Triggers Overview

Objective

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the trigger experience to Outreach Admins. 

Applies To

• Outreach Admins

Procedure

Add a Trigger

1. Log in to Outreach as an Admin.
2. Click Administration.
3. Click Workflow automations > Triggers.
4. Click Add Trigger.
5. Fill out the following fields and logic
   • Trigger Name
   • Owner
   • Set Trigger event
     • Prospect
     • Account
     • Meeting
     • Call
     • Mailing
     • Opportunity
     • Sendoso
     • Drift
     • Intercom
     • Seismic
     • Vidyard
     • BombBomb
   • Event 
     • Updated
     • Created
     • Created or Updated
   • Define trigger action settings
     • Target
     • Frequency
6. Click Save.

Once the trigger conditions and actions are configured, additional prospect conditions can be added.

Time-based and team queue assignment triggers

These triggers enhance Outreach administrators ability to build automations around when automations take place in relation to an external event and who tasks created by triggers are assigned to.

Team Queue Assignment Triggers

Team queue assignment triggers simplify task distribution by allowing tasks from triggers to be assigned to a team and ensures a round robin distribution of task workload among team members when the trigger is executed.

While creating triggers, the users can now assign tasks to a team instead of individuals. This is particularly useful for roles managing large customer bases, where task distribution needs to be efficient and manageable.

When triggers execute, tasks are auto-assigned in a round-robin manner among the members of the assigned team. This ensures that no single team member is overloaded, promoting fairness and balance in workload distribution.

Example use case -

• Scenario: Account Health Monitoring - An organization monitors the health of accounts using a custom field "health," with values "Red," "Yellow," and "Green."
  • Trigger Conditions and Actions:
    • Branching Condition 1:
      • Condition: Account type is "Commercial" AND account health changes to "Red."
      • Action: Create a task and assign it to the "Commercial CSM" team.
    • Branching Condition 2:
      • Condition: Account type is "Micro" AND account health changes to "Red."
      • Action: Create a task and assign it to the "Micro CSM" team.
• Execution:
• The system detects that any commercial or micro account's health status has changed to red.
• Tasks are created to address the health status change.
• The tasks are assigned to the "Commercial CSM" team or "Micro CSM" team members as per the condition being met
• Within the team, the task is assigned to the next available team member in a round-robin manner.

Time-Based Triggers

Time-Based Triggers allow users to automate actions based on specific dates related to various entities such as prospects, accounts, opportunities, calls, meetings, emails, marketing communications, and renewal dates.

Users can access the existing trigger configuration settings within the platform's Admin interface. From there, they can specify the object events by selecting the “Scheduled” event type and specific date field in “Timing” of the trigger and the offset of before or after the event occurs. Then, define the action you want to automate.

Example use cases -

• Meeting Preparation: If an in-person meeting invite is created in the "Meeting" calendar, a "meet in person" task is automatically created for the prospect owner 2 days before the meeting start date, ensuring they are prepared for the meeting.
• Renewal Reminders: 90 days before a renewal date (9 months from opportunity close date), a calendar task is created for the customer success manager (CSM) to initiate a call with the customer, ensuring proactive engagement.
• Opportunity Engagement: If the "touched at" date for an opportunity exceeds 30 days, an "action item" task is created for the opportunity owner to keep the opportunity alive and maintain continuous engagement.

Field change-based triggers will empower Outreach admins with enhanced workflow automation capabilities.

Traditionally, trigger actions were only initiated upon record creation or update, limiting admin’s ability to trigger actions based on granular field changes. Users now will be able to enable triggers to initiate actions when a specified field is updated on a prospect, account, or opportunity record. These include: 

• When the value of a field changes.
• When the value of a field changes from [x].
• When the value of a field changes to [y].

Task Ownership and Sequencer Assignment

Task Ownership and Sequencer Assignment can be automatically determined based on job roles (e.g., Account Manager, CSM, Owner).

There are two methods to create job roles in Outreach - 

Job roles using MUA (BETA only) - The users with MUA capabilities enabled can manually create job roles in Administration > Users & permissions > Job roles.
Job roles synced from SFDC - Job roles are synced into Outreach via SFDC and the users can “Read only” the available job roles in Administration → Users & permissions → Job roles.

Note: These two features can co-exist together if MUA is enabled for a customer.

How does the Task Ownership and Sequencer Assignment work?

Trigger: Add to Sequence Logic

When adding a prospect to a sequence, the logic checks for the following:

• MUA Job Role on prospect: Check the requested  job role for the users assigned on prospect as part of MUA.
  • If no match is found, Check MUA Job Role on account: check the requested  job role in the associated Account of the prospect.
  • If no match is found, Check Account Team Job Role: check the requested  job role in the associated Account Team.
  • If no match is found, Check Owner on Prospect: check if the prospect has a designated owner.
  • If no match is found, Check Owner on Account: check if the prospect’s account has a designated owner.
  • If no match is found across these levels, Add to Sequence Fails: the add to sequence is skipped.
  • Trigger: Task owner Logic 

For Tasks creation by Trigger that targets Accounts:

• First Check - MUA Job roles: The system first checks for a relevant job role in the MUA assigned users.
  • If no match is found, Second Check – Account Team Job Roles: , The system then checks for a relevant job role in the Account Team synced from Salesforce. Example: If the task or sequence is assigned to the Account Manager role, the system will identify the person with the Account Manager role from the SFDC-synced Account Team.
  • If no match is found, Third Check – Account Owner: the system then checks for Account Owner on the account.
  • If no match is found across these levels, the task creation is skipped.

