Using Automations: Overview of triggers and actions

In beehiiv, triggers are subscriber events that start an automation, and actions are the steps that follow, or the nodes and branches of the workflow. You can mix and match these to create custom experiences for your subscribers called automated journeys. This article provides an overview of the available triggers and actions you can use when drafting your automations.

Types of triggers

To set a trigger in the workflow builder, you would first need to click the Add Trigger button on a trigger box, or click the Configure step icon in the top-right corner of the trigger box. Both open the same panel on the left. From there, click + Add Trigger and choose one of the following options.

Subscription event triggers

• Signed Up: When a new user signs up, the subscriber is added to the automation, and the workflow begins.
  
  
  Tech Note: Subscribers imported using an import tool are, by default, not captured by the Signed Up trigger. The automation must include a manual import option and subscribers added at import.
• Email Submitted: Triggered when a user submits their email via all or specific subscribe forms. (While the Signed Up trigger only enrolls new subscribers via subscribe form, the Email Submitted trigger allows existing subscribers to be enrolled as well). 
• Survey Submitted: Triggered when a subscriber submits any or a specific beehiiv survey.
• Poll Response: Triggered when a subscriber submits a poll response. 
• Referral Action: Triggered when a subscriber reaches a number of referrals or hits a milestone. 
• Segment Action: Triggered when a subscriber enters or exits a segment. You can also add conditions. 

Paid subscription triggers

• Upgraded: When a user purchases a paid subscription, the subscriber is added to the automation. 
• Downgraded: When a user cancels their paid subscription but stays subscribed to the free tier, the subscriber is added to the automation .

Other available triggers

• Added by API: When you want to create a segment based on subscribers or information added by API.
• Manual: When you want to create a segment and manually add all subscribers in that segment to an automation.
• Unengaged: When a subscriber has not opened or clicked an email for a specified amount of time.

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Types of actions

The Actions panel lives on the workflow canvas and can be collapsed or expanded using the icon in the top right of the panel. These are the different types of actions you can add to your automation workflow. 

Messages

• Send Email: This allows emails to be sent to the specified subscriber in the workflow. The stats for these emails are shown below the Performance chart of the Overview for the automation.
  
  
  Note: Some functionalities, like polls, are not available when using the Send Email node.

Data

• Update Subscription: This action will update the subscriber’s subscription details such as status and custom fields. 

Delays

• Wait Until: The Wait Until node lets you specify that the action takes place at an exact day, time, or timezone.
• Time Delay: Allows you to add a time delay to the trigger as minutes, hours, or days. 

Flow control

• True/False Branch: Lets you split the workflow into sectioned true and false paths based on whether specified conditions are met.
• Enroll in Automation: You can enroll the subscribers in the workflow in your other automations.