Available Triggers

Order Completed

Fires when a customer completes a purchase (order status changes to “completed”).

Configuration Options

• Product (Optional) – Trigger only for orders containing specific product
• Category (Optional) – Trigger only for orders containing products from specific category
• Minimum Order Value (Optional) – Only trigger for orders above a certain amount
  
  

Available Data

Order Created

Fires when a new order is placed (regardless of payment status). Useful for sending order confirmations.

Cart Abandoned

Fires when a customer adds items to cart but does not complete checkout within a specified time period.

Configuration Options

• Wait Time – How long after cart activity to trigger (1 hour, 4 hours, 24 hours, etc.)
• Minimum Cart Value (Optional) – Only trigger for carts above a certain amount

Customer First Purchase

Fires only when a customer makes their first-ever purchase. Does not fire for repeat customers.

Product Reviewed

Fires when a customer leaves a product review.

Common Use Cases

1. Post-Purchase Follow-up – Send thank you email, product tips, or review request after purchase
2. Cart Recovery – Send reminder emails to customers who abandoned their cart
3. Welcome New Customers – Special welcome sequence for first-time buyers
4. Cross-sell/Upsell – Recommend related products based on purchase history
5. VIP Recognition – Tag high-value customers and send exclusive offers
6. Review Requests – Request product reviews X days after purchase
7. Replenishment Reminders – Remind customers to reorder consumable products

Order Status Triggers

Trigger automations based on specific order status changes:

Pro Tips

• Use product/category filters to send highly relevant follow-up content
• Combine with wait steps for perfectly timed cart abandonment emails (1hr, 24hr, 72hr)
• Tag customers based on purchase categories for future segmentation
• Set up different sequences for first-time vs. repeat customers
• Use order value conditions to identify VIP customers
• Consider time zones when sending cart abandonment emails

Requirements

• WooCommerce plugin must be installed and active
• For cart abandonment: Customers must be logged in or have provided email at checkout

Supported Form Plugins

• Contact Form 7 – The most popular free form plugin
• WPForms – Drag-and-drop form builder
• Gravity Forms – Advanced form plugin with extensive features
• Ninja Forms – Free form builder with extensions
• Formidable Forms – Advanced form and application builder

Available Triggers

Form Submitted

Fires when a visitor submits a form. The subscriber is created or matched based on the email field in the form.

Configuration Options

• Form Plugin – Select which form plugin to monitor
• Form (Optional) – Filter by specific form, or leave empty for any form
• Email Field – Specify which form field contains the email address

Available Data

Common Use Cases

1. Contact Form Follow-up – Send an automated confirmation when someone submits a contact form
2. Lead Qualification – Tag contacts based on form answers (budget, timeline, etc.)
3. Newsletter Signup – Add form submitters to newsletter list automatically
4. Event Registration – Trigger event-specific email sequences
5. Support Request – Send automated acknowledgment and support resources

Field Mapping

WP Outreach attempts to automatically map common form fields to subscriber data:

Pro Tips

• Use form-specific triggers to create targeted follow-up sequences
• Map custom form fields to tags for better segmentation
• Combine with conditions to handle different form responses differently
• Use form field data in email personalization for relevant messaging
• Set up different automations for different form purposes (contact, quote request, demo request)

Requirements

• One of the supported form plugins must be installed and active
• Forms must have an email field for subscriber identification

Available Triggers

Email Lock Submitted

Fires when a visitor submits their email address to unlock a download protected by WPDM email lock.

Configuration Options

• Package (Optional) – Filter by specific package, or leave empty for any package

Available Data

Common Use Cases

1. Welcome Sequence – Send a thank you email with related resources after download unlock
2. Lead Nurturing – Add downloaders to a product-specific email sequence
3. Tagging – Tag subscribers based on which packages they download
4. List Segmentation – Add to lists based on download category (eBooks, Software, Templates)

Planned Triggers

The following triggers are planned for future releases:

• Package Downloaded – When any user downloads a package
• Package Purchased – When a premium package is purchased (requires WPDM Premium Packages)
• Package Updated – When a package is updated to a new version
• Download Limit Reached – When a user reaches their download limit

Requirements

• WordPress Download Manager plugin must be installed and active
• Email Lock feature must be enabled on packages you want to track

Pro Tips

• Use package filtering to create different sequences for different content types
• Combine with wait steps to send follow-up content after initial download
• Tag subscribers based on download interests for future segmentation
• Consider sending related content recommendations based on download history

When It Fires

This trigger activates when:

• An external system sends an HTTP POST request to your automation webhook URL
• The request includes a valid HMAC-SHA256 signature in the header

Configuration

When you select “Incoming Webhook” as your trigger, WP Outreach automatically generates:

• Webhook URL – A unique endpoint for this automation
• Secret Key – Used to sign requests for security validation

Sending Webhook Requests

Your external system must send a POST request with these requirements:

Required Headers

Note: The signature header can also be named X-WP-Outreach-Signature, X-Signature, or X-Hub-Signature-256 for compatibility with various webhook providers.

