Use The Contact Is Added Trigger Node In Workflows

The Contact Is Added trigger node begins a workflow when a contact is added to your account. You can also set the node to trigger when an existing contact's status changes from Transactional to Onboarding or Active.

About this task

There are several reasons you may want to use this node. It could be used to trigger a workflow that automatically sends new contacts through the onboarding process. The node can be used to trigger a welcome series workflow, to move contacts to lists, or to send new contacts email that contain links to a manage preferences webform in order to collect additional information.

A contact's status determines the type of message they can be sent. For information on the different contact statuses, see Contact Status. Contacts that have a transactional status can only be sent transactional emails. When a new transactional contact is added to your account, they will be added to any workflow that starts with the Contact Is Added trigger node, but cannot be sent marketing messages that are included in the workflow. In this case, the contact will remain in the workflow unless you use a filter node to send the contact down a different path. If you:

Don't filter transactional contacts from the workflow
And have the Contact Is Added node set to trigger when an existing contact's status changes from Transactional to Onboarding or Active
When an existing transactional contact changes to onboarding or active status, the contact will be added to the workflow a second time. Also, due to the status change, the contact will be able to move forward in the workflow instead of being stuck.

If a contact is in the workflow more than once, they might be sent duplicate messages. Therefore, when a workflow that sends marketing messages starts with the Contact Is Added node, make sure you either filter out new contacts that have a transactional status or set "change from Transactional to Onboarding or Active" to "will not be included".

To use the Contact Is Added trigger node:

Procedure

Create a new workflow or edit an existing workflow.
To create a new workflow, go to Automation > Workflows and click Create New Workflow.
Note: If you created a new workflow, make sure you name it by clicking the pencil icon above the Node Palette.
Drag the Contact Is Added trigger node on to the workflow canvas.
Click the following text in the Contact Is Added trigger node: will.
Select whether or not contacts whose status is changing from Transactional to Onboarding or Active will be included in the workflow. You can select:
- will (default) to trigger when the status of existing transactional contacts change.
- will not to ignore contacts when their statuses transition from Transactional to Onboarding or Active.
When a contact's status changes from Transactional to Onboarding or Active, they are eligible to receive marketing and transactional emails. Therefore, you might want to set this to will for workflows that send marketing materials a contact wasn't able to receive when they were added to your account as a transactional contact.

When you set this to will, make sure that you filter out transactional contacts when they are added to your account. Otherwise, you could have the same contact in a workflow more than once, which would cause them to receive duplicate emails. For example, you can create a segment of transactional contacts and use the Segment Membership filter node to filter out transactional contacts.
Click Done

What to do next

Contacts with a status of Onboarding are new contacts who are waiting to be sent their first marketing email from you. Once they are sent their first marketing email from you, they will enter the automated onboarding process. After they complete the automated onboarding process, their status is switched to Active.

Contacts with a status of Active are contacts that can receive emails from you.