Automations Actions

Automations contain the full power of the CityGro platform, but it can be easy to get overwhelmed. To make it easier to choose the right action, we've compiled a list of all of them explaining when it does, how to customize and how it can be used. Read on to learn more.

Activate an Offer

What it does: After triggered, this action will activate a SmartOffer.

Customization options: You can choose which SmartOffer you’d like to activate, the activation limit (per contact) you’d like to set, as well as when you’d like the SmartOffer to expire. You can also check a box that extends the SmartOffer through 11:59PM on the expiration day, rather than expiring at the exact time it was activated.

When to use: Use this action when you’d like to present an offer to a contact, either after they’ve earned it or as a recovery method to incentivize them to come back in.

Send SMS

What it does: After triggered, this action will send an SMS, or text message.

Customization options: Select the number from which you want the message sent, as well as the content of the message (with the option to use SmartText to personalize). Messages will go out only to those who have opted in to SMS messaging, unless the “Send even if not subscribed” box is checked. Note: Don’t check this box unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. Contact CityGro with any questions on this.

When to use: Use it to send any text message to your contacts, be it a promotion, an invitation, a conversation or really any other -tion you can imagine.

Send Email

What it does: After triggered, this action will send an email.

Customization options: Select the return email address from which you want the email sent, as well as the content of the email, either custom or from a template (with the option to use SmartText to personalize). Messages will go out only to those who have opted in to email messaging, unless the “Send even if not subscribed” box is checked. Note: Don’t check this box unless you have a legitimate reason to do so. Contact CityGro with any questions on this.

When to use: Use it to send out promotions, weekly or daily updates, or build an email drip to drive people to purchase a product or sign up for a demo. You might also use it to send out an order confirmation.

Eject

What it does: After triggered, this action will eject (remove) a contact from an automation.

Customization options: None.

When to use: Use this when you want to boot someone out of the automation for some reason. For example, if you have a filter, you can connect other actions for those who match the filter, and Eject those who don’t.

Deactivate an Offer

What it does: After triggered, this action deactivates a SmartOffer.

Customization options: Select the SmartOffer you’d like to deactivate.

When to use: Use this action to deactivate an offer, perhaps after you’ve activated an offer that hasn’t been redeemed after a delay. You might not want to leave the SmartOffer activated inevitably, so use the Deactivate an Offer action to “cancel” it, before perhaps activating another offer, or doing something else entirely.

Set Contact Fields

What it does: After triggered, this action will set data into a field on a contact record.

Customization options: Select the field you’d like to set. Any field that’s live on your contact records can be set. You can then choose whether to either set the field with a particular value or just clear the field.

When to use: You might want to use this to mark a field with a date that a Smartlink was clicked, or an offer was redeemed, just to be able to reference it later. You might also want to use this to set a field that could serve as an additional trigger, once other, later conditions are met.

Delay

What it does: After triggered, this action will pause the automation for a predetermined time, waiting until the right time to run the next action. 

Customization options: You can set how many months, days, hours and minutes you’d like the delay to be. By default the message will only go out between the hours of 9AM-9PM (in your account’s time zone), but you can also turn that off, or set the allowable times and days yourself.

When to use: Use this to put space between your actions. It doesn’t make sense to send someone 10 messages at once, but it certainly makes sense to send them 10 messages over the course of a month or two. Put Delays between actions to do this.

Filter

What it does: After triggered, this action takes contacts in the top of a funnel, and then filters based on the criteria that you determine, spitting out the contacts who match. You can also direct those who don’t match down another path.

Note: In contrast to a Filter, the Select Contacts action will pull in any contacts who match the criteria, even if they aren’t already in the automation.

Customization options: Too many options to number. Filter based on any field that’s on your contact record. Different field types allow different customization, whether it’s a number field, text field, date field, checkbox, etc. For more, read this article.

When to use: Use this to control who this automation applies to, when to send a message and what message to send to whom. For example, you might set up a filter to pull any contact who has checked in more than two times in the past month and send them a particular message, while you send the rest of your contacts a different message. You might also set up an automation to send a message to every contact 7 days before their birthday, with an offer that expires on their birthday.

Select Contacts

What it does: After triggered, this action searches for contacts in your database who meet the criteria you select and pulls them into the automation, regardless of whether those contacts were in the automation already.

Note: In contrast to the Select Contacts action, a Filter only limits contacts who are already in the automation.

Customization options: Too many options to number. Select any field that’s on your contact record. Different field types allow different customization, whether it’s a number field, text field, date field, checkbox, etc.

When to use: Use any time you need to query your database for contacts meeting a criteria, rather than constricting a segments that’s already in your automation. For example, many businesses will set up a birthday message. Using an “At Time” trigger + Select Contacts + Send SMS, you’d create an automation that would basically be saying “At 9AM every morning [At Time], pull in any contact whose birthday it is [Select Contacts] and send them a text message [Send SMS].”

Http Request

What it does: After triggered, this action will pull or push data either to or from your CityGro account.

Customization options: Set the Request Method, Request URL, Request Parameters and Payload Operations.

When to use: If you’re familiar with advanced data integrations and API functionality, this will likely make perfect sense to you. If not, we suggest you either bring in your web team or steer clear of this action.

Slack Message

What it does: After triggered, this action posts a custom message to a Slack channel.

Note: Slack is a third-party office communication tool used to share info within a company or organization.

Customization options: Customize the message you’d like to send, as well as what channel you’d like to post the message into. Here’s a helpful guide on how to set up and find the Webhook URL in your Slack account. If you want, you can use SmartText in the message text, which will allow you to pull the contact’s name and info in.

When to use: This is a super helpful automation action to use if you have sales reps calling or otherwise contacting potential leads. Of course, if you don’t already use Slack, you might not want to add a new program into your process, but if you’re looking for one, we highly recommend Slack.