Payload Structure

The JSON payload can include any data your external system sends. The email field is optional:

{
    "email": "subscriber@example.com",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "event_type": "purchase",
    "amount": 99.99
}

With email: WP Outreach will look up or create a subscriber and associate the automation run with them.

Without email: The automation still runs, but no subscriber is associated. This is useful for system notifications, security alerts, or admin-only notifications where you use the “Email to Admin” action instead of subscriber-based emails.

Computing the Signature

The signature is computed using HMAC-SHA256:

// PHP Example
$signature = hash_hmac("sha256", $payload_json, $secret_key);

// JavaScript Example
const crypto = require("crypto");
const signature = crypto
    .createHmac("sha256", secretKey)
    .update(payloadJson)
    .digest("hex");

Available Merge Tags

When this trigger fires, the following merge tags are available in your email content:

The {{webhook_dataset}} merge tag is especially useful when you want to include all the data from the webhook in your notification email, formatted as a readable table.

Email to Admin Action

For webhooks without subscriber emails (security alerts, system notifications, etc.), use the Email to Admin action instead of “Send Email”. This action sends notifications directly to the site administrator without requiring a subscriber.

Configuration options:

• Send To: Admin email (defaults to site admin)
• Subject: Email subject line (supports merge tags)
• Content: Email body (use {{webhook_dataset}} to include all webhook data)

Common Use Cases

With Subscriber Email

1. Stripe Integration – Trigger automations when customers make purchases, subscriptions renew, or payments fail
2. Zapier/Make Workflows – Connect WP Outreach to 5,000+ apps via automation platforms
3. Form Submissions – Trigger automations from external forms (Typeform, Gravity Forms, etc.)
4. E-commerce Events – Start sequences based on WooCommerce, EDD, or other platform events
5. CRM Integration – Sync actions from external CRM systems

Without Subscriber Email (Admin Notifications)

1. Security Alerts – Receive notifications from Wordfence, Sucuri, or other security plugins when threats are detected
2. System Monitoring – Get alerts when server resources are low, backups fail, or services go down
3. Uptime Monitoring – Integrate with services like Pingdom or UptimeRobot for downtime notifications
4. Error Tracking – Receive alerts from error tracking services like Sentry or Bugsnag
5. Deployment Notifications – Get notified when new code is deployed via CI/CD pipelines

Condition Fields

Use these condition fields to branch your automation based on webhook data:

Security Best Practices

• Always validate the signature before processing webhook data
• Keep your secret key confidential – do not expose it in client-side code
• Use HTTPS for your WordPress site to encrypt webhook traffic
• Regenerate your secret key if you suspect it has been compromised

Pro Tips

• If the email exists in your subscriber list, that subscriber is used; otherwise a new subscriber is created automatically
• Include first_name and last_name in your payload to populate subscriber details
• Use condition steps to create different paths based on webhook payload values
• Test your webhook integration with tools like Postman or curl before going live
• For webhooks without emails, use the “Email to Admin” action to send notifications to yourself
• Use {{webhook_dataset}} in your email content to include a formatted table of all webhook data

When It Fires

This trigger activates when:

• The specified number of days have passed since the email was sent
• The subscriber has not opened the email
• The system runs its scheduled check (typically daily)

Configuration Options

Campaign (Required)

Select which campaign to monitor for unopened emails.

Days Without Opening (Required)

Specify how many days to wait before triggering:

• 1-3 days – Quick follow-up for time-sensitive content
• 5-7 days – Standard re-engagement window
• 14+ days – Long-term non-engagement tracking

Available Data

When this trigger fires, the following merge tags are available:

Common Use Cases

1. Resend with New Subject – Automatically resend important emails with a different subject line to non-openers
2. Alternative Channel – If email is not working, trigger an SMS or push notification
3. List Hygiene – After multiple non-opens, add a “disengaged” tag for cleanup
4. Win-Back Campaigns – Start a re-engagement sequence for inactive subscribers
5. A/B Testing Follow-up – Send version B of content to those who did not engage with version A

Pro Tips

• Remember that email opens are not always tracked accurately – some subscribers may have read the email but blocked tracking
• Use a reasonable wait time (3-7 days) before assuming non-engagement
• Consider subscriber timezone when setting up time-sensitive follow-ups
• Combine with engagement history conditions to avoid annoying subscribers who are generally active
• Limit resends to important campaigns only – too many follow-ups can increase unsubscribes

When It Fires

This trigger activates when:

• A subscriber clicks any tracked link in an email
• Link tracking is enabled (default behavior)
• The click is registered through WP Outreach tracking

