Triggers

A trigger is the basic condition of the workflow to begin. One workflow can only have one trigger.

Trigger outputs

Each trigger listed below, except for the Event node, has only one output (ON).

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The ON is the output where all the filters, actions, and modifiers should be connected.

Trigger types

On a date

The On a date trigger is used to time your workflow to a specific date based on the UTC timezone. There are two options to define the date:

• One-time: the workflow will run on a specific date and time, or right after the activation (e.g. rewarding all customers or specific customer segments at one specific time)
  The One-time trigger option is not available for general workflows as they are designed to run long-term.

• Repeat: the workflow will run periodically (once a day/week/month/year) at a specific time of the day, within a given timeframe (e.g. rewarding customers on their birthday)

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'On a date' node’s configuration interface of campaign workflows

Pre-filter date-triggered workflows

Since On a date workflows run for every single customer in the loyalty scheme, this process can be time-consuming. To enhance the performance of the process, we introduced the pre-filtering option to exclude customers from the workflow execution thus reducing the number of times the workflow has to run. 

The example below shows the case of rewarding your group of customers with a campaign bonus who have a score of 1000 points. Due to pre-filtering, the rule is only applied to this relatively minor group of customers.

To improve the performance of pre-filters, please consider SQL querying best practices, like the order of criteria, quality of criteria, and quality of operators. E.g.:

• Use boolean criteria

• Start with the most selective criteria (the filter that will cause the greatest reduction in the number of records)

• Use positive operators instead of negative ones (equals instead of not equals)

• Avoid contains and does not contain operators

Event

An Event trigger is used to trigger the workflow execution right when a customer event is being registered. An event can be any type of action, with a few exceptions, that happens in the context of the loyalty program (eg. Checkout, Optin, Tier up, etc.).
The Event trigger has only one configuration field. In this multiple-select field, you can add the customer event(s) that will trigger the workflow to begin. In case you add more than one event, the workflow is triggered when any of the selected events are being registered (e.g. you want to trigger an email notification to customers when they win an Instagram contest configured in the Instagram contests module OR a contest configured in the Contest lite module).

As mentioned above, the Event trigger has more than one output: modifiers and actions

Challenge progress change

A Challenge process change trigger is used to trigger actions when customers make progress in completing a challenge created under the Challenge module. Thus, this trigger is only available if the Challenge module is enabled in your loyalty program.

This trigger has only one configuration field which is a dropdown field to select the challenge that the workflow should monitor. The workflow will be triggered every time a customer makes an action that has been defined as a criterium of the selected challenge.

Historical events

A Historical event trigger is used to run workflows based on events that have already been registered in the database previously. An event can be any type of action that happened in the context of the loyalty program (eg. Checkout, Optin, Tier up, etc.)

There are two settings for a Historical event trigger:

• Event: define a customer event that must have been completed in the past for the workflow to begin (e.g. you want to give an instant coupon reward to customers who made a purchase previously)

• Start and end dates: filter the workflow execution to events that were registered within a given timeframe in the past in the UTC timezone.
  The workflow will only begin if the event is made within a given timeframe (e.g. you want to give an instant reward to customers who upgraded to a higher level last year)

Both settings can be applied to campaign- and general workflows as well.

After you have configured your whole workflow you will need to trigger workflow execution. Save the workflow and click ‘Schedule’ in the upper right corner and confirm your choice in the dialog that appears. The status of the workflow is automatically updated to scheduled and then to completed when the workflow has run. Check the logs to see the results of the workflow execution.