Behaviours

Behaviours are defined patterns of customer activity that you want to track and potentially act upon. They capture the moment when a customer exhibits a specific combination of attributes or events that matters to your business.

What are behaviours?

Think of behaviours as tripwires. You define the conditions, and when a customer crosses that threshold, Trig records it, can fire actions, and creates permanent metadata about when it happened.

Key characteristic: Behaviours are one and done. Once a customer enters a behaviour and either completes it or exits, they cannot re-enter that same behaviour again.

This makes behaviours ideal for tracking milestone moments—things that happen once and carry significance.

Behaviours vs cohorts

Understanding this distinction is critical:

Behaviours	Cohorts
One and done—once you leave, you can never re-enter	Dynamic—you can enter and leave multiple times
Track milestone moments that happen once	Track current state based on criteria
Create permanent historical record	Membership changes as attributes change
”First time they did X"	"Currently active”

Example comparison: A “Super User” behaviour captures the moment someone first becomes a super user. Once achieved, it’s recorded permanently—even if usage later declines. A “Super User” cohort tracks who currently meets super user criteria. If usage declines, they leave. If it rises, they rejoin. Both have value. Behaviours give you historical milestones. Cohorts give you current state.

Why behaviours matter

Capturing milestone moments

Some customer actions are significant precisely because they happen once:

First time creating a project
Reaching a usage threshold (100+ actions)
Completing a critical setup step
Achieving “power user” criteria

Triggering actions at the right time

When a customer exhibits a behaviour, you can immediately:

Notify your team via Slack or webhook
Update an attribute in your system
Send a follow-up communication
Route them into a job

Building customer context

Every behaviour creates metadata:

last_entered_[behaviour]     — When they entered
last_completed_[behaviour]   — When they completed
last_exited_[behaviour]      — When they exited without completing
currently_member_of_[behaviour] — Whether they're currently in it

This metadata is available for targeting, filtering, and analysis throughout the platform.

Qualifying audiences for jobs

Behaviours are often used as qualification criteria:

Target everyone who has completed "Setup Complete" behaviour
but has NOT completed "First Project Created" behaviour

How behaviours work

Entry criteria (audience)

Entry criteria define who qualifies to enter:

Behaviour: First Strike Moment
Audience:
  - License type = commercial
  - First session date within last 7 days

When someone matches these criteria and hasn’t previously entered, they enter the behaviour.

Completion criteria

Completion criteria define success:

Completion criteria:
  - Projects created >= 1 OR
  - Boards joined >= 1 OR
  - Project link clicked >= 1

When someone in the behaviour meets these criteria, they complete. Completion is the positive outcome.

Exit without completion

If someone is in a behaviour and no longer matches entry criteria (or a time limit passes) without completing, they exit. Exit is the negative outcome.

The one-and-done rule

Once a customer has entered a behaviour—regardless of completion or exit—they cannot enter again. This serves important purposes:

Preserves integrity of “first time” tracking
Prevents double-counting
Creates clean historical records

If you need to track something that can happen repeatedly, use a cohort instead, or create multiple behaviours with different criteria.

Configuring behaviours

Anatomy of a behaviour

Field	Description	Example
Name	Descriptive name	”Setup Moment Reached”
Audience	Who qualifies to enter	License = commercial, first session within 7 days
Completion Criteria	What indicates success	Created project >= 1
Entry Actions	What happens on entry	Notify team, update attribute
Completion Actions	What happens on completion	Send webhook, update CRM
Exit Actions	What happens on exit without completion	Notify team of drop-off

Building entry criteria

Entry criteria use filter logic: Attribute-based:

attribute = value
attribute >= X
attribute has any value

Trig metadata:

currently_member_of_[stage/behaviour/job]
last_completed_[stage/behaviour/job] has any value

Important: Attributes are evaluated historically—existing values are checked. Events are evaluated forward—only new events trigger.

Entry, completion, and exit actions

Notify team:

Send Slack message to a channel
Include customer context

Fire webhook:

Call an external endpoint
Pass customer data

Update attribute:

Set an internal attribute
Flag status changes

Common behaviour patterns

Milestone behaviours

Track significant first-time achievements:

Behaviour: First Project Created
Audience: All customers
Completion: projects_created >= 1

Behaviour: Power User Threshold Reached
Audience: All customers
Completion:
  - sessions_per_week >= 5 AND
  - features_used >= 7 AND
  - team_members >= 3

Funnel stage behaviours

Track progression through a conversion funnel:

Behaviour: Setup Moment
Audience: License = trial
Completion: setup_completed = true

Behaviour: Aha Moment
Audience: completed Setup Moment
Completion: first_value_action = true

Behaviour: Habit Moment
Audience: completed Aha Moment
Completion: return_visits >= 3

Each behaviour’s audience can depend on completing the previous one.

Alert behaviours

Track conditions that should trigger notification:

Behaviour: Ultra Superstar User
Audience: All customers
Completion:
  - projects_created >= 10 AND
  - boards_created >= 10 AND
  - users_invited >= 100
Entry Action: Notify sales team in Slack

Negative behaviours

Track concerning patterns:

Behaviour: Dropped Off During Onboarding
Audience:
  - In onboarding stage
  - Days since first session >= 14
Completion:
  - Last login > 7 days ago
  - Onboarding objectives completed < 2
Entry Action: Alert CSM

Behaviours as objectives

Within stages, objectives are actually behaviours under the hood:

Stage: Onboarding
├── Objective: Created First Invoice (behaviour)
├── Objective: Connected Gateway (behaviour)
├── Objective: Invited Team Member (behaviour)

The mechanics are identical—entry criteria, completion criteria, actions. Within a stage context, they’re called “objectives” and contribute to stage progression tracking.

