How to Build & Trigger Automations
Walk through the automation builder — set triggers, add actions, and let the platform handle your repetitive tasks.
Automations are the backbone of a well-run CRM. Instead of remembering to send follow-ups, create tasks, or update records manually, you define the rules once and TrustPager handles the rest every time, without fail.
The Automation Builder
Each automation has two parts: a trigger (what starts it) and one or more actions (what happens). The visual builder shows the flow clearly: trigger at the top, actions in sequence below.
Available Triggers
TrustPager supports a wide range of trigger types:
- Stage Change - fires when an opportunity moves between pipeline stages. Note: stage-change automations work differently - they bind to a single pipeline stage and are managed from the pipeline page at https://app.trustpager.com/operations/pipelines. They do not support multiple triggers.
- Form Submission - fires when a contact submits a form
- Form Opened - fires the first time a recipient opens a form you sent them (before they submit). Use this to follow up while your form is top of mind.
- New Contact Created - fires when a contact is added to the CRM
- Deal Value Updated - fires when the opportunity value changes
- Tag Added - fires when a specific tag is applied
- Scheduled - fires on a time-based schedule (daily, weekly, etc.)
- Webhook Received - fires when an external system sends data
- Manual - fires when you click a button
- Signature Opened - fires the first time a recipient opens a document you sent for signing (before they sign). Available under the Signatures trigger card.
- Work Order Portal Opened - fires the first time a recipient unlocks the work order portal you sent them.
- Scheduler - fires when a booking is made, rescheduled, or cancelled on your TrustPager scheduling page. See the Booking Event Triggers section below for the full breakdown.
Open Tracking
TrustPager can tell you the moment a recipient opens something you sent them: a document, a form, or a work order portal. Three triggers cover these events:
- Signature Opened - fires when a recipient first views a document sent for signing
- Form Opened - fires when a recipient first opens a form you sent them
- Work Order Portal Opened - fires when a recipient first unlocks a work order portal
Each trigger fires once per recipient: opening the same item again does not re-fire the automation.
Building an open-tracking automation
Open https://app.trustpager.com/auto/automations, create or edit an automation, and select the relevant trigger card: Signatures for document opens, Forms for form opens, or Work Order Portal for portal opens. Choose the Opened event within that card, then attach any action you like.
Common patterns:
- Create a call task - assign yourself a task to call the recipient while the document or form is still open in their browser
- Send an internal notification - ping a team member via email or Slack the moment someone opens
- Suppress a follow-up reminder - use a branch condition so a Day-3 nudge only fires if the recipient has not yet opened
Variables available in actions
When an open-tracking trigger fires, the following variables are available in any action:
{{recipient_name}}- the name of the person who opened{{document_title}}or{{template_name}}- the name of the document or form that was opened{{opened_at}}- the date and time the recipient first opened
Activity timeline
Every open is also recorded as an activity on the linked opportunity's timeline: you can see who opened what and when, even if you have not set up an automation for it.
Booking Event Triggers
The Scheduler trigger card (labelled "Booking events" in the trigger grid at https://app.trustpager.com/auto/automations) fires automations off activity on your TrustPager scheduling page. It covers three events:
- Booking Created - a new booking has been made, whether through your public booking link, the staff Add Booking button, or your AI dialler
- Booking Rescheduled - an existing booking has been moved to a new time
- Booking Cancelled - a booking has been cancelled
Scoping by event type
After selecting the Scheduler card and choosing an event, you can scope the trigger to fire for Any event type (the default) or restrict it to a single specific event type. This is useful when you run multiple event types and want different automations for each one.
Fields available in actions
When a booking trigger fires, your actions have access to the booking details via the variable picker inside the action editor. The fields available depend on the event:
All three events: Name, Email, Phone, Event Type, Duration
Booking Created: Start Time, End Time, Meeting Link (for video bookings)
Booking Rescheduled: Old Start Time, New Start Time
Booking Cancelled: Cancellation Reason
Key use cases
- Stop the drip the moment they book. If a contact is in a nurture sequence with scheduled "book a call" emails, a Booking Created trigger can remove them from that queue immediately so they do not keep getting chase emails after they have already booked.
- Notify staff of new bookings. Send an internal email or Slack message to the assigned rep the instant a booking comes in, with the client name, contact details, and meeting time populated via the variable picker.
- Move the opportunity and update the stage. On Booking Created, move the linked opportunity to a "Meeting Booked" stage and update a custom field with the meeting date.
- Follow up on reschedules. On Booking Rescheduled, send the client a confirmation with the new start time and alert the rep.
- Re-engage after a cancellation. On Booking Cancelled, trigger a re-engagement sequence: a task to call the contact, or an email offering alternative times.
Scheduler vs Cal.com: The Scheduler card handles bookings made through TrustPager built-in scheduling. If your workspace is connected to a Cal.com account, you will also see a separate Cal.com trigger card that handles bookings coming from Cal.com only. If you are using TrustPager native scheduling, use the Scheduler card.
Adding Multiple Triggers
A single automation can listen for more than one trigger at the same time. When any one of them matches, the automation fires: this is an OR relationship, not AND. You do not need separate automations for each entry point.
To add a trigger, open your automation in the builder at https://app.trustpager.com/auto/automations and click Add Trigger below the existing trigger card. You can mix trigger types freely: for example, a form submission trigger and an inbound webhook trigger can coexist on the same automation. When either fires, the full action sequence runs.
There is no enforced limit on how many triggers an automation can have, and no restrictions on which source types can be combined.
One exception: Stage Change - stage-change automations are tied to a single pipeline stage and are managed from the pipeline page, not the automation builder. They do not appear in the multi-trigger interface. All other trigger types support multiple triggers.
Available Actions
Each trigger can fire multiple actions in sequence:
- Send an email or SMS
- Create a task and assign it to a team member
- Update a field on the contact, account, or opportunity
- Send a Slack message to a channel
- Call an external webhook
- Create or update a document
- Move the opportunity to another stage
- Attribute Referral - link a new opportunity to an existing referrer contact, with automatic contact creation if the referrer is not yet in your CRM. See https://trustpager.com/help-center/attribute-referral-via-automation for the full walkthrough.
Stopping an Automation When a Step Fails
By default, if one action in an automation fails, the automation keeps going and runs the remaining steps anyway. Usually that is what you want. But sometimes a later step should only run if an earlier one succeeded. For example, you only want to enrol someone in a follow-up sequence if the step that generates their quote actually worked.
Every action has a Stop the automation if this step fails toggle on its card in the builder. It is off by default. When you switch it on, a failure on that step halts the automation and none of the steps after it run.
Order matters. Actions run from the top of the builder downwards, so the step you want to guard on must sit above the steps you want it to stop. To prevent a "send follow-up" step from running when a "get quote" step fails, put the "get quote" step first and turn its toggle on. If you turn the toggle on for the very last step there is nothing after it to stop, and the builder will tell you so.
When a run is halted this way, the run shows as Failed (if no earlier step had completed) or Partial (if some earlier steps completed), and the steps that did not run are marked as skipped in the run detail.
Run History
Every time an automation fires, TrustPager logs a complete audit trail: what triggered it, what data was used, which actions ran, and whether each step succeeded or failed. This makes debugging straightforward: you can see exactly what happened and why.
Tip: Start with simple automations (one trigger, one action) and add complexity once you see them working. The most impactful first automation for most businesses is a follow-up sequence that fires when an opportunity moves to a new stage.