Editor Automations

The editor of the Automations module looks like this:

In this screen you will see:

An edit menu in the header with gray icons and buttons
An Options menu on the left with Triggers, Actions, Conditions and Flow.
The canvas where you build the flow. You always start a flow with a trigger.

1. Menu in the header

The edit menu in the header looks like this:

Button	Function
	Save Spotler saves automatically after you save yourself once, but the safest way is to save your automation yourself every now and then. In this way you build multiple versions of your automation.
	View This function opens a preview of your automation. You can see the flow of your automation and from the preview you can save the flow as an image (.jpg)
	Test automation With this function you test an automation based on a contact. Read more about Automation testing here.
	Undo Does a change turn out differently than expected? Use this function to undo the change.
	Redo Too much undone? Then you can easily perform an action again with this.
	Button issue You will see this button when there is a problem with your automation. Click on the arrow and the problem will be shown.
	Button No issues Spotler checks whether your automation is complete. If there are no problems, you will see this in the header.
	Menu Library Under this menu is the option to save your automation as a template. In this way you can easily use your automation as a basis for new automations. When you save your automation as a template, you will find it in Step 2 when creating a new automation
	Button Help The Help button allows you to search for articles directly in the Spotler Help Center. In addition, suggestions are shown that have to do with the Automations module.
	Button Close editor Are you satisfied with your automation? Save it and then click on Close editor to return to the step-by-step plan and complete your automation.

2. Menu Options on the leftside

The Options menu on the left side of your screen looks like this:

The menu is divided into several submenus:

Triggers
Actions
Conditions
Flow

Triggers

A trigger is always a starting point for an automation. There is no automation without a trigger. Which trigger you use depends on the event or action that should serve as the start of your automation.

Several options are possible:

Button	Function
	Form Every completed form can be a trigger for an automation. Think of a completed registration form as a trigger for a welcome campaign. But also completed application forms for white papers and brochures are excellent triggers and can be a start for your lead nurturing campaign. If you choose this trigger, you get the option to create a form that you have created within Spotler.
	Survey Send a thank you email to the respondent with the entered data. And immediately use the handy internal notification email to yourself or your colleagues. If you choose this trigger, you will be given the option to select a survey that you have created within Spotler.
	Tag added Have you used tags before? Then can you can start an automation based on that tag. You always link a tag in Spotler to the behavior of a contact that your automatic campaign goes through. You appreciate this behavior with such a tag. Think of a contact who requests a brochure from you and also download it from a confirmation email. Any contact for example, that performs this action will be tagged Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL). In Spotler it is possible to start campaigns with the trigger Tag attached. In this example you can think of a nurturing campaign that all your contacts receive with the tag MQL.
	Score change Marketers don't just want to add tags, but to those tags also assign a score. Suppose your contacts are not alone can request brochures from you, but also, for example, a can follow the online demo with you. An applicant for a brochure appreciate with the tag MQL and for example the score +10 and the requester of the online demo gets the tag MQL and the score +50. In Spotler it is possible to start automations after a score change. In this example you can think of a contact that after the request of a brochure also requests an online demo and from +10 to +60 goes. You can leave a notification on such a score change go to the Sales department with details of the contact to get this to follow.
	E-mail bounce Bounces are annoying, but they also offer opportunities. The account managers in your organization they probably want to follow up. Combine these trigger with the action Email notification, SMS send or Change profile information for the automatic bounce tracking. Add a target group filter on the notification, so that it goes to the right account manager or to yourself.
	External trigger Trigger Spotler automations through an API link from an external system. Think, for example, of a checkmark that is activated on a contact card for a welcome campaign, invitation to a survey or brochure request. These can then be triggered automatically. If you choose this trigger, you will see a code. This code is needed so that your system can signal Spotler to start an automation. The label that is given has the same name as you specified for the automation. Want to know more about the API and triggering automations? Then read the manual for the API.
	Anniversary Send a congratulation with a “gift” in the form of a discount voucher a few days before or on the birthday date. Choose a catchy subject line so that your email stands out in the inbox. If you choose this trigger, you set when the trigger should go off to go. Is this on the day of the birthday, before or after?
	Personal date field Besides a birthday date, there are also other personal dates for contacts. For example, consider a date for maintenance of a product, a contract date, a travel date or a date of a booked performance. Send a reminder a month in advance or monitor customer satisfaction afterwards. Note: the trigger only works for future data. Post-mailing is not possible in campaigns. If you choose this trigger, you select the date field that you want to use. This depends on what is set up in your Spotler account. There are a number of default date fields when you have Spotler eCommerce: First Purchase Date, First Offline Purchase Date, Sign Up Date, Last Purchase Date, Last Offline Purchase Date, and Change Date.
	Specific date Do you organize events? Then this trigger can be useful to start your campaign at a fixed time. You can read an example of such a campaign in the article Campaign: Event.
	Period of inactivity Make sure you stay in the spotlight of your target audience. With this trigger you can create a reactivation campaign.
	Audience You set this trigger when you want to start an automation based on a contact being added to an audience. When a contact is added to an audience, an automation will be triggered. However, if the contact was already in the audience but added again through a sync, the automation won’t be triggered. It will only trigger after the contact is removed and then re-added. This allows for multiple triggers for the same contact, if the automation permits. To set up this trigger, the audience must be present in the Mail+ account.

