How Proactive Triggers work

  • Release version: Australia
  • Updated March 12, 2026
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of How Proactive Triggers work

    Proactive Triggers allow organizations to enhance user experience by automatically engaging users based on their interactions with specific content on the platform. This feature helps in providing timely assistance or information when users access relevant Knowledge articles or catalog items.

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    Key Features

    • Rule Creation: Admins can create rules that activate upon specific user actions, such as viewing Knowledge articles or catalog items with certain keywords.
    • Trigger Types: Proactive Triggers can be activated from various sources, including web browsing (client-side) and system API (server-side), depending on the context of the user's action.
    • Rule Evaluation: Proactive Triggers assess rules based on defined criteria, including Delay Time and Order, ensuring that the most relevant rule is applied first.
    • Custom User Experience: Multiple rules can be created with different delay times and criteria, allowing for tailored interactions based on user behavior.

    Key Outcomes

    When configured correctly, Proactive Triggers provide users with timely, contextual support, enhancing their experience. Users can receive immediate assistance through chat widgets based on the rules set by admins, leading to improved resolution of issues, such as VPN connectivity or product inquiries. This proactive engagement results in higher user satisfaction and more efficient service delivery.

    Explore example use cases and how information flows through the Proactive Triggers process.

    Proactive Triggers use cases

    Proactive Triggers are useful in various scenarios. Explore the following example use cases to determine how to use Proactive Triggers effectively for your organization.

    • An admin creates a Proactive Triggers rule that runs when a user views a Knowledge article containing the keyword “VPN” (or any other keyword that has a matching Virtual Agent topic). The admin configures the rule to run the VPN Connectivity Virtual Agent conversation, which proactively helps the user resolve the VPN issues.

    • An admin creates a Proactive Triggers rule that runs when a user views any catalog item with a short description that includes a specific keyword, such as “laptop.” The admin configures the rule to connect the user to a live agent, using the Live Agent Support topic, which proactively helps the user get assistance in ordering a laptop.

    You can also use Proactive Triggers to engage with customers in more complex scenarios. Admin users can create multiple rules using different delay times and different user criteria to create a customized user experience. For more information about configuring more complex scenarios, see Multiple Proactive Triggers rules and actions.

    Proactive Triggers process

    1. Whenever an end user navigates to a Proactive Triggers enabled page, Proactive Triggers reads the page URL or called API to determine if any Proactive Triggers rules should run.
    2. During this analysis, Proactive Triggers determines the Trigger Type source.
      Web browsing (client side) Trigger type
      Knowledge Base pages Knowledge
      Service Catalog pages Catalog Item
      Portal home pages Portal Home
      All other portal pages URL
      System API (server side) Trigger type
      Search event on portal pages Search Event
    3. Next, Proactive Triggers evaluates all the Proactive Triggers rules for that Trigger Type one by one until a matching rule is found.
      Note:
      Rules are created with the required fields Delay Time and Order. During the rule matching process, rules are analyzed in ascending Order, according to the order number assigned. If the Delay Time is reached before the order number, the Delay Time takes precedent.
    4. After a Proactive rule has been matched, the rule's actions are evaluated one by one. This evaluation proceeds in ascending order, according to the Order field in the associated Proactive actions. As part of this process, the Applies To field is compared with the user visiting the page to determine if the action applies to this user.
    5. After Proactive Triggers identifies at least one rule and action that apply to the visiting user and the Delay Time has been met, a pop-up message appears directly on the web page. The contents of this message are configured by the admin for the matched action.
    6. If the user selects the pop-up message, the chat widget opens. If the matched action is of the type Virtual Agent Topic, the chat widget also runs the topic configured in that action.