Criteria blocks let your automation make decisions. They ask a yes or no question about the contact (or the situation) and then send the contact down a different path depending on the answer. This is how a single automation can send one email to VIPs and a different email to everyone else, or skip a step entirely for contacts who don't meet certain conditions. This article explains how criteria work, the common pitfall to watch for, and the full list of criteria available in Connect.

Topics

• How criteria work
• The Yes path and the No path
• Important: always add a delay before checking if something was done
• How to combine multiple conditions
• Contact criteria
• Email criteria
• SMS criteria
• Campaign criteria
• Web form criteria
• Purchase criteria
• Visit criteria
• Voucher criteria
• Date and time criteria

How criteria work

A criteria block is a yes or no question that the automation asks at a specific point in the flow. Common questions include:

• Is this contact a VIP?
• Does this contact's date of birth fall today?
• Did the contact open the email we just sent them?
• Has this contact submitted the feedback form?

When the automation reaches a criteria block, it evaluates the question for each contact passing through. Contacts where the answer is yes follow one path, contacts where the answer is no follow another. You can put any further steps (more criteria, more actions, more delays) on either branch.

The Yes path and the No path

Every criteria block creates two branches: Yes and No. You don't have to use both. If you only want something to happen on the Yes path, leave the No path empty. Contacts who hit an empty branch simply exit the automation at that point.

For example, if your automation should send a VIP-only offer:

• Criteria: is the contact in the VIP segment?
• Yes: send the VIP offer email
• No: leave empty, those contacts exit the automation

Important: always add a delay before checking if something was done

⚠️ Warning, every step in an automation runs almost instantly. If you send an email and then immediately check whether the contact opened it, the answer will always be no, because the email hasn't even left the server yet. Always put an Add delay action between sending a message and checking whether the contact acted on it.

How long the delay should be depends on the situation. A few hours might be enough for an opening check. Several days makes sense if you're waiting for a contact to complete a form or make a purchase. The right value depends on how your contacts typically engage.

How to combine multiple conditions

A single criteria block can only ask one question. To check for multiple conditions at the same time (AND logic), you have two options.

Option 1: Nest criteria blocks

Place a second criteria block on the Yes path of the first. Contacts only continue to the next step if they answer yes to both questions.

For example:

1. Criteria: is the gender female?
2. On the Yes path, another criteria: is the date of birth today?
3. On the Yes path of that, the action

Only contacts who answer yes to both questions reach the action.

Option 2: Use a segment

If you already have a segment that contains the combined conditions, use the Contact in Segment criteria. One block, all conditions checked at once. This is cleaner for complex combinations.

For example, build a segment called Female contacts whose birthday is today in the Segments area of Connect, then use Contact in Segment in your automation to check membership in one step.

Contact criteria

These criteria look at details on the contact's profile.

• Contact Field, searches a contact's fields for a specific value (date of birth, tags, custom fields, and so on). The most commonly used criteria. Works like a search of your database, with operators including equals, not equals, is empty, and more
• Contact Added, checks whether the contact was added within a specific time range. The range can be in the past, present, or future
• Contact Updated, checks whether the contact's details were updated within a specific time range
• Contact in Segment, checks whether the contact belongs to an existing segment. Useful for combining multiple conditions in a single block

Email criteria

These check whether the contact has performed a specific action on an email.

• Email Sent, checks whether the contact has been sent a specific email campaign
• Email Opened, checks whether the contact has opened an email in a specific campaign folder
• Email Clicked, checks whether the contact has clicked a link in an email
• Email Reply, checks whether the contact has replied to an email
• Email Bounced, checks whether an email sent to the contact has bounced
• Delivered Email, checks whether an email was confirmed as delivered (no bounces)

💡 Tip, Email Opened and Email Clicked are where the always-add-a-delay rule matters most. The automation needs time to actually send the email and for the contact to interact with it before the check returns a meaningful answer.

SMS criteria

Same shape as email criteria but for SMS campaigns.

• SMS Sent, checks whether the contact has been sent a specific SMS campaign
• SMS Reply, checks whether the contact has replied to an SMS
• Delivered SMS, checks whether an SMS was confirmed as delivered

Campaign criteria

When you don't care if the message was email or SMS.

• Campaign Sent, checks whether the contact has been sent a specific campaign (email or SMS)
• Campaign Reply, checks whether the contact has replied to a campaign
• Delivered Campaign, checks whether a campaign was confirmed as delivered

Web form criteria

• Webform Submitted, checks whether the contact has submitted a specific web form within a given time period. Useful for re-engagement automations that target contacts who started a flow but didn't complete it

Purchase criteria

These criteria require purchase data to be flowing into Connect via a POS integration.

• Purchase Added, checks whether the contact made a purchase in a given time period
• Purchase Updated, checks whether a contact's purchase was updated in a given time period
• Purchase Deleted, checks whether a purchase has been removed from the contact's profile
• Purchase Field, searches specific details on a purchase (item quantity, purchase amount, and similar). Works like Contact Field but for purchase records

Visit criteria

These criteria require visit data to be flowing into Connect via a reservation, booking, or Wi-Fi integration.

• Visit Added, checks when a contact visited a specific location
• Visit Updated, checks for additional visits made by an existing contact
• Visit Deleted, checks whether a visit has been removed from the contact's profile
• Visit Field, searches specific details on a visit (feedback score, number of guests, and similar)

Voucher criteria

These criteria work with the Vouchers and Offers functionality in Connect.

• Voucher Assigned, checks whether a contact has been assigned a specific voucher in a given time period
• Voucher Redeemed, checks whether a contact has redeemed a specific voucher

Date and time criteria

• Date Time, filters by the current date and time. Useful for letting the automation behave differently on weekends, or only allowing a step to proceed during certain hours. For example, send a follow-up SMS only on weekdays between 9am and 5pm

FAQs

Do I have to fill in both the Yes and the No path? No. You only need to use the paths you want. Leaving the No path empty means contacts who answer no simply exit the automation at that point.

What's the difference between a trigger and a criteria block? A trigger starts the automation. A criteria block makes a decision inside an already-running automation. The same concept (for example, Email Opened) can be either a trigger (the start of an automation) or a criteria (a checkpoint within one).

Why does my Email Opened criteria always come back as No? You probably don't have a delay before it. Every automation step runs almost instantly, so without an Add delay action between sending the email and checking for the open, the email hasn't reached the contact yet and the answer is always no.

Can I check more than one condition in a single criteria block? Not in one block. To check multiple conditions, either nest criteria blocks on the Yes path, or build a segment with all the conditions baked in and use Contact in Segment.

Are criteria the same as filters on triggers? Not quite. A filter on a trigger limits when the trigger fires in the first place (for example, only during June). A criteria block evaluates each contact as they reach that point in the flow.

Related articles

• How automations work in Connect
• Create your first automation in Connect
• Choosing a trigger for your automation
• Choosing an action for your automation
• Manage and troubleshoot your automations
• How-to guides: set up specific automation campaigns, see criteria in action across real automation recipes

You now know how to use criteria to branch your automations and direct different contacts down different paths.

Any questions? Reach out to us via email at support@meandu.com