All the Classic Automation Triggers

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Mailchimp classic automations send automated emails when triggered by a subscriber's activity, or a certain date like a birthday. You can use a preset automation that's tailored to your goals, or get creative with custom triggers.

In this article, you'll learn about all the classic automation triggers.

About triggers

A trigger is the action that starts a classic automation. For example, Mailchimp can send an automated email when someone subscribes to your audience or purchases a certain product. Mailchimp offers a wide selection of preset automation types with built-in triggers, ranging from abandoned cart emails to a simple welcome message.

If Mailchimp's preset automations don't fit your marketing goals, you can create a brand new, custom automation with your own triggers.

Whether you're working with a custom or preset automation, you can often change the trigger to suit your needs. To learn more, read Edit Automation Emails.

Note

It's possible to change a classic automation into an Automation Flow. To learn more, check out Change a Classic Automation to a Marketing Automation Flow.

Available classic automation triggers

Here are all the trigger options to choose from when you create or edit a classic automation.

Campaign activity

These triggers help you target contacts who are subscribed to your email marketing.

Trigger Name Action
Sent campaign Triggers an email that sends to subscribers who received a specific campaign.
Opened campaign Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber opens a specific campaign.
Not opened campaign Triggers an email that sends to subscribers who do not open a specific campaign.
Clicked campaign Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber clicks any link in a specific campaign.
Not clicked campaign Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber does not click any link in a specific campaign.
Specific link in campaign clicked Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber clicks on a specific link in a specific campaign.

Audience management

These triggers help you target subscribers who signed up for your emails, or whose audience data has changed recently.

Trigger Name Action
Manual add Triggers an email that sends after you manually add a subscriber to your automation.
Signup Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber signs up for or is imported to your audience.
Changes in a subscriber's audience field Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber's audience field changes to a specific value.
Joins group Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber joins a group in your audience.
Leaves group Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber leaves a group in your audience.
Added tag Triggers an email that sends after you add a specific tag to a contact.

Workflow activity

These triggers help you target subscribers who are already in the queue of your classic automation series.

Trigger Name Action
Previous email sent Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber receives the previous automated email in your series.
Previous email opened Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber opens the previous automated email in your series.
Previous email not opened Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber does not open the previous automated email in your series.
Previous email clicked Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber clicks any link in the previous automated email in your series.
Previous email not clicked Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber does not click any link in the previous automated email in your series.
Specific link in previous email clicked Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber clicks on a specific link in the previous automated email in your series.

E-commerce

These triggers help you target customers from your connected e-commerce store or custom API 3.0 integration.

Trigger Name Action
Purchase any product Triggers an email that sends after a customer purchases any product from your store.
Purchase specific product Triggers an email that sends after a customer purchases a specific product from your store.
Purchase product from category Triggers an email that sends after a customer purchases a product from a specific category from your store.
Time since a subscriber last bought something Triggers an email that targets contacts who have not purchased anything from your store in a specific timeframe.
Abandoned Cart Triggers an email that sends when a logged in customer abandons a cart or checkout in your store. This trigger can only be used as part of an abandoned cart automation.
Email Retargeting Triggers an email that sends after a subscriber clicks to your store from a Mailchimp email campaign to view a product. This trigger can only be used as part of a product retargeting email.

Integrations

These advanced triggers help you target subscribers who meet criteria you set up, based on custom API integrations.

Trigger Name Action
API 3.0 Triggers an email that sends when a subscriber's email ID is posted to an API endpoint.
Event API Triggers an email that sends when an API call is posted to the Events endpoint with a specific event name parameter. Available for Premium accounts.

Date-based

These triggers help you target subscribers based on a specific date field in your audience, like a birthday or an anniversary date. This trigger type is exclusively available for date-based automations.

Trigger Name Action
List added date Triggers a one-time email based on the date that a subscriber was added to your audience.
Recurring dates Triggers an annually recurring email that sends based on a certain date field in your audience.
Birthdays Triggers an annually recurring email that sends based on a birthday field in your audience.
Specific date Triggers a one-time email to subscribers based on a specific audience field date.

Additional information

Ready to get started, or learn a little more? Here are some more resources to help you along the way.

Dive into classic automation with our step-by-step tutorials.

Create a Classic Automation Edit Classic Automation Emails Manage Subscribers in a Classic Automation

Learn more automation basics from these articles.

About Classic Automations Classic Automation Types

About Classic Automations

Learn how automation works and get tips for how you can use automation to streamline your work.

Classic Automation Types

Learn about Mailchimp's automation types and how you can use them.

Edit Classic Automation Emails

After you start a classic automation, you can continue to edit its emails. Learn how to edit the triggers, schedules, and content of classic automation emails.