Automation Triggers

A trigger is an event that initiates an automation or journey. This page details the triggers and options for automation.

Supported triggers per channel:

TriggerAppWebEmailSMSOpen
Custom Event✓✓✓✓✓
Double Opt-In✓
First Seen✓✓✓✓✓
Inactivity✓✓
Location✓
Location Attributes✓
Predicted to Churn✓✓
Subscription List✓✓✓
Tag Change✓✓✓✓✓

Triggers

You configure a trigger in the Setup step in the Automation composer.

Custom Event

The Custom Event trigger initiates an automation or journey when a custom event associated with members of your audience occurs. See: Custom Events.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Custom Event trigger.
  2. Use the Events box to find an event, then click to select from the listed results. The search shows events that occurred in the last 30 days. If the event name you search for does not appear, click Use [search term] to use the event name as typed.
  3. (Optional) Click Add Another to add more events. Airship handles multiple events as a boolean OR.
 Tip

If you are a Radar customer and have configured the Airship and Radar integration, Radar location events and properties will be available for use with the Custom Event trigger.

Filtering Custom Events

When configuring the Custom Event trigger or Cancellation Events, you can filter custom events using numeric values associated with those custom events, or by key/value properties attached to the events. Filtering events this way can help you more precisely target your audience.

 Note

The filter does not show events and event properties for custom events associated with named usersA customer-provided identifier used for mapping multiple devices and channels to a specific individual. . You can still use events associated with named users as triggers, but you must enter their information manually.

Example
If you have a custom event named “Purchase”, with a purchase category fedoras and a value 125.0 representing the dollar amount of the purchase, you can add these criteria to the Purchase event so that your message is only seen by users spending at least $125 on fedoras.
 Note

Acceptable values and operators for event properties are based on the project’s settings. See: Manage Events.

  1. Click Add event properties for the custom event.

  2. Click Add property and search for a property, or click Add event value.

  3. If applicable, select the operator you want to use to evaluate the value or property.

  4. Enter or select the value you want to filter for.

  5. (Optional) Click   to add an alternative for a filter.

  6. (Optional) Click Add property or Add event value to add more filters.

  7. Select ALL/ANY to determine how to evaluate multiple filters and alternatives within each filter.

    • ALL = all criteria must be met (boolean AND)
    • ANY = any criteria must be met (boolean OR)

  8. Click Save.

Double Opt-In

The Double Opt-In trigger initiates an automation when a member of your audience opts in to commercial email messaging. You must provide an opt-in link in the body of the message, and users must follow the link to confirm opting in. For additional requirements and usage details, see: Double Opt-InA process where users who sign up for messaging must confirm opting in before they can receive messages. .

In the Setup step in an automation:

  1. Enable only the Email channel.
  2. Select the Double Opt-In trigger.

First Seen

The First Seen trigger initiates an automation or journey when members of your audience opt in to notifications or open your app for the first time. The behavior of the First Seen trigger varies by channel:

  • Apps: Triggers the automation or journey when users first open your app.
  • Web, SMS, and open channels: Triggers the automation or journey when users opt in to notifications.
  • Email: Triggers the automation or journey when users opt in to commercial notifications.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey, select the First Seen trigger.

 Important

Inactivity

The Inactivity trigger initiates an automation or journey when a member of your audience does not use your app or website for a period of time. The inactivity period begins the later of a) the creation time of the automation or journey, or b) the last app or website activity by the user.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Inactivity trigger.
  2. Enter the period of inactivity in days.

Location

 Note

The Location trigger requires Gimbal integration.

The Location trigger initiates an automation or journey based on an audience member’s device location. You can select a maximum of 20 locations per automation or journey.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Location trigger.

  2. Click Select a Location.

  3. Enter a search term. Results, if any, display on the map and are listed on the Results tab. There are two types of locations available for selection: geofences and beacons.

    Click a result for a detailed view of a location.
    If selecting a geofence, the map will zoom to the selected location. Click and drag, and use the **+/-** zoom controls to change the displayed area.

  4. On the Results tab, check the box next to the locations you want to use as the trigger.

  5. Review the Selections tab, then click Save and continue.

  6. (Optional) Click Select a Location to add more locations.

  7. Choose whether to trigger your automation or journey when the user enters or exits a location.

Location Attributes

 Note

The Location Attributes trigger requires Gimbal integration.

The Location Attributes trigger initiates an automation or journey based on key/value pair metadata associated with a particular location. You can add a maximum of 50 location attributes per automation or journey.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Location Attributes trigger.

  2. Enter a key/value pair for the location you want to use as the message trigger.

  3. (Optional) Click   to add an alternative location attribute.

  4. (Optional) Click Add Another to add more location attributes.

  5. Select ALL/ANY to determine how to evaluate multiple location attributes and alternatives within each location attribute.

    • ALL = all criteria must be met (boolean AND)
    • ANY = any criteria must be met (boolean OR)
     Note

    By default, the automation or journey is triggered if the audience meets ALL the location attributes. For example, if you selected ALL, with attributes half_off and has_cafe, you’d only reach users who enter or exit locations that meet both conditions. If you select ANY, you’d reach all users who enter a location running a half-off campaign as well as all users who enter a location that has a cafe.

