Automation Triggers

Every automation starts with exactly one trigger: the event that enrols a contact in the workflow. You choose it first, and it sits at the top of the canvas.

This page covers the triggers inside an automation. For the single-rule triggers under Actions → Triggers, see Triggers.

Choose a trigger

1. In the builder, click the top step, Click here to begin.
2. Under Select Automation Event, click one of the five events.
3. Fill in the fields that appear below it.
4. Click Confirm.

Trigger	Fires when
Contact is added to a list	A contact joins a list.
When a contact is edited	An existing contact's details change.
Date based Automation	A date arrives, from a date field on the contact or a fixed date.
When a contact opens an email	A contact opens a broadcast you've sent.
When a contact clicks on a link	A contact clicks a link in a broadcast you've sent.

Choosing lists

Most triggers ask which contact lists to watch:

• Lists: Any List reacts to all your lists, including lists you create later. Selected List reacts only to the lists you choose.
• Choose a Contact List: the list, or lists, to watch. Depending on your account you can choose one list or several.

A date-based trigger always needs a specific list, so it shows Choose a Contact List only. Lists that have been blocked are shown but can't be chosen.

The Automations page shows the chosen lists under List Name, or All Lists for Any List.

Contact is added to a list

The most common trigger. A contact is enrolled as soon as they join one of the lists you choose, however they arrive:

• added by hand in the app,
• imported from a file,
• subscribed through one of your web forms,
• added through the API.

Fields

Field	What to enter
Lists and Choose a Contact List	Which lists to watch. See Choosing lists.
Subscribers Custom Criteria	Optional. Enrol only contacts whose fields match. See Subscribers Custom Criteria.

Imports enrol contacts too

A large import can enrol thousands of contacts at once. Before importing into a list with a running automation, check that's what you want, and pause the automation first if it isn't.

When a contact is edited

Enrols a contact when their details change: a field updated by hand, a correction made through the API, or new details submitted through a web form.

The fields are the same as for Contact is added to a list: the lists to watch and optional Subscribers Custom Criteria.

This trigger becomes powerful with custom criteria. Filter on, say, Plan Is Premium, and the automation enrols a contact at the moment their plan field is edited to that value: an upgrade journey with no other setup.

Every edit counts

Without custom criteria, any change to a contact enrols them. A contact who is still partway through the automation isn't enrolled again, but once they've finished, their next edit starts the journey over. Use custom criteria so only the change you care about counts.

Date based Automation

Fires from a date rather than an action: birthdays, renewal reminders, trial expiries, anniversaries, or a single announcement date.

Under Subscribers Date Field Criteria, choose where the date comes from:

• Based on profile date field reads a date field on each contact, so every contact has their own date. Use it for birthdays and renewals.
• Based on specific date uses one calendar date for everyone on the list.

Then choose the list under Choose a Contact List.

Based on profile date field

Under Apply Filters:

1. Choose the date field to read. The list offers your date-type custom fields. The field must be one of the fields of the list you chose, and must hold a full date for each contact.
2. Choose how to compare it with today:

Filter	Fires	Use it for
Is Today	On the date itself.	Birthdays, anniversaries.
Occurring after … Days	The number of days you enter before the date: the date is that many days away.	Reminders, such as 7 days before a renewal.
Occurred before … Days	The number of days you enter after the date: the date was that many days ago.	Follow-ups, such as 3 days after a purchase date.

3. Set Excluded Year and Excluded Month if the date should recur.

Excluded Year and Excluded Month

These two switches are what make recurring dates work, and they're easy to miss.

A birthday field holds a full date, say 14 March 1987. Matched as it is, it only comes true once. Switch Excluded Year on and the comparison ignores the year, so the automation fires every 14 March, for every contact, every year.

Switch both Excluded Year and Excluded Month on to match the day of the month only, for something that happens monthly.

