Choosing the Right Workflow Trigger: Categories at a Glance

Every workflow begins with at least one trigger, and the Add New Trigger menu groups them by topic. Knowing the categories makes it much quicker to find the event you need.

How to find a trigger

1. Open a workflow in Automation > Workflows.
2. Click Add New Trigger.
3. Search by name or browse the categories.
4. Click one and set its filters in the side panel.

Main categories

• Contact: changes to a person's record, including new contacts, field changes, tags, notes, tasks, birthdays, custom date reminders, do-not-disturb changes, and engagement score rules.
• Events: activity from outside the record, such as form and survey submissions, email events (opened, clicked, bounced), replies from customers, link clicks, call details, page views, video watching, inbound webhooks, and scheduled runs that need no contact.
• Appointments: bookings and status changes such as booked, rescheduled, canceled, or no-show.
• Opportunities: new deals, stage moves, status changes (open, won, lost), field changes, and stale deals.
• Payments: invoices, payments received, order forms, orders, subscriptions, refunds, estimates, documents, and coupon activity.
• Courses and Communities: learner progress, offer or product access, logins, group and channel access.
• Store events: abandoned checkouts, orders placed or fulfilled, and product reviews.
• Social and Ads: Facebook and Instagram comments, lead forms from social and ad platforms.
• IVR: callers entering a phone menu.

Picking well

• Prefer the most specific trigger. Customer Booked Appointment is better than a broad contact change for booking follow-ups.
• Add filters so the workflow only starts for the right people.
• You can add several triggers to one workflow; any of them can start it.
• Check Workflow Settings for re-entry rules so repeat events behave as you expect.

Related help

Individual triggers, such as Contact Tag, Payment Received, Order Submitted, and Inbound Webhook, each have their own guide.

Good to know: Type part of the event in the search box instead of scrolling; names are usually literal, such as "Pipeline Stage Changed".