For example, if you want to ask visitors to sign up for your free recipe book once they reach the bottom of your food blog, you can use the scroll trigger. Alternatively, if you want to show a limited time t-shirt offer to visitors while they try to exit your ecommerce site, then you can use the exit intent trigger. This variety of triggers can make sure your pop-ups and polls are more receptive and have the best chance of converting your visitors into actual buyers. 

There are two types of triggering options available in PageSense under the CONFIGURATION tab of your experiment: Preset triggers and Custom triggers.

Currently, the trigger setting is available only for the pop-ups and polls experiment in PageSense.

Add a preset trigger

Navigate to the Select a Trigger section under the CONFIGURATION page of your experiment and click the PRESET TRIGGERS tab. From the list, select the preferred trigger option for which you want your experiment to activate. Learn about the different types of preset triggers available in PageSense.

Types of preset triggers

These are the default set of trigger conditions that you can readily choose from to activate your experiment.

• On Page Entry Trigger 
  

This option triggers your experiment as soon as your visitor enters or lands on your webpage. On Page Entry triggers can be extremely effective for your business, as they encourage your visitors to act even before they continue to see your product or content on your site.  On the hand, it can be quite disturbing to your visitors if you're showing them completely irrelevant offers and messages. Most ecommerce websites typically employ On Page Entry triggers because they make it easy to offer product promotions, limited time deals, and welcome deals that can influence a visitor’s experience with their site even before they begin shopping. 

For example, let's say you own an ecommerce store and you want to send out a welcome message that offers a 25% discount on shopping items for the first time visitors. Alternatively, say you own an online training site and you want to promote a free virtual workshop for the visitors who register for your online courses, immediately after they land on your site. In these scenarios the On Page Entry triggers can act as the best welcome mats for your visitors.

This option triggers your experiment when a visitor is about to leave your webpage. The exit action of the visitor is determined when their cursor moves out of the page layout. This type of triggering a pop-up or poll on your webpage can be a great method to entice visitors with an attractive offer that they can't resist when they're about to leave your website. Using the On Page Exit trigger for your experiment can also create a new second opportunity to hook and redirect customers to your products and services that help increase revenue for your business.

For example, let's say you want to display a free shipping offer to visitors who try to abandon their shopping cart on your ecommerce site, or you want to tell them about the extended free trial plans when they are about to leave your pricing page. In these cases, the Exit trigger is the perfect way to reverse those losses and turn abandoning users into profitable ones.

Currently, this trigger option in PageSense works only for desktop devices where a mouse or trackpad controls a cursor inside a browser window. It does not work on mobile devices, which rely on screen touch.

This option triggers your experiment when a visitor has scrolled halfway down the page (i.e. 50% length of the page). Scroll triggers are proven to be a polite way of driving more conversions to your site because they help show more relevant and useful messages to the potential visitors who've already demonstrated their interest by scrolling 50% of the page. Generally, when a user navigates down the page, it means that they need more information on your topic. In this case, if you show them extra content, an email newsletter sign up or a purchase prompts right at the moment they want it, this can encourage your visitors to move deeper and deeper into your site. This method of triggering your experiment is also considered best to reduce bounce rate and increase retention rates on your site, without annoying your visitors by asking too early.

For example, let's say you're running an elearning website and you want to offer a free ebook download pop-up to your readers who have scrolled mid-length on your page. Alternatively, let's say you own an ecommerce store and you want to offer a discount coupon code to visitors who have browsed through 50% of your product pages. In these cases, using the Scroll trigger can make sure your visitors take the desired action in a delicate manner.

This option triggers your experiment after a certain amount of time is spent by visitors on your webpage such as 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or longer. Similar to the scroll trigger, the time delay trigger is designed to capture visitors who have shown interest in your content by remaining on the page for a certain period. Once you pinpoint the exact duration to show your message (you can decide this by looking at average time spent on pages metrics in PageSense web analytics), you can plan your experiment on a specific set of webpages to increase sales. However, the tricky part is not to delay your pop-up or poll too much; in some cases your visitors might leave your site even before seeing this message, and you’ll end up losing potential engagements. 

