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This term

Triggered Campaign

Messages sent automatically when a customer does something, such as signing up, browsing, buying or going quiet, rather than on a fixed calendar.

Also called: Event-triggered message · Trigger-based campaign · Behavioural trigger · Lifecycle message

Often confused with

Drip Campaign

An automated sequence of WhatsApp messages sent to each contact on a schedule after they enrol, stopping when they reply, convert or opt out.

Read the Drip Campaign entry

Follow one event from trigger to send

6 / 6
Customer eventcart.abandoned
Eligibilityopt-in, cap
Delay45 min, re-check
Window open?inbound < 24 h
No sendskip or cancel
Free-formwindow open
Templateapproved, marketing
Cloud APIPOST /messages
Track outcomewamid, order?
  • Customer event to Eligibility: event
  • Eligibility to Delay: eligible
  • Eligibility to No send: no consent
  • Delay to No send: paid
  • Delay to Window open?: still open
  • Window open? to Template: no
  • Window open? to Free-form: yes
  • Template to Cloud API: send
  • Free-form to Cloud API: send
  • Cloud API to Track outcome: wamid

Hop 6 of 6

Cloud APITrack outcomewamid

Arrives at Track outcome — wamid, order?.

A cart.abandoned event passes eligibility rules and a delay, then the window check chooses between an approved template and a free-form message. Step through the hops, including the exit where nothing is sent.

Hop 6 of 6: Cloud API to Track outcome — wamid.

What is a triggered campaign?

A triggered campaign is a set of WhatsApp messages sent automatically when a customer event occurs: an account is created, a cart is abandoned, an order is delivered, an item comes back in stock, or a customer has not bought for 60 days. Each customer receives the message at their own moment, about the thing they just did, which is why triggered messages usually outperform a calendar broadcast of the same content.

Under the hood it is event-driven. Your store, app or CRM emits an event, often as a Webhook or a message on a queue. A rules engine checks whether this customer is eligible (opted in, not messaged too often, not already converted), waits any configured delay and then calls the Cloud API's messages endpoint. If the customer messaged you within the last 24 hours, the 24-hour customer service window allows a free-form message; if not, the trigger must send an approved message template, whose category depends on what it says.

The closest neighbour is the Drip Campaign: a time-based sequence that everyone on a list moves through on a schedule (day 0, day 3, day 7). A triggered campaign has no schedule of its own; it waits for behaviour. The two are often combined, such as a sign-up trigger that starts a short drip, and both are forms of Workflow Automation.

Key takeaways

  • A triggered campaign sends a message because a customer did something (signed up, abandoned a cart, bought, went quiet), not because a date arrived.
  • Every trigger needs an event, eligibility rules, a delay and a cancel condition such as 'stop if the order has been placed'.
  • If the customer wrote to you in the last 24 hours a free-form message is allowed; otherwise the trigger must send an approved template.
  • The template's category follows its content: a delivery confirmation is utility, a cart reminder or win-back offer is marketing.
  • A drip campaign runs on a fixed schedule; a triggered campaign reacts to each customer's own events.

How does a triggered campaign work?

  1. Step 1

    Define the event and its payload

    Name the event (cart.abandoned, order.delivered, customer.inactive_60d) and include what the message needs: customer ID, WhatsApp number in E.164, items, and a cart or order token. Emit it once per real occurrence, with a unique event ID.

  2. Step 2

    Set eligibility rules

    Before anything is queued, check marketing opt-in for marketing triggers, the suppression list, a frequency cap shared across all campaigns, and quiet hours. A utility trigger such as a dispatch notice relies on the customer's transaction, not a marketing opt-in.

  3. Step 3

    Add a delay and a cancel condition

    Most triggers wait: 30–60 minutes for an abandoned cart, a day after delivery for a review request. Re-check at send time and cancel if the goal already happened, such as the order being placed.

  4. Step 4

    Choose free-form or template

    If the customer's last inbound message is under 24 hours old, a free-form message is allowed. Otherwise send an approved template of the right category with its body variables and button parameters.

  5. Step 5

    Send once and record the outcome

    Deduplicate on the event ID so a retried job never sends twice, store the returned wamid, and attribute later clicks, replies and orders back to the trigger that caused them.

A triggered campaign in code

// Worker for a delayed "cart.abandoned" job (Node.js 20+, built-in fetch).
const GRAPH = "https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0";
const DAY_MS = 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000;
 
export async function onCartAbandoned(event) {
  const c = await db.customers.get(event.customerId);
 
  // 1. Eligibility: marketing consent, suppression list, shared weekly cap
  if (!c.marketingOptIn || c.suppressed) return "skip:no-consent";
  if ((await db.sends.countMarketing(c.id, 7)) >= 3) return "skip:capped";
 
  // 2. Cancel condition, re-checked after the 45-minute delay
  if (await db.orders.placedSince(c.id, event.occurredAt)) return "skip:converted";
 
  // 3. Free-form only if the customer wrote to us in the last 24 hours
  const windowOpen = c.lastInboundAt && Date.now() - c.lastInboundAt < DAY_MS;
  const item = event.items[0].name;
  const message = windowOpen
    ? { type: "text", text: { body: "Still thinking about the " + item + "? Your cart is saved." } }
    : {
        type: "template",
        template: {
          name: "cart_reminder_v2", // approved MARKETING template
          language: { code: "en" },
          components: [
            { type: "body", parameters: [{ type: "text", text: item }] },
            { type: "button", sub_type: "url", index: "0",
              parameters: [{ type: "text", text: event.cartToken }] },
          ],
        },
      };
 
