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8.1. Overview

What Is a Trigger?

Triggers in HelpSpot are real-time automations that monitor your system for changes and respond immediately with specific actions. They are ideal for situations where you need HelpSpot to automatically react to changes—whether during new request creation or existing request updates.

There are two types of Triggers:

• Create Triggers – fire when a new request is submitted (regardless of source: email, portal, API).

• Update Triggers – fire when an existing request is updated (e.g., status change, category change, reply from end-user, etc.).

This flexibility allows Triggers to power different workflows based on how and when requests evolve.

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When to Use Triggers

Triggers are best suited for:

• Reacting to changes in request data, like a category switching from “Support” to “Sales.”

• Automatically assigning requests or notifying staff based on request field values.

• Performing integrations in real time via Live Lookup, Request Push, or Webhooks.

• Ensuring new or updated requests are properly routed and handled without manual intervention.

Examples:

• When a request’s category changes from “Support” to “Sales,” notify the sales manager and assign to the correct rep.

• Automatically run Live Lookup on all new requests to populate custom fields and customer details.

• Send a Webhook to your external system when a request is created, creating links between HelpSpot and your CRM.

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Summary

Triggers give you real-time automation power over your HelpSpot environment, allowing you to instantly act on request creation or updates. Their ability to detect field changes and execute integrations makes them indispensable for dynamic workflows, immediate triage, and cross-platform coordination. Whether you’re streamlining internal processes or linking HelpSpot to external systems, Triggers ensure that the right actions happen right when they should.

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Best Practices

• Use “Changed From…To…” when your logic needs to detect specific transitions.

• Use “Now Is” when you only care about the current value, regardless of how it got there.

• Limit Update Triggers in high-volume environments—every update runs every relevant Trigger in real time.

• Use advanced actions like Live Lookup and Webhooks to integrate HelpSpot with other tools.

• Avoid overlapping logic across Triggers and Automation Rules to prevent redundant or conflicting automation.

Knowledge Tags

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