# Entry Rules

### Entry Rules

Triggers that determine when a customer can enter the workflow

#### What is an Entry Rule?

The Entry Rule lets you restrict customers from entering the automation workflows if they have entered into the workflows in the last X days.

This will help you to prevent customers from entering the same workflow simultaneously within a short period.

> **For example  1-** if you set this rule, the customer won’t enter the automation more than once. If the limit is one day, the customer won’t get any emails from this automation for 24 hours using the same automation.\
> \
> **For example 2 -** Let’s say we have an abandoned cart recovery workflow with 3 emails set to be sent at different time intervals (after 1 hour, after 1 day, after 2 days)
>
> * John visits your store and abandons a cart
> * We will enter the abandoned cart recovery workflow and start receiving emails
> * John revisits the store the next day and abandons another cart
> * He will re-enter the workflow while his first cart is still in the workflow
>
> Now, John will get multiple emails within a few days as he entered the workflow twice simultaneously. It will lead to confusion and he might feel annoyed for receiving emails back-to-back.
>
> If the Entry Rule was set up for the workflow, he would’ve not reentered the workflow after abandoning the second cart.

### Use case

Sometimes, a customer may abandon multiple carts simultaneously. In such scenarios, if you set up an Entry Rule for your abandoned cart recovery workflow, it will prevent the customer from entering the workflow more than once.

#### Set up process

1\. Login to your [**Retainful dashboard**](https://app.retainful.com/service/automation) -> Automation

2\. Edit workflow or Create a workflow

3\. Click on ‘**Trigger**’ to find the trigger settings on the right side.

4\. Click on Entry Rule -> Add Rules

5\. Select ‘**Skip if the customer entered the workflow**’ -> In the last 

6\. Enter the days and click on ‘**Add**’

 7\. After adding the Entry Rule, click on the ‘**Save Rule**’ button to add the Entry Rule to the workflow.

<figure><img src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXercGCjAaBl5lhZ_Z8D4XDkfNHKF39peB_3uWgSfL37qf4k5gGjbNrn6UXBezoL9rOmNLdjonAI_o4AUgKulCUDsrsJ9uzbQ3ijzbxxRj8QTJuEZ0I2tLXQnC3MmVqoZcVBrzdZVDHchtanRUIJ9d7Lrgsp?key=Ho1iXyq1YhqmnJh0kGHBTFh6" alt="" width="375"><figcaption><p>Entry Rules</p></figcaption></figure>


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