Understanding logic and contact movement in automations
Last updated: April 11, 2025
Overview
Automations are designed to guide your contacts through personalized journeys based on their behavior, preferences, and engagement. Logic tools in automations let you determine who enters the automation, how they move through it, and when they exit.
Read on to learn how and when to use trigger filters, conditional splits, end automation settings, and goals.
Choosing the right tool
Here’s a quick comparison to help you decide:
Tool | When its logic check happens | What it controls | Best for |
Trigger filter | Before entry | Who can start the automation | Limiting access to specific contacts |
Conditional split | Mid-journey (real time) | Which path a contact takes | Personalizing the journey based on behavior |
End automation settings | Mid-journey (real time) | Whether a contact stays in flow | Removing contacts after key events |
Goals | Mid-journey (every 6 hours) | Contacts' movement through the flow | Pulling contacts to a specific part of an automation |
In many cases, you’ll use all three together to build an automation that is precise, dynamic, and responsive to contact behavior.
Read the sections below to learn more about each tool.
Trigger filters
Trigger filters help you limit who enters an automation by refining the scope of the trigger's entry criteria, ensuring that the journey is tightly targeted. When trigger filters are set up, contacts have to meet the criteria for the trigger and the trigger filter in order to start the automation.
You should use trigger filters when you only want a subset of eligible contacts to enter an automation. Trigger filters help to avoid unnecessary emails to contacts who aren't interested in or qualified for the content of your automation.
Trigger filter use cases
Tag-specific automations: Only allow contacts with a “VIP” tag to enter a special promotion sequence.
List-specific entry: Only allow contacts from a specific signup form or integration to enter the flow.
Behavior-based targeting: Only include contacts who’ve opened an email or clicked a link in the past 30 days.
Order content: Only include contacts whose order contains a specific product.
Discount code tracking: Only include contacts who did or did not use a specific discount code to place their order.
Learn more about trigger filters in 📄 Understanding automation trigger filters
Conditional splits
Conditional splits create branches within your automation. At the point of the split, the automation checks whether a contact meets the specified criteria and sends them down a YES path if they do or down a NO path if they don't.
You should use conditional splits to dynamically customize the journey for contacts after they've entered the automation. Conditional splits help deliver different content or actions based on a contact's interaction with your store, website, or marketing program.
Conditional split use cases
Follow-up logic: Send a reminder to contacts who didn’t open your first email.
Interest-based paths: Show different product suggestions based on the category a contact viewed.
Engagement re-routing: If a contact hasn’t clicked in the last 3 emails, move them to a re-engagement track.
Learn more about conditional splits in 📄 How to use conditional splits in automations
End automation settings
End automation settings are automation-wide criteria that, when met by a contact in the automation, tells the automation to stop delivering content to the contact.
You should use end automation settings to pull contacts out of an automation when an action taken by the contact renders the rest of the automation inappropriate for the contact. End automation settings help prevent sending irrelevant content to contacts.
End automation settings use cases
Purchase-based exits: If a contact buys the product featured in the automation, remove them immediately to avoid sending additional sales messages.
List movement: If a contact is added to a “Customer” list, remove them from a “Lead Nurture” automation.
Tag-based removal: Exit contacts who gain a certain tag (e.g. “Converted”).
Learn more about end automation settings in 📄 How to configure end automation settings
Goals
Goals are automation-branch specific criteria that, when met by a contact in the branch, pulls the contact to the point in the automation where the goal is.
You should use goals if you want contacts to stay in your automation but skip certain nodes based on criteria you set. Goals help tighten an automation's flow.
Goals check for conditions every six hours
Goals do not check conditions in real time. Goal conditions are checked every six hours.
Goal use cases
Skip call-to-action emails after a purchase: If a contact buys the product featured in the automation, skip additional purchase prompting messages and continue with product education.
Learn more about goals in 📄 How to use goals in automations