Triggers explained: Message received STARTS WITH...

Neelke Stadler Updated by Neelke Stadler

We explain how it will work when you set up an automation to trigger when a message received STARTS WITH a specific keyword (or list of keywords).

Once you've selected the "Message Received" trigger, you'll be prompted to specify the criteria that your trigger will respond to. If you choose the STARTS WITH trigger, any message you receive from a user that starts with the defined keyword/phrase/number/emoji will result in the selected action.

For example:

  • Let's say the trigger you define is "plan". This trigger will be activated when users message you with "plan", "plan for the week", or "planning" but also when users message you with "plants are my favourite" or "planets".
Use this trigger type with caution to prevent unintended automation results. When you want to use a number as a trigger (e.g. “5”), rather use the exact match trigger.

You can also add a list of keywords. Each new line will count as a new keyword (simply hit "enter" to create a new line), and each keyword will trigger the same response.

For example:

  • You can share a survey link as a response whenever users message you with any of the following words: "feedback", "compliment", "complaint" or "rating".

In the user Turn.io interface, adding a list of keywords looks like this:

Turn.io also uses conservative "fuzzy matching" on keywords for when users send messages with typos. If none of your triggers fire (note that if you have a catch-all trigger, then one trigger will always fire), Turn.io will attempt to match possible typos. For example, when someone sends "joim", it will fire the "join" keyword trigger. Note, however, that fuzzy matching won't catch all typos and that it doesn't work on words that contain fewer than four characters.

Interested to understand the other trigger types?

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