Trigger - contacts enter groups

Overview

Triggering an automation based on a contact’s entry into a SmartPush group is a powerful and flexible feature. By grouping contacts using various group conditions, you can automatically engage with the existing contacts in a group or new contacts when they first enter a group. 

*Notes:

• This trigger is only applicable to stores with Admin URLs including myshopline.com, shoplineapp.com, and shopify.com.
• For stores whose Admin URLs include myshopline.com, this trigger is only applicable to the new editor. The old editor does not support it.
• This trigger is only available for paid plans. 

This article will cover the following:

• Trigger, filter condition, and exit condition rules
• Rules of triggering for existing contacts
• Examples of applicable scenarios
• Changes to the automated task in case of plan downgrades or insufficient quota
• Changes to the automated task when selected segment groups for the trigger are updated/deleted

Trigger, filter condition, and exit condition rules 

Trigger scenario description

Select the “Contact enters the group trigger” and select an established group in the SmartPush - segment groups drop-down menu. When a contact enters a group after meeting the conditions, they also enter the workflow.

Select some business scenarios that the group corresponds to. SmartPush has created several recommended groups in advance which can be applied with one click.

SmartPush supports editing recommended groups based on each merchant’s business model. Click Create to apply the group as a trigger.

Filter condition rules

1. Up to 3 filter conditions can be added.
2. Conditions under a group will all be options for the filtering criteria. 

Exit condition rules

This trigger includes 2 exit conditions:

1. The order count within a specific period, that is when the contact meets the set order count within a specific period, they will exit the workflow without proceeding to the next node.
2. The contact exits one of the segment groups under the “SmartPush - segment groups dropdown menu”. That is, when a contact exits a group for not meeting its conditions, they also exit the workflow without proceeding to the next node.

Objectives of this trigger

Emails will only be sent to subscribed contacts in the group.

Rules of triggering for existing contacts

As previously mentioned, the “Contact enters the group” trigger enters the workflow when a contact meets the conditions of the selected group. But often, when we set up the workflow, a fraction of contacts already meet the conditions of a group. For the existing contacts, SmartPush supports sending emails/SMS in bulk, allowing you to engage both existing contacts and future contacts.

How to set up?

If you want to trigger existing contacts in the group to enter the workflow, switch on the toggle shown in the image below. Click Activate or Update to publish the workflow.

The system will automatically identify and initiate bulk triggering for contacts within the selected group. A confirmation pop-up will then appear, providing the current count of contacts in the chosen group. This count signifies the number of contacts that will enter the workflow.

Existing contacts will promptly enter the workflow upon clicking Confirm trigger. If there's a large number of contacts, it might take some time, but they will enter in order. Ensure your store's plan balance is adequate to trigger the audience; otherwise, insufficient quota will prevent the delivery node from executing

Click Activate without triggering, and no contacts will enter the workflow, the toggle will be switched off, and the workflow will be published.

Examples of applicable scenarios

To guide subscribed but non-purchasing customers to place orders, you can create engagement automation by following the steps below:

First, create a segment group with the conditions “subscription status = subscribing” and “Cumulative order count = 0”.

Second, add the created group under the trigger.

Activate the workflow upon completion. Then the contact will enter it when they meet the conditions (subscription status = subscribing and Cumulative order count = 0).

Q: How is this different from directly sending marketing materials to people in the selected group?

A: Sending marketing materials to people only engages people who meet the conditions of the group at the setup delivery time. However, creating automation with this trigger can be used to send emails to both those who meet the conditions now and those who will meet the conditions in the future. Multiple nodes for sending emails to the group that enters the workflow can be set up as well.

Changes to the automated task in case of plan downgrades or insufficient quota

1. The “Contact enters the group” trigger is only available for paid plans. When you use a free plan for your store, the following notification will be displayed:

If you activate a task that includes this trigger while on a paid plan but your plan is downgraded, the automated task will be updated to “suspended”. A notification will be displayed in the automation list. 

After upgrading your plan, you can manually activate the workflow to resume it (the trigger will not be started during suspension).

2. The quota will be deducted based on the actual number of emails/SMS sent. Please pay close attention when the quota is insufficient or will affect the workflow and the delivery of emails/SMS. The following notification will be displayed.

a. The remaining quota will be displayed at the beginning of the list.

b. A notification will be displayed for corresponding tasks when there is insufficient quota or the quota will be depleted without affecting the automation. However, if the quota is exhausted, the delivery of emails/SMS will be suspended at the delivery node. 

Changes to the automated task when selected segment groups for the trigger are updated/deleted

Update segment groups 

Clicking Update group is applied in an active automated task will prompt the following pop-up window:

The pop-up window will display the active automated tasks the segment group is applied in. 

You can switch on or off the toggle to determine if you want to trigger all contacts in the group in bulk after the update. The toggle is switched off by default. 

Clicking Update while it is off does not trigger all contacts in the group after the update. 

Clicking Update while it is on triggers all contacts in the group after the update in bulk, leading them to enter corresponding automation.

Delete segment groups

Deleting a segment group applied in the “Contact enters the group” trigger will prompt the following pop-up window:

Deleting it will affect automated tasks in which the deleted group is applied. A notification will be displayed in the task list (as shown in the picture below):

Because the groups can function both as triggers and exit conditions when used as triggers, the workflow cannot receive triggers. 

When used as exit conditions, contacts may not exit the workflow as expected.

To learn more about marketing automation, please refer to this article.