Configuration Options

Campaign (Optional)

Filter by specific campaign:

• Any Campaign – Triggers for clicks in any email
• Specific Campaign – Only triggers for clicks in the specified campaign

Link URL (Optional)

Filter by specific link:

• Any Link – Triggers for any link click
• Specific URL – Only triggers when a specific link is clicked (supports partial matching)

Available Data

When this trigger fires, the following merge tags are available:

Common Use Cases

1. Interest-Based Tagging – Tag subscribers based on which links they click to segment by interest
2. Product Interest Tracking – When someone clicks a product link, add them to a product-specific follow-up sequence
3. Sales Alerts – Notify sales immediately when a prospect clicks a pricing or demo link
4. Content Preferences – Track which content types generate the most engagement
5. Hot Lead Identification – Move subscribers who click multiple links to a priority list

Pro Tips

• Link clicks are more reliable than opens for measuring engagement
• Use URL filtering to create specific workflows for high-value pages (pricing, demos, etc.)
• Combine with conditions to only trigger once per subscriber per campaign
• Consider adding UTM parameters to links for additional tracking in Google Analytics

When It Fires

This trigger activates when:

• A subscriber opens any email sent through WP Outreach
• The tracking pixel in the email is loaded
• Email open tracking is enabled in your settings

Configuration Options

Campaign (Optional)

Filter by specific campaign:

• Any Campaign – Triggers for opens on any email
• Specific Campaign – Only triggers when the specified campaign is opened

Available Data

When this trigger fires, the following merge tags are available:

Common Use Cases

1. Lead Scoring – Add a tag like “engaged” when subscribers open emails to track active readers
2. Sales Notifications – Notify sales team when a prospect opens a proposal email
3. Follow-up Sequences – Trigger follow-up content after initial email is opened
4. Engagement Tracking – Move engaged subscribers to a “Hot Leads” list

Pro Tips

• Email opens are tracked via a tiny invisible image – some email clients block these by default
• Combine with “Email Clicked” trigger for more accurate engagement tracking
• Use campaign filtering to create specific workflows for important campaigns
• Consider that open tracking is not 100% accurate due to email client variations
  
  

Video Tutorial

When It Fires

• Visitor fills out the post subscription form on a post/page
• User subscribes to updates via the shortcode form

Note: This is different from newsletter subscription. This is content-specific – users subscribe to updates about a particular post.

Configuration Options

Available Data

Common Use Cases

Confirm Post Subscription

1. Post Subscription Created
2. Send Email: “You’re subscribed to {{post_title}}!”

Add to Related List

1. Post Subscription Created: Post Type = “Product”
2. Add to List: “Product Updates”
3. Add Tag: “interested-{{post_id}}”

Setting Up Post Subscriptions

To enable post subscription forms:

1. Go to WP Outreach Settings
2. Enable Post Subscriptions for desired post types
3. Use the shortcode [*wp_outreach_post_subscribe] or enable auto-injection

Pro Tips

• The subscriber is also added to your main subscriber list
• Use this trigger to tag subscribers based on their content interests
• Great for blogs, documentation sites, and product pages

When It Fires

• An already-published post is saved with changes
• Post content, title, or other fields are modified

Note: This trigger only fires for posts that are already published. Initial publication uses the “Post Published” trigger.

Configuration Options

Available Data

Common Use Cases

Notify Post Subscribers

1. Post Updated: Post Type = “Post”
2. Send Email to post subscribers: “{{post_title}} has been updated”

Documentation Update Alerts

1. Post Updated: Post Type = “wpo_doc”
2. Send Email to “Documentation Subscribers”: “Documentation updated”

Pro Tips

• Consider using a Wait step to avoid spamming subscribers if multiple edits are made quickly
• Works great for documentation sites where users want to be notified of changes
• Combine with the Post Subscription feature for opt-in update notifications

When It Fires

• A draft post is published
• A scheduled post becomes published at its scheduled time
• A new post is created and published immediately

Note: This trigger only fires on initial publication. For updates to already-published posts, use the “Post Updated” trigger.

Configuration Options

Available Data

Content Trigger – Recipients

Unlike subscriber-based triggers, content triggers don’t have a single subscriber. Instead, you configure who receives the email in the Send Email action:

• All subscribers in selected lists – Send to entire lists
• Post subscribers – Only subscribers who opted-in for post updates

Common Use Cases

New Blog Post Notification

1. Post Published: Post Type = “Post”
2. Send Email to “Newsletter” list: “New: {{post_title}}”

New Product Announcement

1. Post Published: Post Type = “Product”
2. Send Email to “Customers”: “Check out our new product!”

Pro Tips

• Use {{featured_image}} in your email for visual appeal
• Combine with Wait action if you want to delay sending
• Use post type filtering to send different notifications for different content types