Triggers are the foundation of any automated workflow, defining the event that initiates your flow and enabling you to automatically respond to specific actions. Flow Builder offers a diverse range of triggers to cater to various use cases, ensuring your flows respond to a range of customer interactions and events.
Each trigger node contains 2 key tabs:
Set up: Define the automation’s logic by specifying what should trigger the flow
Filter: Add conditions that determine whether the workflow should run. Enrollment conditions act as “gates” to check the data before the automation executes, ensuring the flow only triggers when specific criteria are met.
Tip: Use conditions to narrow down triggers and avoid running flows unnecessarily. For example, you can trigger only when a contact has a specific tag or when a message contains certain keywords.
In this guide, we'll explore the different flow triggers so you can choose the right ones to meet your business needs. Mention the triggers are categorized:
Overview of flow triggers
Interaction triggers
Trigger name
Description
Incoming message received
Initiates the flow when a customer sends a message to your business
Incoming messages from Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA) ad
Initiates the flow when a customer clicks on a Click-to-WhatsApp ad and sends a message
Outgoing message sent
Initiates the flow when you send a message to a customer
Conversation status updated
Initiates the flow when the status of a conversation changes, e.g., from open to closed
WhatsApp message status updated
Initiates the flow when the status of an outgoing WhatsApp message updates to the selected status during its message lifecycle
WhatsApp Flow response received
Initiates the flow when a customer submits a completed WhatsApp Flow
Contact triggers
Trigger name
Description
New contact added
Initiates the flow when a new contact is added to your SleekFlow account
Contact property updated
Initiates the flow when a contact’s information is updated
Contact property date and time
Initiates the flow based on the selected date or time-based contact property, enabling workflows that react dynamically to the contact
Label added
Initiates the flow when a label is added to a contact’s profile
Label removed
Initiates the flow when a label is removed from a contact’s profile
Added to list
Initiates the flow when a contact is added to a contact list
Removed from list
Initiates the flow when a contact is removed from a contact list
Schedule
Trigger name
Description
Scheduled date and time
Initiates the flow at a specific date and time, enabling the automation of time-sensitive or recurring processes
Integration
Trigger name
Description
Webhook payload received
Initiates the flow when a webhook is received from an external platform
Facebook
Trigger name
Description
Post comment received
Initiate the flow when end-customer leaves comments in your FB or IG posts
Facebook Leads Ads trigger
Initiates the flow when a new lead submits a form via your Facebook Lead Ads campaign
Salesforce
Trigger name
Description
Loop through Salesforce contacts
Loop through your existing Salesforce contacts to run a flow for each one, based on filters you define
Salesforce object records created
Initiates the flow when a new record is created in Salesforce — such as a contact, lead, or opportunity.
Salesforce object records updated
Initiates the flow when an existing Salesforce record is updated — such as a change in deal stage or contact info.
Custom object
Trigger name
Description
Custom object record created
Initiates the flow when a new custom object record is added in SleekFlow
Custom object record updated
Initiates the flow when a custom object record is updated in SleekFlow
Custom object scheduled date and time
Initiates the flow when the scheduled date and time field of a custom object record is reached
Google Sheets
Trigger name
Description
Google Sheet row added
Initiates the flow when a new row is added to the connected Google Sheet
Google Sheet row updated
Initiates the flow when an existing row in the connected Google Sheet is updated
HubSpot
Trigger name
Description
HubSpot record created
Initiates the flow when a new record — such as a contact, deal, or ticket — is created in HubSpot
HubSpot record updated
Initiates the flow when an existing HubSpot record is updated
Loop through HubSpot custom object
Loop through HubSpot custom object records and run the flow for each one that matches your filter conditions
VTEX
Trigger name
Description
VTEX order created
Initiates the flow when a customer places a new order in your connected VTEX store
VTEX order status updated
Initiates the flow when the status of a VTEX order is updated — such as from “processing” to “delivered"
Loop through VTEX orders
Loop through all VTEX orders that match the specified filter to run the flow for each order
Shopify
Trigger name
Description
Shopify order created
Initiates the flow when a new order is created in Shopify
Shopify order updated
Initiates the flow when an existing Shopify order is updated — e.g. fulfilled, cancelled
Shopify customer created
Initiates the flow when a new customer is added to your Shopify store
Shopify customer updated
Initiates the flow when customer details are updated in Shopify — e.g. contact info or tags
Loop through Shopify orders
Loop through all Shopify orders manually that match the specified filter and run the flow for each one
Abandoned cart created
Initiates the flow when a new abandoned cart is created in Shopify
Abandoned cart updated
Initiates the flow when an existing abandoned cart is updated — e.g. items added or removed
TikTok Ads
Trigger name
Description
TikTok lead received
Initiates the flow when a new lead is submitted via TikTok Instant Form in your lead generation campaign
Zoho CRM
Trigger name
Description
Zoho CRM record created
Initiates the flow when a new record is added in Zoho CRM — e.g. a contact or lead
Zoho CRM records updated
Initiates flow when an existing Zoho CRM record is updated — e.g. status or field change
Ticketing
Trigger name
Description
Ticket property updated
Initiates the flow when a ticket’s property — such as status, priority, or assignee — is updated in SleekFlow
Select a trigger
To select a trigger in a flow, follow the following steps:
On the flow canvas, click the Start node to open the node form
2. On the right-hand side of the screen, click on “Select a trigger” in the node form
You will see a “Select a trigger” modal displaying all the available trigger options. Browse or use the search bar to find the appropriate trigger for your flow.
4. Once selected, the trigger will be applied to your flow’s first node, and you can proceed to configure its settings.
How to set up enrollment conditions
Enrollment conditions let you control when a flow should run by adding “if” statements. This is useful when you only want the flow to trigger under specific circumstances, such as when a message meets certain criteria.
To configure conditions:
Select the trigger node on the flow canvas
Go to the “Filter” tab in the node form
Toggle enrollment condition to ON
Set your condition by configuring the following fields:
If: Choose the variable you want to filter by (e.g., Message ID, Channel, Message Content)
Operator: Select how the system should evaluate the value (e.g., Contains, Exactly matches, Is empty)
Value: Enter the specific value you’re checking for (e.g., a message ID containing “10”)
ℹ️ Each trigger type supports a different set of condition variables. For a full list of available variables, refer to the flow variables overview article.
ℹ️ Each variable supports a different set of operators. For a full list of available operators, refer to the flow operator overview article.
5. You can click Add value to match any of multiple values under the same condition, or click Add condition to stack multiple conditions together.
