What is a Flow Trigger?
Every Flow starts with a trigger, which is the condition your customers must meet for the trigger to fire and drive your customer through your flow.
When a customer does something specific (like adding a product to their cart), the trigger "wakes up" the flow and executes the actions within the flow, such as sending a message.
Each trigger corresponds to a single customer action and each individual customer must meet the trigger and its conditions in order to fire. A customer cannot fire a trigger on behalf of another.
How Can Flow Triggers Help?
Flow triggers help you:
Automate your SMS marketing based on customer behavior
Send timely, relevant messages without manual work
Respond instantly to customer actions
Create personalized experiences for different customer actions
Save time while staying connected with customers
Trigger Types & SMS Compliance
SMS marketing is regulated in the US and many other parts of the world, so carriers treat these two categories very differently to stay compliant with regulations.
For this reason, each Trigger includes a Compliance field in its Flow Properties where you must specify your message type: “Promotional” or “Transactional”.
Choosing the right Compliance setting between Promotional and Transactional is critical for legal compliance and message deliverability. Your choice should match both the trigger you're using and the nature of your messages.
As a general rule, any trigger or message with marketing intent (offering discounts, promotions, sales, new products, or anything aimed at increasing sales) should be classified as Promotional.
Messages that are purely informational, such as order notifications, should be classified as Transactional.
TL;DR:
Promotional Triggers:
Choose ‘Promotional’ if you’re sending marketing messages in your flow (e.g., "Added to Cart" or "Price Dropped" triggers).
Transactional Triggers:
Choose ‘Transactional’ if you’re sending order updates and customer service messages (e.g., "Order Placed" or "Order Delivered" triggers.
Click here to learn more about SMS messaging compliance
Available Flow Triggers
Here are all currently available Triggers organized by their most common Compliance type:
Promotional Triggers
Trigger Event | How it is activated | When to use it (examples) | Suggested Compliance |
Subscriber Joined | A new subscriber joins your SMS list. | Sends a welcome message, first-purchase offer, or onboarding sequence. | Promotional |
Checkout Started | A customer begins checkout but hasn't completed it. | Sends a reminder to complete checkout, often with an incentive. | Promotional |
Added to Cart | A customer adds a product to their cart without completing checkout. | Sends a cart reminder to encourage completing the purchase. | Promotional |
Visited Store | A customer visits your online store. | Re-engages browsers with a promotional nudge. | Promotional |
Viewed Product | A customer views a specific product page. | Follows up on interest with more info or an offer on that product. | Promotional |
Back in Stock | A previously out-of-stock product becomes available again. | Notifies interested subscribers that a product they wanted is back. | Promotional |
Low Inventory | A product's stock drops below a set threshold. | Creates urgency to purchase before the item sells out. | Promotional |
Price Dropped | A product's price is reduced. | Alerts subscribers to a discount on a product they've shown interest in. | Promotional |
Added from Flow | A subscriber is added to this flow from another flow (e.g., via an "Add to Flow" step). | Chains flows together for multi-step campaigns. | Promotional |
Entered List | A subscriber is added to a specific list or segment. | Sends targeted messaging to subscribers newly added to a list. | Promotional |
Segment Match | A subscriber meets the criteria of a defined segment. | Sends messaging tailored to subscribers matching specific behavior or attributes. | Promotional |
Subscriber Replied | A subscriber responds to a previous SMS. | Triggers a follow-up conversation based on their reply. | Promotional |
Keyword Triggered | A subscriber texts in a specific keyword. | Powers keyword-based opt-ins, giveaways, or automated responses. | Promotional |
Link Clicked | A subscriber clicks a link in one of your SMS messages. | Follows up based on demonstrated interest from a click. | Promotional |
Transactional Triggers
Trigger Event | How it is activated | When to use it (examples | Suggested Compliance
|
Order Placed | A customer successfully completed a purchase. | Sends an order confirmation with purchase details and what to expect next. | Transactional |
Fulfillment Created | The order has been fulfilled/packaged and a shipment (or fulfillment) record was created. | Notifies the customer their order is being prepared and typically includes tracking when available. | Transactional |
Order Delivered | The customer's package was successfully delivered to their address. | Notifies them that their order has arrived and is ready for them. | Transactional |
Order Out for Delivery | The carrier has marked the package as out for delivery. | Alerts the customer that delivery is expected soon (often same day). | Transactional |
Order Ready for Pickup | The order is ready to be picked up at a store/location. | Notifies the customer where/when to pick up and any pickup instructions. | Transactional |
Order In Transit | The package has shipped and is moving through the carrier network. | Sends shipping/tracking updates so the customer knows progress and ETA. | Transactional |
Attempted Delivery | The carrier attempted delivery but couldn’t complete it. | Notifies the customer about the attempt and provides next steps (reschedule, pickup, address check). | Transactional |
Other Trigger Type
A Scheduled trigger type is also available, letting you fire a flow at a specific date and time you set, rather than in response to a customer action.
Flow Properties
1. Once Per Subscriber
What it does: This setting controls whether a subscriber can enter a flow multiple times or just once.
Use Case: Enable this setting for flows that should only run once per person, like welcome series or one-time promotions. This prevents customers from receiving duplicate messages and helps manage your SMS budget.
Disable this setting for flows that should repeat based on behavior, like abandoned cart reminders or replenishment flows.
2. Subscriber Filters
What it does: Controls what additional conditions must be met in order for the flow to trigger.
When to add Subscriber Filters: There are many Subscriber Filters. You use them when you want to have a granular control over when the flow is triggered and for which subscribers.
Adding multiple conditions: You can add multiple filter rules and combine them using AND or OR logic:
AND: ALL the conditions must be met (e.g., Number of Orders ≥ 2 AND Last Order Date within last 4 weeks)
OR: At least one of the conditions must be met (e.g., Number of Orders ≥ 2 OR Total Spent ≥ $100)
You can create complex targeting by combining multiple filters with AND/OR rules.
3. Frequency Filter
What it does: Controls how often a subscriber can enter the same flow.
Why it's important: Prevents over-texting the same subscriber and reduces message fatigue.
Best practice: Use a 30-day entry frequency to avoid overwhelming customers.
4. Cancellation Trigger
What it does: Prevents the flow from firing if the Cancellation Trigger conditions are met.
When to use: Use cancellation triggers to stop a flow from sending when certain actions make it irrelevant. For example, cancel an abandoned cart/checkout flow if the customer completes their purchase.
You can add multiple cancellation triggers using the same AND or OR logic described in the Subscriber Filters
💡Tip:
Still have questions?
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