What are triggers?
Triggers define how a journey starts.
A trigger is the event that adds a traveller to a journey and starts the workflow for them. Every traveller enters a journey through a trigger.
Triggers are not actions:
Triggers control how travellers enter a journey
Actions define what happens after a traveller has entered
A journey can have one or more triggers, depending on how it should be started.
Where triggers live
Triggers are configured in the Journey Builder and always appear at the top of the journey, above the first action.
Each trigger represents one way a traveller can enter the journey. When a trigger fires, the traveller is added to the journey and begins at the first action in the workflow.
Available trigger types
Journeys can start in four different ways:
Manually added: A user adds a traveller to the journey directly from the user interface.
Useful for testing journeys or manually starting a journey for a specific traveller.
Adding from this method is always available.
External form: A form submission creates a traveller and starts the journey automatically.
Commonly used when journeys are triggered by user input, such as onboarding forms, requests, or confirmations.
Learn more in External forms
Webhook: An external system starts the journey by calling a webhook.
Allows other systems to trigger journeys automatically when something happens outside of journeys.
Learn more in Webhook Triggers
Scheduled polling: The journey checks another system on a schedule and starts new travellers when specific criteria are met.
Useful when an external system cannot send webhooks, but can be queried regularly.
Learn more in Scheduled Polling Triggers
Managing triggers
You can add, edit, or remove triggers from the Journey Builder.
A single journey can have multiple triggers, allowing travellers to enter the same journey from different sources.
Changes to triggers apply to new travellers only and do not affect travellers already in progress.