Conditions: the questions an automation can ask

A condition is a yes or no question about a person. You use one in four places: an If / else step, a Split paths step, a Wait until step set to A condition, and the journey's goal under Stop at a goal.

The conditions

• Finished a course: they have completed every lesson in the course you pick.

• Opened the last email: they opened the previous email this journey sent them.

• Clicked the last email: they clicked a link in the previous email this journey sent.

• Is a paying member: they have an active paid membership, not a free or comped one. A free trial does not count as paying.

• Active in the community: they have posted, replied or liked at least once.

• Has a tag: they carry the tag you choose.

• Is on a list: they are on the list you choose.

• Joined the list after this went live: new since you turned the automation on, as opposed to the people who were already on the list. It sorts a back-fill from everyone who arrives afterwards.

• Attended the event: they turned up to the journey's event, at least a minute in the room or the stream, and did not just RSVP.

• Filled in a form: they have submitted the form you choose. It is matched on the email address they used, so someone who filled it in with a different address reads as not having.

• Their answer: one question on the form submission that started the run. Pick the question (a hidden value is listed with "(hidden)"), then is, is not or contains, then the text to compare. It needs the trigger's form picked, so Drry will not let you turn the automation on with it under Any form. Someone who left the question blank is not equal to anything, so is not passes for them.

• Where they came from: where that same submission came from. Under What to check choose the campaign source, medium or name from the link's tags, the site that sent them (type something like instagram.com), or the page it was sent on, then is, is not or contains, and a value.

• Both of these compare without capitals or spaces at the ends, only exist on a Submits a form journey, and read as no if the submission has since been deleted.

Attended the event has limits

• It only works for an event hosted in Drry. For an in-person event or a pasted Zoom or Meet link nobody passes through Drry, so there is no attendance and everyone would read as not attending. Drry refuses to turn the automation on in that case and tells you why.

• A Wait until step cannot hold on it. It would release the moment someone joins and email them mid-session. Wait until the event ends first, then branch.

• It needs the automation pointed at one event, so it cannot be used with Every session on a repeating event. See Run an automation for every session of a recurring event.

A goal is a condition too

Switch on Stop at a goal under When to stop and pick a condition under They are done when. It is checked before every step, and anyone who already matches leaves the journey right then. Unlike most edits, a goal applies to people who are part-way through right now.

Is the goal checked before the first email?

It depends on the goal.

• Has a tag, Is on a list and Filled in a form: yes. Someone who already matches when they enter is skipped and never emailed. They enter once, ever, so they cannot come into this journey later either. The builder counts them as skipped, already at the goal, apart from left early, and their entry on the person's timeline reads “Skipped: already met the goal when they entered, nothing was sent”.

• Every other goal: no. A goal that is already true when they arrive does not remove them before the journey has said a word, so they still get the first step. This matters most for Is a paying member, which is the goal Drry fills in when you switch the toggle on and is true for every member of a paid community.

Some pairings are not checked before the first email even for a tag, list or form goal, because the trigger can put people in that state itself, so the first step still goes out:

• On Submits a form, a tag or list goal, since the form can add the tag or list when it is submitted. A form goal is checked there only when it is a different form from the trigger's, and never when the trigger is Any form.

• On Everyone who registered or showed up and Books a session, a list goal.

• On Joined a list or Everyone on a list, timed to an event, a goal of being on that same list.

The goal note in the builder says which reading applies to your journey. If you import contacts who already carry the goal tag, Drry waits about two minutes after the import before their first step, so the tag is in place when the goal is checked.