With Excluded Month on, the number of days for Occurring after or Occurred before must be 30 or fewer; with Excluded Year on, 365 or fewer.

Based on specific date

Pick the date under Select Date: today or a later date. On that day, every eligible contact on the list is enrolled.

When date-based automations run

Date-based automations are checked once a day, just after midnight UTC, and "today" means the date in UTC. Contacts enrolled that day move on to the first step straight away, so without other settings the first email goes out early in the day, UTC time.

To send at a friendlier hour, switch on Select specific time to execute this email on the first email and pick a time. See Specific execution time.

Only active, subscribed contacts are enrolled; contacts who have unsubscribed, complained or been deactivated are skipped.

When a contact opens an email

Enrols a contact when they open a broadcast you've sent. Use it to follow up on interest: the contact has shown engagement, so start a journey.

Fields

Field	What to enter
Select Broadcast	Any broadcast, or Selected broadcasts and then the broadcasts that count.
Automation will expire after the specified duration.	A number and Days, Weeks, Months or Years. It starts at 7 days. Opens that happen longer than this after the broadcast was sent don't enrol anyone.
Lists and Choose a Contact List	The lists the contact must be on. See Choosing lists.
Subscribers Custom Criteria	Optional. See Subscribers Custom Criteria.

Only a contact's first open of a broadcast counts. Opening it again later doesn't enrol them again.

Requirements

Open tracking must be on

This trigger reacts to opens. If the broadcast was sent without Track Opens, there are no opens to react to and nobody is enrolled.

Switch the automation on before the broadcast goes out

The builder shows this note when you choose the trigger: If the campaign has started and the status of automation is changed into running later, then automation will not proceed. Opens are only matched to automations that were already running when the broadcast was sent, so switch the automation on first, then send the broadcast.

The expiry exists because engagement triggers would otherwise go on reacting to an old broadcast forever. Set it to match the campaign's useful life.

When a contact clicks on a link

The same idea as the open trigger, but for clicks, which are a stronger sign of intent.

Fields

Field	What to enter
Select Broadcast	Any broadcast, or Selected broadcasts and then the broadcasts that count.
Link	Any Link, or Selected Link and then the links that count.
Automation will expire after the specified duration.	A number and Days, Weeks, Months or Years. It starts at 7 days.
Lists and Choose a Contact List	The lists the contact must be on.
Subscribers Custom Criteria	Optional.

Any Link enrols on a click anywhere in the broadcast. Selected Link enrols only on the links you pick, so a click on "View pricing" can start a sales journey while a click on "Read the blog" doesn't.

Click tracking must be on

The broadcast must have been sent with Track Clicks on, and, as for opens, the automation must already be running when it's sent.

Subscribers Custom Criteria

Every trigger offers this optional filter. It narrows enrolment to contacts whose fields match your rules, so one list can feed several automations without them overlapping.

1. Switch on Subscribers Custom Criteria.
2. For each rule, choose a field, a condition and a value.
3. Add more rules if you need them. A contact must match every rule to be enrolled.

The conditions depend on the field's type:

Field type	Conditions
Text	Is, Isn't, Contains, Doesn't contain, Starts with, Ends with
Number	Is, Isn't, Contains, Doesn't contain, Lesser than, Greater than
Drop-down, radio and checkbox	Is, Isn't
Date	After, Before, Exactly, Between, Occurring after, Occurred before
Country	Any Country, or Selected Countries

See Custom Fields for the fields you can filter on.

Changing the trigger later

You can change the trigger of an existing automation, but you must pause it first. See Editing a live automation.

Changing the trigger doesn't enrol anyone retroactively. Contacts already partway through carry on from where they are; the new trigger only governs who is enrolled from now on. Mumara ONE confirms with Trigger Event Changed Successfully.

Next steps

• Automation Actions: what happens once a contact is enrolled
• Worked Examples: a trigger and a branching follow-up, end to end
• Troubleshooting: when a trigger doesn't enrol anyone