Triggers are the rules that determine which records enter or exit a BNTouch campaign automatically. The trigger editor lives inside any campaign under the triggers sub-tab, and supports both add-trigger rules (records that should join when a field meets a condition) and remove-trigger rules (records that should leave when something changes). The DB-check feature on the trigger editor lets you preview which records currently meet a trigger condition before you save, so you do not accidentally enroll 200 borrowers in a test campaign on the first save.
“In order to automate marketing campaigns in BNTouch, a series of rules need to be put in place that determine what records are added or removed from campaigns. These rules are called triggers, and understanding their use in marketing [campaigns is essential]” [-ThAtHDqYuc m0]. So triggers are the automation layer that decides which borrowers belong in which campaign at any given moment.
Without triggers, you have to manually add every borrower to every campaign. With triggers, the system enrolls and removes records on its own based on the conditions you set.
Where the triggers live
“Here you can then open the triggers subtab to see what triggers are in place for the campaign” [-ThAtHDqYuc m1]. The triggers tab is one of the sub-tabs inside any campaign edit screen. Open marketing, click into a campaign, click triggers. From there you see every existing rule and can add new ones.
Adding a trigger: the add-trigger flow
“You can create a trigger for this campaign by clicking the add trigger button. Two more buttons will appear” [-ThAtHDqYuc m1]. Click add trigger and the editor opens with two configuration menus.
The first menu picks the field to evaluate. Common choices: loan purpose, loan type, status, ZIP code, custom field. The second menu picks the comparison operator: exactly matches, contains, greater than, less than, in list. “In the second one, choose how the trigger will examine the information in the field you selected” [-ThAtHDqYuc m2].
So a typical trigger reads like: “If loan purpose exactly matches refinance, add this record to the campaign.” Set the field, set the operator, set the value, save.
The remove-trigger flow (the half most teams skip)
The under-used half of the trigger system. “You can also set triggers to remove records from a campaign below. This is important for marketing that is only relevant to clients or partners at a specific time” [-ThAtHDqYuc m3].
Why this matters: if your refinance opportunity campaign is supposed to run while a borrower has equity and a market-favorable rate, but the borrower’s situation changes (they refi’d somewhere else, their LTV moved past the threshold), you do not want the campaign to keep sending. A remove-trigger handles the exit.
Example remove-trigger: “Status does not equal active. Remove from campaign.” When a borrower’s status flips out of active, the system removes them from the refinance opportunity campaign automatically.
Multiple triggers per campaign
Most campaigns have several triggers stacked. The triggers sub-tab shows them all in a list. “You’ll see the new trigger listed below. Here you can edit or delete triggers using the icons to the right, or delete multiple triggers using the check boxes to the left and the button above the list” [-ThAtHDqYuc m4]. So you can run a complex set of conditions (loan purpose = refi AND status = active AND LTV > 80) by setting multiple add triggers, and a parallel set of remove triggers for the exit conditions.
The DB check feature
This is the safety check that saves the most embarrassing campaign launches. “The check DB against trigger button can be used to see what [records currently match]” [-ThAtHDqYuc m4]. So you can preview which records in your CRM currently meet the trigger condition before you save it live. If the preview returns 800 records and you expected 50, you have a trigger to debug before the campaign starts blasting them.
Standard pattern: build the trigger, click DB check, review the preview list, adjust if needed, then save. Two minutes of preview prevents two days of damage control.
The campaign-wide triggers sub-tab (global view)
The walkthrough mentions a global triggers view that shows every active trigger across every campaign. “First in your marketing tab open the campaign triggers sub-tab. Instead of listing automation triggers for a specific campaign, this page will show all active triggers and sort them by campaign” [-ThAtHDqYuc m5]. So when you are auditing what is firing in your account or trying to figure out why a borrower ended up in a campaign you did not expect, this is the screen to open.
“When you click the add trigger button here, you will be prompted to choose a campaign for the new trigger from a drop-down menu” [-ThAtHDqYuc m5]. You can also create new triggers from this view by picking the destination campaign first.
A specific scenario: trigger pair for a refinance opportunity campaign
You are building a refinance opportunity campaign that should target past borrowers whose rate is now 0.5 percentage points above market and who have meaningful equity. The trigger set looks like:
Add trigger 1: Status equals past borrower.
Add trigger 2: Current rate minus market rate is greater than 0.5%.
Add trigger 3: Estimated LTV is less than 80%.
Remove trigger 1: Status changed to active (the borrower has restarted with you on a new loan).
Remove trigger 2: Refinance opportunity campaign last sent date is less than 60 days ago (prevents over-firing).
Click DB check on the combined add triggers. The preview shows 47 borrowers currently match. Save the campaign live. From that point, the trigger set keeps the campaign roster current automatically. New past borrowers get added as rates move. Borrowers who restart with you get removed without manual cleanup.
Operator selection matters more than people think
“In the previous example, you would choose exactly matches because you know the [exact value to compare]” [-ThAtHDqYuc m2]. Choosing “exactly matches” vs “contains” vs “is in list” can dramatically change which records get pulled into the campaign. For status fields (limited set of values), exactly matches is right. For free-text fields (notes, descriptions), contains is right. For comma-separated lists (multiple selections), is in list is right.
If a trigger is not firing or is firing on the wrong records, the operator is the most common debug target.
Honest limits
Triggers fire on field value changes, not external events. A borrower’s situation changing in your LOS does not automatically trigger if that change is not reflected in a BNTouch field. Field hygiene matters for trigger accuracy.
The DB check preview is current-state. It shows records that match today. Records that join the matching state in the future will be added automatically, but the preview does not predict that.
Add triggers fire on database adds AND on field changes. If a borrower newly meets the criteria because a field changed, they get added the next time the trigger evaluates (which is typically immediate but configured per-account).
Custom fields work as trigger fields. If you need to trigger on a brokerage-specific value that is not in the default field list, create a custom field and use it as the trigger source.
Build a trigger on your account
To walk through trigger creation, the DB check preview, and the global triggers view on your account, request a demo and ask the BNTouch team to show triggers with a real campaign. The mortgage CRM page covers the underlying automation engine.
