How Proactive Triggers work

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of How Proactive Triggers work

    Proactive Triggers in ServiceNow enable administrators to create rules that automatically engage users based on their interactions with specific content or pages. These triggers help deliver timely assistance, such as launching Virtual Agent conversations or connecting users to live support, enhancing user experience and issue resolution.

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    Use Cases

    • An admin can create a rule that activates when a user views a Knowledge article containing a keyword like "VPN," triggering a Virtual Agent conversation to help resolve VPN issues proactively.
    • Another example includes triggering a live agent connection when a user views a catalog item with a keyword like "laptop," facilitating assistance in ordering.
    • Admins can also design complex scenarios with multiple rules using different delay times and user criteria to tailor user engagement effectively.

    How Proactive Triggers Work

    When a user accesses a page enabled for Proactive Triggers, the system analyzes the page URL or API call to identify applicable rules based on the Trigger Type, which can be client-side (e.g., Knowledge Base pages, Catalog items, portal pages) or server-side (e.g., search events).

    Rules are evaluated in ascending order based on their assigned Order number and Delay Time, where the delay takes precedence if reached first. Once a matching rule is found, its associated actions are assessed in order, verifying applicability to the current user.

    When both a suitable rule and action apply—and the delay time is met—a configured pop-up message appears on the page. Selecting the pop-up opens the chat widget, launching the specified Virtual Agent topic or connecting to support, depending on the action configured.

    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.