Overview

Sparks are events that happen in the future that can set off (ignite) a series of actions. Common events are visits to a certain page, web form submissions and more. 

Types of Sparks

There are two types of Sparks, a Real Time and Daily Spark. A Real Time Spark triggers a set of actions based on an event such as a form submission, email open, website visit, etc. A Daily Spark triggers a set of actions based on a day in any calendar year. Use cases for Daily Sparks are explained in more detail below. 

Creating a Spark

To create a Spark do the following:

• Go to Workflow > Spark
• Enter information on the Configure Spark popup (see screenshot below)

Configure Spark options:

• Name = Name of the Spark
• Trigger = Type of the Spark. Many future events, such as clicking a link in an email, visiting a specific page, making a return website visit, and much more can be used as a Trigger. Choose Real Time to setup a Spark based on an event and choose Day to setup a Spark based off of a Date or Date/Time value in the database. 
• Criteria = Based on the Trigger, will switch from future events to criteria in the database that has a Date or Date/Time data type. 
  
• Options = Checking this box allows the user to select more criteria (demographics, etc.) to further refine when a Spark is ignited. Displayed only for a Real Time Trigger type. 
• Description = A description of the Spark

All Spark actions are repeatable by default:

Creating a Day Trigger

Daily Triggers or Day Triggers use a date or date & time value stored in the database to launch a series of actions. Here are some examples of when a Day Trigger might come in handy:

• Sending a postcard, email or text message a week before someones birthday. 
• Sending reminders to your sales team (or the lead owner) when a customer's contract is about to expire. 
• Sending reminders to your sales team if a customer has a contract that's about to expire with another vendor. 
• Schedule reminders for your support team or sales team to check in at various intervals after a contract begins or before it ends. 

Example: Internal Reminder

In the example below we'll setup a Day Trigger to send the salesperson an internal notification when a customer's contract is 100 days out from expiration:

• Create a new Spark and select Day next to Trigger. 
• When Day is selected from the drop down a "Criteria" field shows up below the Trigger field with a list of all criteria with a data type of Date or Date & Time. 
• Select the criteria you'd like to use as the Trigger. In this case, we'll use "LT Provider Contract Expiration". 

• Set the filter up as shown in the screenshot below:

• Click the Save and Define Actions button
• Add the Send Alert action to the canvas
• Notice that any Lead Liaison Standard or Custom field can be inserted into the alert, including the Date and/or Date & Time value you're using to trigger the action

Example: Birthday Postcard

In the example below, we'll send only our customers a postcard about one (1) week prior to their birthday. 

• Create a new Spark and select Day next to Trigger. 
• When Day is selected from the drop down a "Criteria" field shows up below the Type field with a list of all criteria with a data type of Date or Date & Time. 
• Select the criteria you'd like to use as the Trigger. In this case, we'll use "Birthdate". 

• Set the filter up as shown in the screenshot below. We differentiate customers from prospects, partners, and others using the "Customer Type" field so we'll add that as additional criteria:

• Click the Save and Define Actions button
• Add the Webhook you created to send a postcard to the canvas. More on sending direct mail using webhooks can be found here.