Whichever trigger you choose, you will see the option: Filter when setting it up. A filter is useful when not everyone is allowed to go through your automation, but a contact must meet certain characteristics. Think, for example, of language or type of customer. By default, no filter is set.

You set a filter by clicking on the filter icon. Then a pop-up will appear:

Select the type of filter you want to set. A dropdown-menu with list names appears for both the Dynamic and the Static list.

Actions

With the options that fall under the Actions submenu, you determine what should happen in response to the trigger. For example, sending a notification email or a confirmation email. There is a distinction between Send actions and Contact actions.

The submenu of Actions looks like this:

Button	Function
	Email If you choose this action, you select a message. You can choose all messages from the Messages module that are set to Final. For example, you can send a confirmation email immediately when someone has completed a form or, for example, a birthday email based on the birthday date trigger.
	SMS Do you have mobile numbers of your contacts? Why not text a bounced contact and ask them to provide the correct address? Or send a see you later text message as a reminder to arrive on time for an event.
	E-mail notification Filled out form? Survey completed? Address bounced? Be quick and don't wait until you are logged in again. Have an email notification follow these triggers. This way you immediately see what your contacts are doing. If you choose this action, you select a message. You can choose all messages from the Messages module that are set to Final.
	SMS notification The same idea as an E-mail notification, but a notification by SMS. Note: This is only possible for Dutch mobile numbers.
	Update profile Update profile is interesting in lead nurturing campaigns where you can change the status of a contact from suspect to prospect and later to customer. If you choose this action, you select a database field that you want to change. When you choose an entry field such as Language, you enter which value must be entered. Then you indicate when the change should take place. If you select a database field that consists of several options, you check which field must be changed. There are two options. You can ensure that a field is checked or unchecked. Check Uncheck Then you indicate when the change should take place.
	Add/Remove Tag This option allows you to tag a contact so that it will be placed under a specific label with similar contacts. Or you just remove a tag. Suppose you work with different buyer personas, you can, for example, assign this as a label to a contact based on different actions.

As with triggers, you can also apply filters to the actions.

Conditions

With the options under Conditions it is possible that a contact follows different paths, namely a yes path or a no path within your automation. This is based on an action earlier in your automation flow.

