Overview

Automated messages can be triggered in Cordial via three sending methods:

• API: Used to trigger messages via API calls. Individual message recipients are specified in the API call.
• Event triggered: Used to send messages based on a contact's real-time behavior, or a change to a contact's attributes. Audience rules can be used to create audience segments.
• Recurring: Used when a message is sent automatically based on a set schedule. Audience rules are used in conjunction with the schedule to determine when a message is sent and to which audience segment.

API sending method

The API sending method is used to trigger messages via REST API using the POST /automationtemplates/{key}/send call.

Enable the API triggered sending method 

1. To create a new automated message or edit an existing draft, log in to Cordial and select Message Automation from the left sidebar.

Make sure to save the message key. You must reference the message key when making the API call in order to send the message.

2. Complete the Message Header and Message Content areas and select Publish.

3. Choose the API sending method from the left navigation bar in your message automation.

4. Click the Enable button to enable the sending method.

The published message will now be available to trigger via the POST /automationtemplates/{key}/send API call. All subscribed and valid contacts are automatically part of the audience, and the message recipients are specified in the API call itself.

If you need to stop API triggered messages from sending, and do not have access to an API dev resource, you can disable the API sending method.

• Learn more about sending automated messages via the API here.

Event triggered sending method

The event triggered sending method sends a message as the result of a contact's behavior or a change to a contact's attribute.

The available event triggered methods are:

• A change in a contact attribute value
• When a contact is added to a list
• When a change is made to a contact attribute supplement record
• When an order is created or updated 
• A contact's real-time behavior
  • System events
  • Custom events

Contact your CSM to enable supplement, order, and system event triggers in your account. Custom event triggers are enabled by default.

Some examples of the types of messages that take advantage of event triggers include: 

• Welcome message
• Abandon cart message
• Browse abandon message

Enable the event triggered sending method

1. To create a new automated message or edit an existing draft, log in to Cordial and select Message Automation from the left sidebar.

2. Complete the Message Header and Message Content areas and select Publish.

3. Choose the Event Triggered sending method from the left navigation bar.

4. Select the desired trigger event and associated options. You have the option to add an audience rule to filter contacts who can get the message (i.e. exclusion lists) after they qualify for the trigger.

Use case

Below is an example of a custom-named event (browse) with a conditional event property (Women's category) used to trigger the message. When the qualifying event is passed to the system, the message will send.

5. Click the Enable button to enable the sending method.

Only events that occur after a message is published can trigger the message send. For example, if you have a message set to send 30 days after a specified event (add to cart, browse, message send, etc.), the first message will be sent 30 days after the first event occurs. To begin sending immediately, use the recurring sending method and send messages based on events that happened in the past.

• You can find detailed instructions and examples of event triggered messages here.

Create contact attribute supplement triggers

At this time, contact attribute supplement triggers require a feature enabled on your account. Please contact your CSM with your use case.

Contact attribute supplements allow you to store additional data about a contact. With this feature, you can trigger message automations and orchestrations based on changes to this data.

1. To get started, log in to Cordial and navigate to Data > Supplement Data and select New.

2. Select the Use as a contact attribute checkbox.

It helps if you've added at least one record so the fields show up in the UI.

3. Select Save Supplement. Once you have a contact attribute supplement created, you can start to build your message automation.

4. In your Message Automation, select Event Triggered in the Sending Methods sidebar on the left.

5. Select When a change is made to a contact attribute supplement record as the trigger event and choose the supplement that will initiate the trigger. The field must change either from one value to another, or from no value to the matching condition in the UI

6. Select the Add Conditional Filter button if you want to ensure this automation runs only when the supplement record meets specific criteria.

If your record includes a category field, you could ensure this automation only runs for a specific category.

7. Choose the Trigger strategy. The default trigger strategy is Trigger when records are created or updated, which will trigger when the supplement record is either created for the first time or when it's updated.

Delay event triggered sending

The Delay sending option allows for a message sending delay to occur after the trigger event is met. Event triggered messages can be delayed for a designated number of minutes, hours, or days—or until a specified time.

Handle events triggered during the delay

Unlike immediate sending, delayed sending presents an opportunity for a contact to trigger the same event more than once during the delay and before the initial message is sent. This is particularly true when the trigger is based on a custom event such as browse, product view, or add to cart.

Settings for Handling events triggered during delay are available for messages triggered by a custom event. Additionally, multiple If/Then statements can be combined to create a programmed response to a contact's real-time behavior.

Use case

In this example, the contact will receive a message five minutes after triggering the browseProduct custom event. However, should the contact continue to trigger this event during the five-minute delay, the delay timer will restart each time until it is allowed to expire in absence of repeated triggers.

Use case

Send a unique message for each trigger event: You can send a message each time the custom event is triggered. In this example, the contact will receive a message for each browse_product trigger made within a five minute delay period. Consecutive browse_product triggers will not reset or stop one another's delay timer. For example, a contact who triggers the custom event at 3:00 PM and again at 4:00 PM will receive two messages: one at 4:00 PM and another at 5:00 PM.

The message send frequency determines how many messages a single contact can receive when they qualify for the automation. If set to Once only, the contact will receive one message regardless of how recurring events are handled during the delay. In the example above, message frequency is set to Unlimited to compliment sending multiple messages for each triggered event.

Use case

Ignore: Custom event triggers made subsequent to the initial trigger can be ignored, allowing the delay time to expire uninterrupted. For example, the first browse_product event could be triggered at 3:00 PM, and a subsequent one at 3:59 PM. Because subsequent triggers are ignored, one message is sent at 4:00 PM.

Multiple If/Then conditions can be added to further automate message sending based on a contact's real-time behavior. The abandon cart Message use case demonstrates how to trigger a message when the contact abandons their cart, and how to cancel sending if a purchase trigger is activated instead.

Recurring sending method

You can use the Recurring sending method when you want to send a message automatically, based on a set schedule. Audience rules are used in conjunction with a schedule to determine when a message is sent and to which audience segment.

Use case

A message could be set to check every day at 8:00 am for contacts who haven't opened a message or clicked a link in the past 30 days, sending when applicable.

Use case

Recurring messages can also be used as part of a series with sends based on if a contact received a certain message in the past, such as in a welcome series. For example, you could use the Recurring method to check every day at 10:00 am which contacts received the initial welcome message exactly "x" days in the past, and then send the next welcome message in the series accordingly. 

Enable the recurring sending method 

1. Navigate to Message Automation and create a new automated message or edit an existing draft.

2. Complete the Message Header and Message Content areas and select Publish.

3. Choose the Recurring sending method from the left navigation bar.

4. Set the desired recurring schedule and configure the audience rules to filter the contacts that will be eligible to receive the message. 

For the daily sending interval, you can use the recurring interval scheduler to send a message only once by setting the end date to one day later than the scheduled start date.

5. Click the Enable button to enable the sending method.

Further reading

• Learn more about setting up a welcome series using the Recurring sending method here.
• For detailed instructions and examples of other recurring messages, you can read more about automation use cases.
• In the next article, you can learn about automated message performance.