  // 4. One send per event, even if the job is retried
  if (!(await db.sends.claim(event.id))) return "skip:duplicate";
  const res = await fetch(GRAPH + "/" + process.env.PHONE_NUMBER_ID + "/messages", {
    method: "POST",
    headers: {
      Authorization: "Bearer " + process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN,
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({ messaging_product: "whatsapp", to: c.waId, ...message }),
  });
  const data = await res.json();
  if (!res.ok) {
    await db.sends.release(event.id); // let the queue retry
    throw new Error(data.error?.message ?? "send failed");
  }
  await db.sends.record(event.id, c.id, data.messages[0].id, "cart_reminder");
  return "sent";
}

Check consent and caps, re-check the cancel condition after the delay, pick free-form or template by the window, then claim the event ID so a retry cannot double-send.

Example: Three triggers at a Bengaluru meal-kit app

A meal-kit subscription in Bengaluru runs three triggers. When a trial user adds a kit but does not pay within 45 minutes, a marketing template shows the kit with a button back to checkout; if payment arrives during the wait, the job cancels itself. When a box is marked delivered, a utility template confirms it and offers a 'Report an issue' quick reply. When a subscriber skips two weeks in a row, a win-back marketing template offers to pause rather than cancel. All three check one shared cap of three marketing messages per customer per week, so a customer who abandons a cart on the day a win-back offer goes out receives only one of them.

Common mix-ups

Common mistakes with a triggered campaign

  • No cancel condition

    A reminder that lands after the customer has already paid is the fastest way to look careless. Re-check the goal at send time, not only when the event arrives.

  • Capping each trigger separately

    Five triggers that each allow two messages a week can send ten. Apply one frequency cap across every trigger and campaign, and decide which wins when two fire together.

  • Assuming the window is open

    A free-form message to someone who has not written in 24 hours fails with error 131047. Check the time of the last inbound message and fall back to an approved template.

  • Submitting reminders as utility

    Meta's categorisation treats cart reminders and win-back offers as marketing, even when the customer asked for them. Submit them as marketing and budget for the marketing rate.

  • Firing on duplicate events

    Event buses and webhooks deliver at least once, so the same event can arrive twice. Claim the event ID before sending and skip anything already claimed.

A triggered campaign: key facts and limits

Started by
A customer event, not a calendar date
Typical delays
30–60 min (cart), 1 day (review), 30–90 days (win-back)
Outside the 24-hour window
Approved template required
Cart and win-back reminders
Marketing category, ₹0.94 per delivery in India
Order and delivery updates
Utility category, ₹0.19 per delivery in India
Duplicate protection
Deduplicate on your event ID before calling the API

Why the difference matters

Why does a triggered campaign matter?

Recipients judge a WhatsApp message on timing and relevance, and a triggered message has both by construction: it arrives minutes or days after the customer acted, about what they did. That makes triggers the best use of paid marketing deliveries for most stores and apps; Cart Recovery, Back-in-Stock Alerts and win-back offers are all triggers. For developers the plumbing matters as much as the copy, because duplicated events, missing cancel checks and sends to people without consent are what turn a helpful reminder into a complaint.

Rules of thumb

Best practices for a triggered campaign

  • Start with the three triggers closest to revenue: abandoned cart, post-purchase and win-back.
  • Log every skip with its reason (no consent, capped, converted); skips explain campaign numbers better than sends.
  • Give each trigger its own template name and UTM campaign so analytics can separate them.
  • Respect quiet hours: hold a trigger that fires at 1 am until morning and re-check the cancel condition when it is released.

Triggered Campaign FAQs

What is the difference between a triggered campaign and a drip campaign?+
A triggered campaign reacts to each customer's own events; a drip campaign follows a fixed schedule after someone joins a list. A cart reminder 45 minutes after abandonment is a trigger; a five-message onboarding series on days 0, 2, 5, 9 and 14 is a drip.
Do triggered WhatsApp messages need an approved template?+
Usually, yes. Unless the customer messaged you in the last 24 hours, a business-initiated message must be an approved template. Inside the window a free-form message is allowed, which some triggers, such as a reply to an in-chat question, can use.
Are triggered messages marketing or utility?+
It depends on the content, not on the trigger. A message that confirms or updates something the customer did, like an order or a delivery, is utility; one that promotes, reminds them to buy or offers a discount, such as a cart reminder, is marketing.
How quickly should a trigger fire?+
As fast as the use case needs and no faster. An order confirmation goes immediately, a cart reminder after 30–60 minutes, a review request a day after delivery. Too early feels intrusive; too late loses the customer's intent.
Can I run triggered campaigns without writing code?+
Yes, through a no-code automation tool or a messaging platform that receives your store or CRM events and maps them to templates. The logic is the same as in code: eligibility, delay, cancel condition, window check and deduplication.

See InfiQ pricing

* Per-message rates for India, ex-GST: marketing, utility and authentication effective 1 July 2026; service messages ₹0.145 since 1 October 2026 (they were ₹0 until 30 September 2026). Volume commitments earn discounts — final rate is confirmed on your account; applicable GST extra. Rates for other countries differ (see the international rate table on /pricing).

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