For example, the Time Delay trigger can be a great fit when you want to show a weekly newsletter subscription pop-up on your blog pages to visitors who have already spent a reasonable amount of time reading your article and therefore are more likely to complete your form. Alternatively, you can use it to run a customer feedback survey to visitors who stay on your ecommerce site for a while and are obviously interested in your services or goods.

1. On Custom Event Trigger
   

This option triggers your experiment based on the actions that visitors perform on your webpage, such as watching a video, submitting a form, viewing an out-of-stock item or any other action that isn’t always related to clicks or page views on your site. To implement a Custom Event trigger, you need to add a two line Javascript code generated in PageSense to your website as explained below.

For example, say you've added a 'Get in Touch' CTA button on the pricing page of your website and you want to trigger a contact us form pop-up  automatically when the visitor clicks this button. In this case, you can setup a custom event trigger of the 'Get in Touch' CTA on your webpage that opens into your pop-up window.  

Add a custom trigger

1. Click the +Custom Trigger button under the CONFIGURATION page of your experiment.


2. Enter a Name and Description for your custom trigger condition in the text box.


3. From the Segment dropdown, select the preferred trigger option for which you want your experiment to activate. Learn about the different types of custom triggers available in PageSense.


4. Choose the Modifier and Value for the selected trigger condition in the text fields. There are several types of modifiers you can use to match your trigger condition, such as is greater than, is less than, equals, and contains. Learn about the different modifier options available (under Step 04) in PageSense and what they are used for.

For example, say you want to run a customer feedback survey for visitors who spent a minimum of 30 seconds on the cart page of your ecommerce site. For this, you can use the Segments as 'Time Spent on Page' with its corresponding Modifier as 'is greater than' as shown in the figure below.

5. To create a complex trigger with multiple conditions, click + and choose the AND or OR operators to define your conditions. Find a few use cases with AND and OR conditions in triggers. 

6. You can also click the + NEW GROUP button to define multiple conditions for a trigger, and logically group your trigger conditions.

7. Finally, click the Save Trigger button to find it under the CUSTOM TRIGGERS section. 

Types of custom triggers

These are the advanced set of trigger conditions that you can create on your own in Zoho PageSense to activate your experiment. Using these settings, you can combine multiple trigger rules to form a more complex yet precise set of triggering conditions like visitor activity, element clicked, percentage of page scroll and more, besides the default triggers that are available.

Page Scroll Trigger  

This option shows your experiment once a visitor has scrolled down to a certain percentage (25%, 50%, 75%, etc.) of your page  The Page Scroll trigger is a great way to obtain a higher conversion rate on your site because you will be displaying your pop-up or other campaigns to visitors who are already engaged with your content by scrolling down X percent on the page, and who are therefore less likely to close or ignore your message. 

For example, say you own a blogging site and you want to offer a free ebook copy to potential users who have take the time to read and scroll through your content until the bottom of the page. In this case, you can choose the Segment as 'Page Scroll' and the Modifier as 'is greater than', then enter the value as 100% as shown in the figure below. 

Time Spent on Page Trigger

This option allows you to set up your experiment after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time (in seconds) on your webpage. For example, if you have defined the time for the trigger as 10 seconds, the pop-up will appear when the visitor spends 10 seconds on a page. The Time Spent on Page trigger can be very effective for establishing credibility about your products or services, even before you want to ask users to enter their emails and subscribe to your business offers.

For instance, say you want to subtly show a product updates subscription pop-up to visitors once after they spend a minimum of 30 seconds on your page. For this, choose the Segment as 'Time Spent on Page' and the Modifier as 'is greater than', then enter the value as 30 seconds as shown in the figure below.   

When you set the Time Spent on Page to 0 seconds, it will function as an On Page Entry trigger. This means your experiment will appear immediately after a visitor lands on your page.

Custom Event Trigger  

This option allows you to trigger your experiment based on the visitor's action performed on your page like button clicks and form submissions, where the button or link click does not have an element ID or unique confirmation page to track conversions. 

For example, say you own an ecommerce store and you want to prompt a customer satisfaction survey to visitors soon after they make a payment on your ecommerce site. To do this, you first need to create a custom event trigger and paste the two line Javascript code generated within the success function of the payment completion request of your site. Once you've done this, choose the Segment as 'Custom Event' and the Modifier as 'equals', then select the respective custom event from the dropdown list as shown in the figure below. 

