Overview

Behavior-based automations, also known as 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 Behavior Automations

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

Creating a Behavior Automation

To create a behavior automation do the following:

• Go to New > Automation
• Select either Behavior or Date

Configure automation options:

• Name = Name of the automation
• Trigger = The trigger for the automation (document download, form submission, etc.)
• Criteria = Used for a Date based automation
• Description = A description of the automation

All automation actions are repeatable by default:

Creating a Date Trigger

Date 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 date 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 date trigger to send the salesperson an internal notification when a customer's contract is 100 days out from expiration:

• Create a new automation and select Date 
• When Date is selected from the drop down a "Criteria" field shows up with a list of all criteria with a data type of Date or Date & Time. 
• Select the criteria you'd like to use. In this case, we'll use "Last Donation Date". 

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

• Click the Next 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 automation and select Date. 
• When Date is selected from the drop down a "Criteria" field shows up with a list of all criteria with a data type of Date or Date & Time. 
• Select the criteria you'd like to use. In this case, we'll use "Birthday".

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

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