Triggers

NOTE: This feature is available in the Professional and Enterprise versions of both Spectra and Stratus Desktop.

• Trigger Overview
• Setting up Triggers

Trigger Overview #

Triggers may be used to automate some of the workflow for your studio. Triggers are associated with a variety of statuses, types, and dates throughout the software. You can create triggers for clients, sessions, appointments, invoices, production/preproduction orders, and tasks. Triggers can be set up to generate phone calls, printed letters, emails, SMS text messages, tasks, or web forms (Stratus only). You can also choose a combination that will create an email if a client has an email address in their client record, or generate a call or printed letter if no email address is available. This allows you to be sure some form of contact will be generated for clients.

Examples #

• Send an email or text message to remind your client of an upcoming session a week prior to the session.

• Generate a call to check on a production order after three days if it hasn’t come back in.

• Send an email to a client to come in and pick up their order when it is ready.

• Send an SMS message to the photographer when a session is booked with him/her.

• Generate a call to follow up with a client who has filled out a “Contact Us” form.

• Send an email or text message to a client to notify them of your new referral program and simultaneously assign them to the program.

Setting Up Triggers #

Tosetup triggers, we’ll look at an Invoice Status example. The screens will be similar for other types of triggers.

1. Go to Maintenance > General > Triggers. This will open a list of all of your triggers.

New in 2022 – Copy Trigger!  Simply highlight the Trigger you wish to copy and click the icon in the ribbon, then open the newly copied trigger to make changes.

• Trigger Type: Narrows down the listed triggers based on trigger type.
• Trigger Sub-Type: Narrows down the listed triggers further if the trigger type uses a sub type such as Type or Status. This drop-down only works when searching for Session and Task type triggers as they are the only trigger types that can use a type or a status.
• Type/Status: Narrows down the listed triggers even further by selecting a specific type or status based on the selected trigger sub-type.

2. To create a new trigger, click New in the Editing group of the ribbon to open the trigger detail window.

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General Information #

Trigger Action Details #

What would you like this trigger to do for you?: Choose one of the following options:

• Phone Call – Create a call record for each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed. 
• Task – Generate a task for each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed.
• Web Form – (available in Stratus ) Create a web form for each client or session that meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed.
• Letter – Generate a printed letter for each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed. 
• Email – Send an email to each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed.
• Email/Phone Call – Send an email to each client who meets the criteria. If a client doesn’t have an email address on file, a call record will be created instead. 
• Email/Letter – Send an email to each client who meets the criteria. If a client doesn’t have an email address on file, a letter will be printed instead. 
• SMS – Send an SMS text message to each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed. 
• SMS/Call – Send an SMS text message to each client who meets the criteria. If the client doesn’t have an SMS-enabled phone number, a call record will be created instead. 
• SMS/Email – Send an SMS text to each client who meets the criteria. If the client doesn’t have an SMS-enabled phone number, an email will be sent instead.
• Email & SMS  – Send both an email and SMS text to each client who meets the criteria at the time the trigger is processed.
• NPS SMS  – Send a special SMS text message to the client asking for a Net Promoter rating (Stratus only). See also: Net Promoter Scores
• SMS Confirmation Message – Send a special SMS text message asking them to reply Yes to confirm their session.  NOTE:  You MUST use the SMS message box in the trigger form when setting this up, it does not use a Form Letter.
• Perform a status change only (new to 2023!) – Have the software perform a status change

• I will manually process these triggers via the Tools>Process Triggers window – This option allows you to only process this trigger manually. See Also Processing Triggers.
• Have the Control Center automatically process these triggers for me – This option allows you to choose whether or not a specific trigger should be processed automatically. When you create a new trigger, you may want to keep this box unchecked until you know the trigger is functioning as expected. You must also select when you want the Control Center to process this job: 24 hours a day or within a specific time frame. We recommend using the time frame as it can prevent the Control Center from sending emails and text messages in the middle of the night. See Also Processing Triggers.
• Do not process triggers on these days: Select any days of the week you do not want this trigger running. For example, you may choose to not let customer service triggers run on the weekends while you’re closed. If a trigger queues up on one of these days, it will remain in the processing queue until the next processing day unless the trigger is marked to not trigger if the triggered date has already passed or if the matching record no longer qualifies for its criteria.

Trigger Exclusions #

Choose which clients should be excluded from receiving a trigger. Here is a list of possible exclusions when setting up your triggers. The exclusions available for each trigger varies depending on which trigger type is selected in the General Information section above:

• Triggered Date is Past – With this option, the software will not try to run this trigger if the trigger date (the one you chose in step the Trigger Action Details section) is in the past. For example, if the trigger date is set to On the Status Due Date, it will try to run the trigger once it reaches the Status Due Date. But if the trigger fails to run for whatever reason, once it passes the Status Due Date, it won’t try to run anymore. This is important if you want to send out a reminder email with words like “Your Christmas Coupon Expires TODAY!”
• Only include clients marked as ‘Allow Marketing’ – Only send this trigger to clients with the appropriate Allow Marketing checkbox(es) checked on their client record.
• On Hold Sessions/Appointments – Exclude sessions/appointment that have been marked as “On Hold.”
• Confirmed Sessions/Appointments – Exclude sessions/appointments that have been marked as “Confirmed.”
• Canceled Sessions/Appointments – Exclude Sessions/appointments that have been marked as “Canceled.”
• NPS Ratings – Depending on the Trigger type selected, different options will be available to exclude clients based on any NPS ratings (e.g. Do Not Trigger if NPS Score is already recorded, Only Include Sessions within X Range of NPS,  or Only include session with an NPS Comment). See also: Net Promoter Scores (NPS)
• Include fully redeemed loyalty rewards – This exclusion is only available for Loyalty Reward triggers. Select if you want this trigger to send to clients with loyalty rewards that have been redeemed in full. 

3. Go to the next tab to enter the information on what you want the trigger to accomplish.

This tab changes based on what you have selected for the What would you like this trigger to do for you? field on the General tab. If sending an email or SMS message, use the Send To Options section to define who this trigger should be sent to. Note: If sending to a specific Family Member Relationship, the trigger will not send if that family member is not present on the client record.

• Email and SMS tabs have an additional setting called Referral Program Options. Use this option to simultaneously assign a client to a referral program whenever this trigger runs. Also select if this trigger should not be sent to a client who is already part of a referral program, or if it should change their current plan to the one you have selected. This benefits clients who have been separately placed in a special referral program or have already received an email from this trigger in the past. See Also: What is a Referral Program?

4. Click OK #

to finish creating the trigger.  #

The software will set up the trigger for processing by filtering through your database and excluding records that may have fit the criteria in the past. This prepares the trigger for use going forward. Note: This initial processing DOES NOT actually create any communications or tasks. Triggers must be processed manually with the Process Triggers tool or processed automatically with the Control Center. See Processing Triggers for more information.