The trigger decides who enters a workflow and when. It is the single most consequential choice in the whole thing.

Triggers

• Bucket entered — Somebody falls into a customer bucket. Leave the bucket empty to fire on any bucket.
• Bucket exited — Somebody leaves one.
• Enquiry submitted — They send an enquiry.
• Call received — A tracked call comes in from them.
• Quote created — You quote them.
• Sale completed — A sale finishes.
• Product purchased — They buy something — optionally limited to a product bucket.
• Lifecycle stage changed — They move to a new stage.
• Calendar event created — An appointment is booked with them.
• Promotion ended — A promotion finishes. Leave it empty to fire on any.
• Manual — Somebody adds them by hand.
• Scheduled — On a schedule rather than an event.

Email interaction triggers

You can start a workflow when a contact engages with an email you sent.

• Automation email opened — Fires when the contact opens a specific email step from a workflow.
• Automation email clicked — Fires when the contact clicks any link in a specific email step.
• Automation email delivered — Fires when delivery succeeds for a specific email step.
• Campaign email opened — Fires when the contact opens a selected marketing campaign email.
• Campaign email clicked — Fires when the contact clicks any link in a selected campaign email.
• Campaign email delivered — Fires when delivery succeeds for a selected campaign email.

• These triggers rely on tracked email analytics and will only fire after the relevant email has been sent.

Choosing well

• Prefer a specific event over a bucket where one exists — "sale completed" is unambiguous, a bucket depends on rules that might change.
• Use a bucket where the condition is a state rather than a moment: lapsed, unconverted, high value.
• Leave the optional filter empty deliberately. An empty bucket or promotion filter means any of them, which is a much wider audience than people expect.

A TRIGGER FIRES FOR EVERYONE WHO MEETS IT, FOREVER

Not just today's customers — every future one too. Before going live, ask how many people will hit this in a normal month, and whether you would be happy sending all of them the first email.