Automatic metadata

When you create a behaviour, Trig generates attributes automatically:

Attribute	Type
`currently_member_of_[behaviour]`	Boolean
`last_entered_[behaviour]`	Timestamp
`last_exited_[behaviour]`	Timestamp
`last_completed_[behaviour]`	Timestamp

You don’t need to create these manually.

Using behaviour metadata

Job Audience:
  - last_completed_Setup_Moment has any value
  - last_completed_Aha_Moment has no value

This targets everyone who completed setup but hasn’t reached their aha moment.

Best practices

Name behaviours clearly

Good	Bad
”First Invoice Created"	"Behaviour 1"
"Setup Moment Reached"	"Test"
"Power User Threshold"	"PU”

Keep behaviours focused

Each behaviour should track one meaningful milestone. Too complex:

Completion:
  - invoices >= 3 AND
  - payments >= 1 AND
  - team_members >= 2 AND
  - integrations >= 1

Better as separate behaviours:

“First 3 Invoices Created”
“First Payment Received”
“Team Collaboration Started”
“Integration Connected”

Use behaviours for “first time” tracking

The one-and-done nature makes behaviours perfect for first-time events.

Plan sequences carefully

Because behaviours can’t be re-entered, plan thoughtfully:

Define each stage as a separate behaviour
Use completion of previous as entry criteria for next
Consider what happens to people who skip stages

Don’t duplicate Trig metadata

You don’t need to create “entered_X = true” attributes manually—Trig creates them automatically.

Common questions

Can I edit a behaviour after it's live?

You can, but changing criteria affects historical interpretation. Better to create a new behaviour with updated criteria.

Why can't customers re-enter behaviours?

The one-and-done design preserves milestone tracking integrity. Use cohorts for repeated entry.

How do I track something that happens multiple times?

Use threshold behaviours: “First time”, “5+ times”, “10+ times” as separate behaviours. Or use cohorts for current state.

What's the difference between a behaviour and an objective?

Objectives are behaviours within stages. Same mechanics, but objectives carry additional meaning for stage progression.

Do behaviour actions fire immediately?

Yes. Entry, completion, and exit actions fire as soon as the condition is met.

Can behaviours use events from the past?

Events are forward-only. Attributes are historical.

Summary

Behaviours capture milestone moments in the customer journey:

One and done — Customers can only enter each behaviour once
Trigger actions — Notify teams, fire webhooks, update attributes
Build context — Every behaviour creates permanent metadata
Qualify audiences — Use behaviour history for downstream targeting
Sequence thoughtfully — Plan behaviour dependencies carefully

Used well, behaviours create a rich tapestry of customer context that powers intelligent, timely interventions.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Integrations

Guides

Use Cases

Resources

What are behaviours?

Behaviours vs cohorts

Why behaviours matter

Capturing milestone moments

Triggering actions at the right time

Building customer context

Qualifying audiences for jobs

How behaviours work

Entry criteria (audience)

Completion criteria

Exit without completion

The one-and-done rule

Configuring behaviours

Anatomy of a behaviour

Building entry criteria

Entry, completion, and exit actions

Common behaviour patterns

Milestone behaviours

Funnel stage behaviours

Alert behaviours

Negative behaviours

Behaviours as objectives

Automatic metadata

Using behaviour metadata

Best practices

Name behaviours clearly

Keep behaviours focused

Use behaviours for “first time” tracking

Plan sequences carefully

Don’t duplicate Trig metadata

Common questions

Summary

​What are behaviours?

​Behaviours vs cohorts

​Why behaviours matter

​Capturing milestone moments

​Triggering actions at the right time

​Building customer context

​Qualifying audiences for jobs

​How behaviours work

​Entry criteria (audience)

​Completion criteria

​Exit without completion

​The one-and-done rule

​Configuring behaviours

​Anatomy of a behaviour

​Building entry criteria

​Entry, completion, and exit actions

​Common behaviour patterns

​Milestone behaviours

​Funnel stage behaviours

​Alert behaviours

​Negative behaviours

​Behaviours as objectives

​Automatic metadata

​Using behaviour metadata

​Best practices

​Name behaviours clearly

​Keep behaviours focused

​Use behaviours for “first time” tracking

​Plan sequences carefully

​Don’t duplicate Trig metadata

​Common questions

​Summary

What are behaviours?

Behaviours vs cohorts

Why behaviours matter

Capturing milestone moments

Triggering actions at the right time

Building customer context

Qualifying audiences for jobs

How behaviours work

Entry criteria (audience)

Completion criteria

Exit without completion

The one-and-done rule

Configuring behaviours

Anatomy of a behaviour

Building entry criteria

Entry, completion, and exit actions

Common behaviour patterns

Milestone behaviours

Funnel stage behaviours

Alert behaviours

Negative behaviours

Behaviours as objectives

Automatic metadata

Using behaviour metadata

Best practices

Name behaviours clearly

Keep behaviours focused

Use behaviours for “first time” tracking

Plan sequences carefully

Don’t duplicate Trig metadata

Common questions

Summary