Skip to main content

Creating and Managing Triggers

Updated

Use triggers to automatically send communications by email or SMS when a defined condition is met. Triggers can be used for registrations, date-based event reminders, booking workflow transitions, LMS expiry communications, and achievement-based messages.

Caution

Start new triggers in manual mode first. Send a few test communications and confirm the audience, content, and timing are correct before enabling automatic sending.

Before you start

Before creating a trigger, make sure the supporting communication components are ready.

  1. Prepare the communication content you want to send in a template.
  2. Confirm the intended recipients have valid contact details for the channel you plan to use.
  3. Decide what event, booking, learner, or achievement activity should cause the communication to send.

Recipient contact details must be present for sending to succeed:

  • Email: the recipient must have a valid email address.
  • SMS: the recipient must have a valid mobile number in international format.

For SMS, enter mobile numbers in international format including the country code.

  • Example (US): 8887776666 should be entered as +18887776666
  • Example (UK): 07777888999 should be entered as +447777888999

Email and SMS are configured separately. A trigger, template, and sending setup can support one channel at a time rather than combining both in a single configuration.

Basic setup flow

In most cases, trigger setup follows this sequence:

  1. Prepare the communication content.
  2. Create the trigger and choose the correct trigger type.
  3. Set the audience and attach the appropriate template.
  4. Save the trigger in manual mode and test it.
  5. Enable automatic sending after validation.

Create a trigger

  1. Go to Control Panel.
  2. Open Triggers.
  3. Select Create.
  4. Choose the trigger type you want to use, such as:
    • On Registration
    • Days Before
    • Days After
    • Booking transition
    • LMS Expiry
    • On Award Achievement
  5. Choose the audience and attach the communication template.
  6. Set the trigger to manual while you validate it.
  7. Save the trigger.

You can review the current status of your trigger configuration from the Communications area.

Communication trigger status in the Communications area

Test safely before enabling automation

Manual mode is the safest way to confirm that a trigger is configured correctly.

  • Use manual mode when building a new trigger.
  • Review the generated communication before sending broadly.
  • Confirm the correct recipients, merge fields, and timing behavior.
  • Switch to automatic only after you are satisfied with the results.

Ways to send a trigger manually

Depending on the communication and audience, manual sends can be performed from several places:

  1. From the personnel communications area on an event.
  2. From the student communications area on an event.
  3. From Trigger Logs and Monitoring.

Manual sending is especially useful if a communication did not send as expected, or if you intentionally created the trigger in manual mode while validating it.

Turn on automatic sending

Once testing is complete and you are confident the trigger is behaving correctly, update the trigger so it sends automatically.

iCalendar attachments

For communications related to an event that has not yet started, you can include an iCalendar (iCal) attachment so recipients can add the event to their calendar.

The iCal attachment uses the time zone from the event’s company. Recipients should see the event time correctly in their own calendar application based on that source time zone.

Note

There is a known issue affecting some Microsoft Outlook users where events in time zones outside Europe/London may not correctly account for daylight savings time.

iCal attachments are especially useful for joining instructions, reminders, and other pre-event communications where recipients need to save the session to their calendar.

Related articles