For Tasks creation by Trigger that targets Prospects:

• MUA Job Role on prospect: Check the requested  job role for the users assigned on prospect as part of MUA.
  • If no match is found, Second Check MUA Job Role on account: check the requested  job role in the associated Account of the prospect.
  • If no match is found, Third Check – Account Team Job Roles:
    The system checks for a relevant job role in the Account Team associated with the prospect’s account. This role will determine the task owner.
    Example: If the requested role is CSM, and a CSM exists in the Account Team, that user will be selected.
  • If no match is found, Fourth Check – Prospect Owner:
    The system checks for the Prospect Owner to assign the task..
  • If no match is found,, Fifth Check – Account Owner:
    The system checks for the Account Owner to assign the task.
  • If no match is found across these levels, the task creation is skipped.

For Tasks creation by Trigger that targets Opportunities:

• First Check - MUA Job roles: The system first checks for a relevant job role in the MUA assigned users.
  • If no match is found, Second Check – Account Team Job Roles:
    The system checks for a relevant job role in the Account Team associated with the opportunity’s account. This role will determine the task owner.
    Example: If the requested role is CSM, and a CSM exists in the Account Team, that user will be selected.
  • If no match is found, Third Check - Opportunity Owner:
  • If the requested job role is not found, The system checks for the Opportunity Owner to assign the task.
  • If no match is found, Fourth Check – Primary Prospect Owner:
  • If the first three checks are not found, the system checks for the Prospect Owner of the Primary Prospect to assign the task.
  • If no match is found, Fifth Check – Account Owner:
  • If the first four checks are not found, the system checks for the Account Owner to assign the task.
  • If no match is found across these levels, the task creation is skipped.

Trigger List Views

The trigger list view is organized in the following manner.

Filtering and sorting Triggers

The following filters and sorting are available to help admins quickly find and manage triggers:

Filters

• Created At
• Last Activity
• Last Updated
• Name
• Object Triggering On
• Status (Active/Inactive)
• Owner

Sorting

• Status (Active/Inactive)
• Last Activity
• Object Triggering On

Bulk Actions

The following bulk actions are available.

• Activate multiple triggers
• Deactivate multiple triggers
• Delete multiple triggers

Operator Support for Custom Field Data Types

Operator standardization for custom fields is as follows

• Numeric & Percentage Fields: Numeric operators (e.g., greater than, less than, equals) now appear when these data types are used in trigger conditions.
• Date Fields: Custom date fields (e.g., "Custom 15" from SFDC) now support operators like "is". This eliminates manual workarounds and improves automation for workflows that rely on time-sensitive actions.
• String, Picklist, and Other Data Types: Now aligned with standard fields, offering consistent operator options for text-based custom fields.

Pass Opportunity Reference When Source Object is Opportunity

When the trigger’s source object is an Opportunity, and the action is "Add to Sequence" or "Create Task", the associated Opportunity ID is now automatically passed.

The Opportunity ID is stored with the task or sequence state, ensuring proper linkage for reporting and tracking.

New Task Owner assignment options by Account/Opportunity Owner

Sales teams need the flexibility to assign tasks based on Account Owner or Opportunity Owner for more targeted outreach.

• Expanded Assignment Options: Users can now use triggers to now assign tasks or sequencer to the Account Owner, Opportunity Owner, or Prospect Owner.

These are manually selectable options on Triggers Action panel. The users will now be able to choose between prospect owner, account owner and opportunity owner as task/sequencer assignee when the trigger gets triggered.

• Dynamic Sending Capabilities: Supports automated task and sequence assignment based on the source and target object combination (Account, Opportunity, or Prospect).
• Mailbox Flexibility: Users can now use triggers to send emails from the appropriate owner’s mailbox (Account Owner, Opportunity Owner, or Prospect Owner).

Note: Based on Target Object means that the assignment options will be resolved from the target. Example, if the Source is Opportunity and target is Primary Prospect, and the assignment is Account Owner, the Account owner of the primary prospect will be used for assignment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the main purpose of field change-based triggers?

The main purpose of this feature is to empower admins with the ability to trigger actions based on specific field changes within objects such as prospects, accounts, or opportunities. This capability enables users to automate sales processes more precisely.

How does this feature differ from existing trigger functionality?

Unlike traditional trigger actions that are initiated upon record creation or update, this feature allows users to trigger actions specifically when a designated field is updated within condition objects. Users have the flexibility to define trigger conditions based on field changes, enhancing automation granularity.

Can this feature be used to trigger on a defined range of values?

This feature independently does not allow you to trigger on a range of values, but using this condition and existing ones like - is less than or is greater than - can deliver that outcome. 

Can you provide examples of how this feature can be used in sales workflows?

Example use cases include:

• After a meeting or demo with a prospect, the stage of the prospect changes to “Demo Completed”, a trigger can be utilized to automatically put the prospect into a follow-up sequence and create tasks for the relevant team members for the next steps. For example - Send additional information or resources requested by the prospect during the meeting or demo.
• When a prospect moves into a “Qualified” stage, a trigger can be utilized to automatically put the prospect into an engagement sequence.
• When the "Last Interesting moment" field changes for a prospect, a trigger can be utilized to automatically create a task for the prospect owner to review the change and take the desired next steps.
• When the "Primary Contact" field is updated to indicate a change in the primary contact for the account, a trigger can be utilized to automatically create a task for the assigned account executive to reach out and schedule a meeting with the identified contact.

How do users configure triggers based on field changes?

• Users can access the existing trigger configuration settings within the platform's Admin interface. From there, they can specify the object conditions which include defining criteria such as the value change, the value before change, the value after change or the values both before and after change to trigger actions. 

How would the Task Ownership and Sequencer Assignment work with MUA Disabled?

If MUA is disabled, all checks related to MUA are skipped. The logic proceeds by checking job roles within the Account Team first and all other checks function as they do with MUA enabled.