Managing and Using Custom Triggers to Activate SMS & Email Flows

Automate personalized communication based on specific customer events or actions. Whether you want to send a welcome message to new subscribers, follow up with abandoned cart reminders, or deliver order confirmations, custom triggers make it easier than ever.

In this article, we'll walk you through managing and using your custom triggers to activate SMS & Email flows.

How it works

What are custom triggers?

Custom triggers are specific events or actions that can automatically initiate SMS and email flows. These triggers are highly customizable, allowing you to tailor your communication based on your unique business needs.

By defining custom triggers, you can automate the delivery of targeted messages, ensuring timely and relevant interactions with your customers. Whether it's a customer signing up for your newsletter, making a purchase, or reaching a specific milestone, custom triggers enable you to create personalized and meaningful experiences that drive engagement and foster loyalty.

Suggested use cases:

• Shipping app integration - integrate your custom shipping app with your SMS and email flows to send automated notifications to customers regarding their order status, shipment updates, and delivery tracking information.
• Custom data collection - collect specific customer data through custom pop-ups or forms and trigger personalized messages based on the collected information, such as preferences, interests, or specific events.
• Post-purchase surveys - automatically send post-purchase surveys to gather valuable customer feedback, allowing you to improve your products, services, and overall customer experience.
• Product recommendation - utilize custom triggers to analyze customer behavior and preferences, then send personalized product recommendations tailored to each individual's interests and purchase history.
• Inventory updates - if you have a custom inventory management system, trigger SMS or email notifications to customers when a product they are interested in is back in stock or when limited quantities are available.

Creating a custom trigger

To create a custom trigger,use the Create a custom customer event endpoint. You can define and set up custom customer events aligning with your unique business requirements.

Once successfully created, the custom trigger will automatically appear on the custom triggers page in SMS & Email, enabling you to seamlessly incorporate it into your flows.

Managing your custom triggers

Once a custom trigger is created, it will automatically appear on your SMS & Email custom triggers page. You’ll see a table with all of your custom triggers along with the following information in each column:

• Display as Trigger - a toggle button that allows you to choose whether or not to display this trigger in your flows.
• Trigger Name - edit the custom trigger name by clicking on it.
• Trigger Type - a drop-down menu with two available options - marketing and transactional. Distinguishing between the two types of flows helps ensure compliance with legal regulations, such as anti-spam laws. It allows you to send marketing messages only to subscribers who have explicitly opted in to receive them.
• Shortcodes - the shortcodes and personalization tags associated with the trigger that will appear when creating your SMS or email. Clicking on the number of shortcodes will open a modal where you can rename them to find each one easily when building your flow messages.

• Date Created - the date the trigger was created.
• Status in Flows - whether or not the trigger is currently used in an active flow.

Clicking on the three dots menu will reveal more actions:

• Create Flow - clicking on this option will directly open the SMS & Email flow builder with the trigger automatically pre-selected.
• Edit Shortcodes - opens up the same modal where you can edit the shortcode names.
• Details - opens up a detailed schema of the trigger event.
• Delete - deletes the custom trigger.

Activating flows with custom triggers

There are two ways to activate a flow using a custom trigger:

1. Clicking on the Create Flow option from the three dots menu mentioned in the previous paragraph.
2. Create a flow from scratch, find and choose the custom trigger from the list of available triggers under the Custom section, and then continue creating your flow as usual.