Trigger

A trigger is the “when” of an automation: the event that starts a sequence of actions. Typical triggers in marketing: someone sends a message or a keyword, comments on a post, starts a bot, subscribes, places an order, abandons a cart, stays inactive for a set time, reaches a date or enters a certain segment. Another system can also trigger an automation through a webhook.

For a small business, choosing the right trigger is what makes automation feel helpful rather than spammy. A welcome message right after subscription, a reminder a day before an appointment or a follow-up after three silent days reaches people at the moment it is relevant.

Example: an online course sets up three triggers: a new subscriber gets a welcome message with a free lesson, the keyword “price” sends the price list, and a person who has not opened the course for a week gets a friendly nudge.

In AI SMM chat flows can start from a message, a bot start, a new subscriber, a schedule, inactivity, an order, a webhook or a segment.