Table of Contents

The available trigger types in Journeys

Raquel Updated by Raquel

When you create a no-code Journey, the first thing you need to do is to setup a trigger type.

You can define your trigger rule directly on the canvas or skip it while you are testing. But don't forget to return to it later: without a trigger, people can't enter a specific chat journey!

How to set up a trigger?

The available trigger options are:

  • When a message is received
  • Before or after an event
  • Specific time
  • Catch all

Let's dive into what each one mean and how to use it.

Message Received

This trigger type considers the user's message. If the message from the user matches the specific keyword, they will get the defined response.

For text fields, you can choose the condition to match one of the following rules
  • Is exactly (This is default condition)
  • Isn't exactly
  • Is any of
  • Starts with
  • Starts with any of
  • Ends with
  • Ends with any of
  • Contains
  • Contains any of
  • Doesn't contain
  • Is empty
  • Isn't empty
For boolean (true/false) and date fields, you can choose between
  • Is
  • Isn't
  • Is empty
  • Isn't empty

Two types of time-based triggers

You can choose between a relative or specific time trigger. Read more in the Article: How to set up time-based triggers?

  1. Before or after an event, e.g. 2 days before your appointment.
  1. At a specific time, e.g. every Monday at 8 am. You can set this to be a once-off or a recurring trigger.

Catch all

You use a catchall trigger when you have a chatbot service and need to direct users back to your menu when they send messages your service is not explicitly set up to handle. Some people call it an error trigger because it will fire when a user wrongfully interacts with a bot.

You should know the following:

  1. Your catchall message should be informative to help users understand what the bot can assist them with and what not. Use it to direct them back to the available options/menu.
  2. Remember that users should always know where to find a human. WhatsApp calls it a clear human escalation path. It is advised to include details contact details etc. in this message.
  3. If you combine a contact profile field or custom field to the Catch All trigger you can have different catchall messages for different Audiences.

Create and manage your entire chat service on the Journey page. Have fun!

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