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A trigger is the event that pulls a contact into your automation. Each automation has exactly one trigger; the trigger’s settings control who gets in and how often.

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Trigger events

What’s available depends on your connected integrations:

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Store events (Shopify / WooCommerce)

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Retainful events

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Custom events

Any event your own systems send through the Events API can trigger an automation — a booking confirmed, a subscription renewed, a quiz completed. The event’s data is available for filters and personalization.

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Trigger filters

Filters narrow which events qualify, using the event’s own data. Examples:
  • Order total is greater than 100
  • Checkout currency is USD
  • List is “VIP waitlist”
An event that doesn’t pass the filters simply doesn’t start the flow for that contact.

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Audience filters

Where trigger filters look at the event, audience filters look at the contact — their properties, segment membership, or history. Example: only enter contacts whose order count is 1 (first-time buyers).

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Re-entry rules

What happens when the same contact triggers the flow again?
A contact is only ever in one run of a given automation at a time — triggering it again mid-flow doesn’t create a second parallel run.

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Exit early

Flows can drop a contact out before the end when the goal is reached — most importantly, a cart recovery flow should stop as soon as the shopper completes their purchase, so nobody gets a “you forgot something!” email about an order they already placed.
Exiting on the goal is not automatic — it happens only if you configure an exit rule. For cart recovery, the rule to set is Order paid or Order fulfilled since the start of the flow.