Use Cases:

 * End another automation

Web page is visited

This trigger begins an automation when a web page is visited.

• Use Cases:

 * Send follow-up emails

Makes a purchase

This trigger begins an automation when a contact places an order in your ecommerce store.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a "Thank you for your purchase" message

Abandons cart

This trigger begins an automation when a contact abandons their cart in your connected ecommerce store.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a message to contacts who abandon their cart

Order is created

This trigger starts when a new order is created in your connected ecommerce store.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated campaign to thank customers for their purchase

Order is updated

This trigger starts the automation when an order in your connected ecommerce store changes from one status to another.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated campaign to thank your shoppers for their purchases

Contact field changes

This trigger begins an automation when a contact field you specify is updated.

• Use Cases:

 * Send follow-up sequences

Contact jumped to

This trigger begins an automation when a contact either jumped to or skipped a specified "Jump To" action.

• Use Cases:

 * Notify people in your organization if a contact skips a "Jump To"

RSS based

This trigger begins an automation when an RSS feed is updated.

• Use Cases:

 * Send blog/news updates to your subscribers

Date Based

This trigger will begin an automation relative to a date-based field you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Send reminder and follow-up emails regarding an event

Score changes

This trigger begins an automation when a Contact or Deal score is above or below a level you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Automatically create deals as contacts become sales-ready

Dismisses a site message

This trigger begins an automation when a contact closes the initial view of a Site Message you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Apply a tag to contacts when they dismiss your Site Message

Event is recorded

This trigger begins an automation when a contact performs a custom event you define.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a message in response to a behavior

Conversion occurs

This trigger begins an automation when a contact triggers a conversion you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Send highly targeted follow-up emails to your contacts

Recurring Payment is created

This trigger starts when a new Recurring Payment is created in your connected integration.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated campaign or SMS message to welcome new subscribers

Recurring Payment is updated

This trigger starts the automation when an existing Recurring Payment field in your connected integration changes from one status to another.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated campaign to thank your shoppers for their purchases

Custom Object is created

This trigger starts an automation when a new record is created for a custom object you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a notification to a Customer Success Manager if a customer creates an urgent support ticket

Custom Object is updated

This trigger starts an automation when a custom object field you specify is updated from one value to another.

• Use Cases:

 * Notify your Billing team if payment has been received

Account field changes

This trigger begins an automation when an account field you specify is updated.

• Use Cases:

 * Send a prospecting email when an account becomes a target account

Deal stage changes

This trigger begins the automation when the stage of a deal changes.

• Use Cases:

 * Automatically create tasks associated with each stage

Deal status changes

This trigger starts the automation when the status of a deal changes.

• Use Cases:

 * Go through a series of steps to close out a deal

Deal Value changes

This trigger starts the automation when the value of an existing deal changes.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated notification to a sales representative

Deal Owner changes

This trigger starts the automation when the owner of a deal changes from one person to another.

• Use Cases:

 * Notify a deal owner when they are assigned a new deal

Enters a pipeline

This trigger begins an automation when a deal enters a pipeline you specify.

• Use Cases:

 * Send out an email inviting the contact to a phone consultation

Deal field changes

This trigger begins an automation when a deal field you specify is updated.

• Use Cases:

 * Send an automated 1:1 email when a deal proceeds

File is downloaded

This trigger begins an automation when a contact downloads an attached file in a 1:1 email.

• Use Cases:

 * Send contacts tailored product information or promotions based on if they download a specific brochure

Task is completed

This trigger starts the automation when a Deal or Contact task is marked as completed.

• Use Cases:

 * Add points to a Deal or Contact Score when a task is completed

Sentiment changes

This trigger starts the automation when the sentiment of a deal email changes.

• Use Cases:

 * Create tasks for the deal

Replies to an SMS message

This trigger works with our native SMS feature only.

• Use Cases:

 * Adjust a contact score

Branded app triggers

Branded app triggers include:

• "Calendly meeting received"
• "Typeform form received"
• "Unbounce page received"

• Use Cases:

 * Send a series of reminder or follow-up emails

Combining Triggers and Actions

You may want to continue to the Automation Actions Explained to learn about each of the actions you can run with these triggers. By using triggers to begin automations for tightly focused groups of contacts, you can treat your contacts differently depending on their behavior.

See Also

• Original Article

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