Troubleshoot an Account Engagement Automation Rule

If I make changes to my automation rule, will these new criteria and actions apply to already matched prospects?

It depends. Once a prospect matches an automation rule, all of the actions that are defined at that time in the rule are applied to that prospect and it is flagged as matching. If the rule isn't set to repeat, and you add new actions later, they will not be applied to prospects who have already matched. If you add new criteria to the rule, the rule will not 'unapply' actions to prospects who no longer match.

If your rule is set to repeat, criteria and action changes will be applied to prospects who match the new criteria, regardless of whether they matched previously.

Will an automation rule ever match a prospect more than once?

An automation rule can match a prospect more than once if you enable Repeat Rule. Otherwise, an automation rule will only affect a prospect one time. Rules don't 'un-match' prospects when they no longer meet a rule's criteria.

NOTE: Once an Automation Rule has been activated via resume, the repeat option can no longer be enabled on it.

For an Automation Rule which has Repeat Enabled: If the rule is based on certain criteria being true, the prospect will repeat whenever eligible. If the rule is based on a specific activity (such as a form submission), then the prospect would need to complete the activity a second time in order to match the rule a second time.

Are automation rules retroactive?

Sort of. When automation rules are created, or an existing rule's criteria is edited, and the rule is unpaused, the rule will search through all prospects in your account to find matches. In this way, rules are retroactive -- a prospect could have begun meeting the criteria last week, but if the automation rule is created today the rule will still find them and match them. If you edit the criteria, it will not retroactively unmatch prospects.

How many automation rules can I have in my account?

Standard/Growth Edition accounts can have up to 50 automation rules at any given time. Pro/Plus Edition accounts can have up to 100 automation rules and Ultimate/Advanced Edition accounts can have up to 150 automation rules. Automation rules that have been deleted and are in the recycling bin don't count towards this number. Additional automation rules can be added to your account by contacting your account executive.

I just unpaused my automation rule. How long before it starts matching prospects?

Automation rules are constantly running in the background, searching for prospects by their updated timestamp and comparing them to the rule's criteria to see if they're a match. When you first unpause your rule, Account Engagement starts two simultaneous processes: first, it must search through all prospects -- regardless of the last time they were updated -- to see if they are a match for the rule. This usually takes up to an hour (depending how many prospects are in your account) to do this first 'run' of a rule. Second, we're on the lookout for prospects that are updated and now match the rule.

It's not uncommon for you to see a few prospects match your rule, then a few more, then get a rush of matches after about an hour or so. This is because the 'first run' process has been completed, while the search for updated prospects is ongoing. Please keep in mind that the complexity of your rule and the size of your database can affect how long the 'first run' takes -- it will take longer to run a complex rule on 500,000 prospects than it will to run a simple rule on 5,000 prospects.

I need to delete an automation rule — is that ok?

Deleting an automation rule will stop it from running, but the actions it has already applied to prospects will not be undone. An automation rule will resume if the rule is ever undeleted from the Recycle Bin and unpaused.

How do I use an automation rule to add prospects to an Unsubscribed list?

To create a list of unsubscribed prospects, you will want to use the following setup:

Rules: Prospect default field | Do Not Email | is Do Not Email

Action: Add prospect to list | Unsubscribe List

It is not necessary to add both the Do Not Email field and Unsubscribe field to your criteria, because if a prospect unsubscribes or is imported as an opt-out, the Do Not Email field is marked.

Note that, strictly speaking, an Unsubscribed List is not necessary, as Account Engagement will only send mail to prospects that are not opted out. In addition, on the prospect table under Prospects | Prospect List there is a View filter to show unsubscribed prospects. From there, you can make lists, add tags, using table actions, or export prospects using the Tools option at the upper-right corner of the table.

How do I use an automation rule to opt out prospects?

NOTE: Use caution when creating automation rules to mass opt-out prospects! While the 'Do Not Email' field can be set via automation rule, it cannot be cleared or reverted via automation rule. You will need to log a support ticket for Mass Opt-In assistance if needed.

To mark prospects as unmailable using an automation rule, you will want to set the following actions on your prospects:

• Change prospect field value: 'Do Not Email' to 'Do Not Email.'

Read our documentation for more information on the difference between 'Prospect Opted Out' and 'Do Not Email.'

How do the rule/rule group criteria work with negative operators like 'doesn't contain' or 'isn't'?

Using the 'doesn't contain' or 'isn't' operator with OR logic ('Match Any') is the same as saying not (A and B) while using the 'doesn't contain' or 'isn't' operator with AND logic ('Match All') is the same as saying not (A or B). In other words, 'Match Any' criteria with a negative operator will exclude all prospects who meet both pieces of criteria in conjunction. 'Match all' will exclude all the prospects who match either piece of criteria.

Example: Prospect default field — First Name — does not contain — A OR Prospect default field — First Name — does not contain — B

'Match Any' criteria matches all prospects whose First Names don't contain both A and B. So Abby and Brian would not match, but Bill and Alice would. Presuming you want this rule to return no prospects with A or B in their names, use 'Match All' instead.

Example: Prospect default field — First Name — does not contain — A AND Prospect default field — First Name — does not contain — B

The 'Match All' criteria above would exclude Abby, Brian, Alice, and Bill.