  6. Choose whether to trigger your automation or journey when the user enters or exits a location.

Predicted to Churn

The Predicted to Churn trigger initiates an automation or journey when Airship predicts an audience member’s likelihood of becoming inactive, or churning. Predictive Churn analyzes your audience for users that exhibit behaviors indicating they are likely to become inactive, and tags the users as High, Medium, or Low Risk.

 Note

  • Predictive Churn tags are available to customers who purchase predictive analytics as an add-on to either a Performance Analytics or Real-Time Data Streaming pricing plan. Contact Airship Sales for details.
  • To enable Predictive Churn features, go to Settings » Project configuration and click Manage for Predictive AI.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Predicted to Churn trigger.

  2. Select a risk profile.

    • High risk: Users most likely to become inactive.
    • Medium risk: Users who exhibit signs of potentially becoming inactive.
    • Low risk: Users least likely to become inactive.

  3. Choose whether to apply the trigger when the risk is added or removed.

Subscription List

The Subscription List trigger initiates an automation or journey when a member of your audience opts in to or out of a subscription list.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Subscription List trigger.
  2. Search for and select at least one list.
  3. Specify whether to trigger when users opt in to, or opt out of, the list.

Tag Change

The Tag Change trigger initiates an automation or journey when a tag is added or removed from a device.

In the Setup step in an automation or Trigger step in a journey:

  1. Select the Tag Change trigger.
  2. Search for a tag. If the tag you search for does not appear, click Create [search term] to create a new tag. You can select a tag group filter before or after searching.
  3. (Optional) Click Add Another to add more tags. Airship handles multiple tags as a Boolean OR.
  4. Choose whether to apply the trigger when a tag is added or removed.

Trigger Options

Options appear after selecting a trigger.

Cancellation Events

Cancellation events prevent an automation or in-app automation from sending a message if a custom event occurs while the automation is in a delay period. Not supported for the Inactivity trigger.

  1. Enable Cancellation Events.
  2. Complete the same workflow used for the Custom Event trigger. This includes the option to filter the cancellation events.
 Important

Cancellation events require a delay of at least one hour to ensure that there is time for the cancellation event to occur after the original triggering event occurs. In the Delivery step in an automation, you must specify a delay of at least one hour.

Conditions

Conditions are requirements your audience must meet in order to receive a message from an automation. You can base conditions on whether a user has or does not have a specific TagMetadata that you can associate with channels or named users for audience segmentation. Tags are generally descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations, e.g., wine_enthusiast or weather_alerts_los_angeles. Tags are case-sensitive. , Predicted to Churn statusAnalyzes your audience for users that exhibit behaviors indicating they are likely to become inactive, and tags the users as High, Medium, or Low Risk. , or Device PropertyMetadata representing the default attributes and property tags of a device, such as language and time zone settings, OS and browser versions, and notification opt-in status. Device properties are used for audience segmentation. The data used for the tags and attributes is collected automatically from the Airship SDKs, and are updated daily. , or whether or not they are a member of a Subscription ListAn audience list of opted-in devices, browsers, and/or email addresses. .

 Tip

If sending an SMS message, you can use tag conditions to restrict your message audience to a particular Sender IDThe alphanumeric code that your audience will see when they receive messages from you; it is essentially the phone number or name that your SMS messages come from. Members of your audience subscribe (opt in) to each individual sender ID they want to receive messages from. : Either search for a sender ID, or select the Sender ID filter before searching.

  1. Enable Conditions.

  2. Click Add a condition.

  3. Choose whether Any or All of the conditions must be satisfied before the message is sent.

  4. Choose whether audience members must have or not have the tag to receive the message.

    • Has: The user must have the tag/status/device property to receive the message. For a subscription list, this means the user must be a member of (opted in to) the list.
    • Doesn’t Have: The user must not have the tag/status/device property to receive the message. For a subscription list, this means the user must not be a member of (not opted in to) the list.

  5. Search for the data you want to use as a condition. To filter results, click   and make your selection. Search behavior varies by filter:

    • All (no filter selected): Search within all condition types.
    • Tags: Search for primary device tags (tags in the device tag group).
    • Tag Groups: Search for and select a tag group, then search within that tag group.
    • Predicted to Churn: Search for all or part of High, Medium, Low or Predicted only.
    • Subscription List: Search subscription list names only.

    To create a new tag using your search term, click Create [search term].

  6. (Optional) Click Add another condition to add more tag conditions.

Rule Limits

Rule limits cap the number of messages a named user can receive from an automation within a time frame, preventing you from over-messaging your audience. Rule limits are set per automation and apply at the named user level.
  1. Enable Rule Limits.
  2. Click Add a Daily Limit and/or Add an All-Time Limit and enter the maximum number of times a named user can trigger your automation.

Your project-level Message LimitsLimits that cap the number of messages you can send within a specified time frame, preventing you from over-messaging your users. Message limits are set at the project level. and a link to edit those limits appear at the bottom of the pane.