Triggers
Every automation starts with exactly one trigger — the event that enrols a contact into the workflow. You choose it first, and it sits at the top of the canvas.
Click the trigger node to open Select Automation Event, then pick one of five events.
| Trigger | Fires when |
|---|---|
| Contact is added to a list | A contact joins a list. |
| When a contact is edited | An existing contact's record changes. |
| Date based Automation | A date arrives — from a profile field or a fixed date. |
| When a contact opens an email | A contact opens a chosen broadcast. |
| When a contact clicks on a link | A contact clicks a link in a chosen broadcast. |
Contact is added to a list
The most common trigger. A contact is enrolled the moment they join the list.
This covers every route into the list — a signup form, a CSV import, the API, a manual add, and a copy or move performed by another automation's Operation action.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Lists | Enrol from Any list the automation targets, or from Selected lists only. |
| Subscribers Custom Criteria | Optional filter on custom field values. Only contacts matching are enrolled. |
A large import can enrol thousands of contacts at once. Before importing into a list with a live automation, check that's what you want — pause the automation first if it isn't.
When a contact is edited
Enrols a contact when their record changes — a custom field updated, a correction to their details, a change made through the API.
The fields are the same as Contact is added to a list: a Lists choice and an optional Subscribers Custom Criteria filter.
This trigger becomes powerful with custom criteria. Filter on, say,
plan = premium, and the automation enrols a contact at the moment their plan
field is edited to that value — an upgrade journey with no other machinery.
Date based Automation
Fires from a date rather than an action. Birthdays, renewal reminders, trial expiries, anniversaries, or a single fixed announcement date.
Choose the date source
Based on profile date field — reads a date field on the contact's profile, so every contact has their own date. This is what you want for birthdays and renewals.
Based on specific date — one calendar date shared by everyone.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Contact List | Which list to watch. |
| Date field | Which profile date field to read (profile-date mode). |
| Select Date | The fixed date (specific-date mode). |
| Apply Filters | How to compare the date — see below. |
| Days Before | Fire ahead of the date. Options run from 0 day (on the same day) through 1–6 days, 1 and 2 weeks, and 1 and 2 months. |
| Exclude Year | Ignore the year when matching. |
| Exclude Month | Ignore the month when matching. |
| Subscribers Custom Criteria | Optional custom field filter. |
Apply Filters
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Is Today | The date matches today. |
| Occurring before | The date falls before the comparison point. |
| Occurred after | The date falls after the comparison point. |
Exclude Year and Exclude Month
These two switches are what make recurring dates work, and they are easy to miss.
A birthday field holds a full date — say 14 March 1987. Matched literally, it only ever comes true once. Switch Exclude Year on and the comparison ignores 1987, so the automation fires every 14 March, for every contact, every year.
Exclude Month ignores the month in the same way, for day-of-month automations.
If the list has no date field selected, the builder warns "There is no birthday field selected!". Create a date custom field on the list and populate it before building the automation.
Days Before
Combine Days Before with the date to send ahead of it — "one week before the renewal date" is Based on profile date field + renewal date + 1 week.
When a contact opens an email
Enrols a contact when they open one of the broadcasts you nominate. Use it to follow up on interest — the contact showed engagement, so start a journey.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | Which sent broadcast(s) count. |
| Automation expiry | A duration (Days / Weeks / Months / Years) after which the automation stops accepting new enrolments. |
| Lists | Which lists the contact must belong to. |
| Subscribers Custom Criteria | Optional custom field filter. |
Requirements
This trigger reads open events. If the source broadcast was sent without open tracking, there are no opens to react to and the automation never enrols anyone.
The Automation expiry duration exists because engagement triggers would otherwise run forever against an old broadcast. Set it to a window that matches the campaign's useful life.
If the campaign has already started and you switch the automation to Running afterwards, the automation will not pick up what already happened. The interface states this directly: "If the campaign has started and the status of automation is changed into running later, then automation will not proceed."
When a contact clicks on a link
The same idea as the open trigger, but for clicks — a stronger signal of intent.
Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Broadcast | Which sent broadcast(s) count. |
| Link type | Any Link or Custom. |
| Select Email Link | With Custom, the specific URL(s) that count. |
| Automation expiry | Duration (Days / Weeks / Months / Years) after which enrolment stops. |
| Lists | Which lists the contact must belong to. |
| Subscribers Custom Criteria | Optional custom field filter. |
Any Link vs Custom
Any Link enrols on a click anywhere in the broadcast. Custom enrols only on the URLs you nominate — so a click on "View pricing" can start a sales journey while a click on "Read the blog" does not.
As with opens, the source broadcast must have been sent with click tracking enabled.
Subscribers Custom Criteria
Every trigger offers this optional filter. It narrows enrolment to contacts whose custom fields match your conditions, so a single list can feed several different automations without them overlapping.
The panel is titled Subscribers Custom Criteria, with the note "Start automation when custom fields are available".
Changing the trigger later
You can change the trigger of an existing automation, but you must pause it first — see Building Automations.
Changing the trigger does not retrospectively enrol anyone. Contacts already partway through the workflow continue from where they are; the new trigger governs future enrolments only. Mumara confirms with "Trigger Event Changed Successfully — it will continue from current time".
Next steps
- Actions — what happens once a contact is enrolled.
- Worked Example — a trigger and a branching follow-up, end to end.