Find more examples and help by reading our Match Type Overview help article.

How does the 'isn't' operator work with Account and Opportunity fields?

The 'isn't' operator will match prospects that have a blank value for the selected field. It will also match prospects with a value other than the value listed on the rule.

Example: Prospect opportunity default field — stage — isn't closed/won.

This will match prospects that have a blank value for stage on an associated opportunity. This will also match prospects that have a value other than closed/won on an associated opportunity.

NOTE: When using the account or opportunity criteria, the rule will ONLY match prospects that have an associated opportunity or account. Prospects without an opportunity or account would not be considered a match.

Why is my Opportunity field-based automation rule matching the wrong prospects?

Example: Perhaps you have a couple of match rule items for Prospect opportunity default field – stage - isn’t - Closed Won, and another for Prospect opportunity default field – stage - isn’t - Closed Won 2021 with the intent that if a prospect has any opportunities with those Stage values they won’t match.
However you find prospects with more than 1 opportunity are matching this automation rule, even though one of those opportunities has a stage value of “Closed Won”. This is because this rule criteria item looks at all of the opportunities and any of those can match, as it does not independently evaluate all the criteria for each opportunity. (So if the second prospect opportunity had a stage of “Open” it would match). Instead you will want to use the rule criteria of Prospect opportunity - related with properties - to Opportunity (and then use the related rule group below to define the stage values to evaluate).

I have a massive rule. Is there any way to condense this down to one line?

You know how annoying it is to have a massive rule with a lot of 'ands' or a lot of 'ors' for the same condition (e.g. state is Georgia, Florida, or North Carolina)? You can simply separate those values with a semicolon and add many rule conditions all on one line.

Can I preview/test matches for automation rules?

When you first create your automation rule, it will save in paused mode. Using the automation preview ensures that automation rules will only take action on the prospects that you intend for it to effect. If you adjust criteria on existing automation rules, please note that automation previews will identify only prospects who have not already had the rule's actions applied to them.

When should I use an automation rule versus a segmentation rule?

Although similar to segmentation rules, completion actions and prospect table actions, automation rules have unique functionality and are best used in certain scenarios. If you are unsure which action to use, review our Prospect Actions comparison table.

Will an automation rule change a prospect's owner?

Automation rules will not reassign prospects who already have an owner, even if they meet the criteria for the rule. Assigning actions will assign 'Reviewed' prospects.

Why isn't my automation rule working when someone completes a form or landing page?

If your rule is looking for prospects who filled out a form, make sure the automation rule knows where to look.
 
If your form is on an Account Engagement Landing Page:
If the form is hosted on an Account Engagement landing page, you will want to base your rule around the landing page.
- Prospect landing page | Select landing page | was completed successfully
- Prospect landing page | Select landing page | was viewed

If your form is on an External Page: If the form is hosted on an external page (a page you host), you will want to base your rule around the form.

- Prospect form | Select form | was completed successfully
- Prospect form | Select form | was viewed
 
Within the reporting module, you will need to approach forms and landing pages in the same manner. If a form is on an Account Engagement landing page, the landing page will receive credit for the unique views and conversions. If the form is on an external page the form will receive credit for the unique views and conversions.

What happens if I have multiple prospects with the same email address, and my automation rule has a 'Send Prospect Email' action?

If the rule's actions include Send prospect email, all prospects with the same email will match the rule, but all of the rule's actions will be applied only to the first prospect the rule finds — not necessarily the record with the most recent activity. If the rule is set to repeat, the first prospect that the rule finds will have all actions applied once the prospect is eligible to match again.

The prospect records that didn't have the actions applied will show Not Applied: Duplicate Email instead of a timestamp in the Applied At column in prospect audits and the automation rule's prospect table.

Can I undo the actions once the Automation Rule has matched prospects?

Unfortunately, there is no way to undo the actions that have been done in a rule. You cannot revert back the actions, so we recommend you use the 'Preview' feature and make sure the rule is correctly built before resuming it.

Is updating a Multi-Select field type limited?

The automation rule field update functionality was designed to update (replace), single value type content. You will not be able to leverage multi-select functionality for automation rule updates, and using the “Other…” option will add a new value, rather than selecting from what is currently available. Potential workarounds would be leveraging automation from Salesforce and allowing the sync engine to update the Account Engagement field, or by updating the field via an Account Engagement Import. There is an existing Idea on the IdeaExchange for this, where you can vote to see this functionality enhanced in the future.

The rule operator "Is Between" may include NULL or Empty fields in evaluation.

This behavior can apply to Automation Rules, Dynamic Lists, and Segmentation Rules. Always ensure you "Preview" results and spot check found prospects before running automations to ensure what has been found aligns with your expectations.
- To work around this issue, include an "Is Not Empty" rule as an additional "Match All" rule for whatever field you're evaluating with the "Is Between" operator.
 

Why am I getting a task reminder notification 30 days after Account Engagement created a Salesforce task, when no reminder is set on the task in Salesforce?

How is the "Days before eligible to repeat rule" counted for Automation Rules with "Repeat Rule" enabled?

How are activity-based conditions evaluated in Automation Rules with "Repeat Rule" enabled?