There are several conditions:

Button	Functie
	Anniversary Suppose you have a birthday campaign where you want to send a message with a discount code a few days before the birthday. And to that message you applied a condition; namely check whether the message has been clicked. Then yes and no paths arise. And as soon as there are yes and no paths, the timing of the campaign is different per contact, even when paths merge again. With the Anniversary condition you ensure a fixed point within your campaign. See an example of this condition in our default template: Birthday.
	Personal date field The personal date field condition waits within your automatic campaign until the date has passed before a contact continues your campaign. Examples of personal data are: training date, customer date, donor date.
	Specific date Like the Birthday and Personal Date Field conditions, this condition also waits for the date to expire. Only in this case you set a fixed date in the campaign itself. This condition is useful when you organize events on fixed dates. For example, you want to sent a survey about the event for all the contacts at the same date. You can see an example of this condition in our standard template: Event.
	Click With this condition you set a yes path for 'clicked' and a no path for 'not clicked'. Suppose you send a message as a result of downloading a white paper and you ask whether the information was clear with a button Ask your question. Depending on the click you define your actions. If you choose this condition, you select the link that you want to use as a condition. No condition for opens? It is true that there is no condition for opens. If you look at conversion and reliability of the ratio, the clicks are more relevant to take action than the opens.
	Email bounce Is there a bounce within your automation flow? With this condition you can take action by, for example, sending a notification to your account manager. This is especially useful if you have a nice extensive flow and you want to check whether you are reaching every contact. If contacts bounce early, you can also take early action.
	Tag With this condition you select a tag that you have previously created. The check is made whether or not the contact is tagged with this value.
	Score In the Score condition, you first select a tag and then indicate what the score must meet (greater than, less than, between, etc.). Set when a contact should follow a no path.
	Form response You use the Form response condition when you want to take action if a contact does not fill out a form. Here too, two paths arise. If you choose this condition, you set after how many days a contact must follow the no-path, when the form is not filled.
	Survey response You use the Survey response condition when you want to take action if a contact does not complete a survey. Here too, two paths arise. If you choose this condition, you set after how many days a contact must follow the no-path, when the survey is not filled.

Flow

The last submenu is Flow. Here you can apply the Go To option.

Button

Functie

Go to
This option allows you to refer the contact to a point earlier in your flow. This is useful when you want a contact to follow a previously created path.

You can set this if, for example, a contact responds to a reminder, but not to the previously sent message. You can then put such a contact on the yes path of the previous message after the reminder. That saves time, because then you don't have to design and set up that yes path again.

The canvas

On the right side you have the canvas. You always start with the trigger and from there you build up the rest of the flow through actions and any conditions. With your mouse you drag the different options from the menu on the left side of the canvas.

Remove triggers en actions

If you want to remove an action or a trigger, use your right mouse button for the option to remove.

Paths

When you use a condition you create two paths. A yes path and a no path. You can do this, for example, by setting the Click condition. What should happen to someone who clicks? And what should happen if someone doesn't click within a certain time period?

You can merge paths. This ensures that at a certain point in your automation all contacts follow the same path again. An example could be after a change has taken place in the paths, after which a notification email is sent to an account manager, regardless of which path the contact has gone through.

Removing paths
Do you want to delete one path or multiple paths? This is also possible with your right mouse menu. Then choose how you want to delete the path.

Test automation

You can test your automation via the Automations editor. There are several steps you take to test your automation:

Click on the following icon in the header of the editor:

The following popup will appear:
Click on the magnifying glass to select a contact.
In the pop-up that follows, choose whether you want to test a contact from your test group or a contact from your database.

It can be interesting to test with different contacts, especially if you use different paths. Select the contact and click Ok.
Then indicate the start date and time:
Click the Test Automation button.
You will then see a schedule. In this schedule you can see the days and times when someone goes through your automation flow. If you come to an action with a message or form, a preview of the relevant message or form is shown on the right included personalization.
With the buttons Back and Next you can go through the schedule further or back again.
When using yes-and-no paths, click Yes or No, depending on which paths you want to see for a contact.
Click on the Close button at the top right if you want to leave the test schedule.

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