Element Click Trigger

This option triggers your experiment when a visitor clicks any HTML element on your page including text links, buttons, images, logos, and icons. Using the Element Click trigger is the best way to hold your visitor's attention by showing them offers and messages related to a particular page element they click on in your site. This provides the advantage of making visitors stay on your site for a longer duration without navigating away from your site. 

For example, say you're running an elearning platform and you plan to offer an exclusive bonus to learners who click the Unlock Benefits button on your webpage. To do this, choose the Segment as 'Element Click' and the Modifier as 'equals', then manually enter the selector ID, Class, or jQuery of the target element (in this case the Unlock Benefits button) for which you want to trigger your pop-up.

Note: While setting up the Element Click trigger, if the element happens to be a hyperlink that redirects to another page on your site, the poll or pop-up will display if the redirected page is also part of your experiment

On Page Exit Trigger

This option will trigger your experiment when a visitor attempts to leave your website. In this case, the behavior of the visitor attempting to exit the page is determined when they move their mouse out of the page layout. On Page Exit triggers are best used to reduce cart abandonment and capture more leads on your business site. 

For example, let's say you're running an ecommerce store and you want to incentivize visitors who are trying to exit from your cart page by showing an irresistible discount on their shopping items, pushing them towards an impulse to purchase. For this, you can select the On Page Exit trigger.

Visitor Inactivity Time Trigger  

This option triggers your experiment automatically once the visitor is inactive on your website for a certain amount of time. There are lots of reasons for visitor inactivity on your webpage, such as browsing on other sites, hanging up on a phone call, or even simply walking away to brew coffee. Using the Visitor Inactivity trigger, you can recapture your visitor's attention and increase your chances of converting them into customers in no time. Moreover, this setting can be particularly useful in creating pop-ups that highlight newly-launched products, seasonal collections, and promote best-selling items. 

For example, if the visitor is idle on your shopping site's product page for a long enough time, you can show a limited-time offer or last-minute deal pop-up that entices them to continue shopping and complete their order within a few minutes. For this, choose the Segment as 'Visitor Inactivity Time' and the Modifier as 'is greater than', then enter the time (in seconds) after which you want to trigger your pop-up.

On Page Entry Trigger

This option triggers your pop-up as soon as the visitor enters your webpage. On Page Entry trigger is one of the most commonly used onsite display types that help attract new visitors and build relationship with them at first sight. Using this trigger, you can offer them welcome discounts, freebies, or coupon codes for their first purchase on your site. 

For example, as soon as the visitor enters your shopping site, you can show them an entry pop-up that leads them to your Today's deals page. This method of rushing them for exclusive deals for the day might successfully help your visitors see the offers you have for them and convert instantly.

Visitor Activity Trigger

This option triggers your experiment based on the visitor's behavior and activity on your website. For example, it allows you to execute your experiment based on more specific visitor actions, such as viewing a particular product or item, or enrolling into a specific course or subscription plan, or adding items up to a specific cart value. This type of trigger can be especially useful to target a specific group of visitors on your website and further deliver highly tailored messages to them based on their interest and browsing activity. To use the visitor activity trigger in PageSense, you need to add a custom Javascript code snippet to the page where you want to activate your experiment.

 Read here to understand and learn how to use custom audience segments.

Let's look at how to add a visitor activity trigger to your experiment by considering an example. Say, you want to show a free shipping offer to visitors whose cart value is equal to $200. In this case, you can implement the visitor activity trigger settings as follows: 

Format:
<script>
window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];
window.pagesense.push(['trackActivity', <<activity name>> , <<activity json>> ]);
</script>

Example Javascript condition:
<script>

window.pagesense = window.pagesense || [];

window.pagesense.push(['trackActivity', 'Cartvalue', {'Cart_value': '200'}]);

</script>

      2. Click the +Custom Trigger button under the CONFIGURATION tab of your experiment.
          

         

      4. From the Segment dropdown, choose Visitor Activity and enter the corresponding Key, Modifier, and Value you provided in your JSON script (above) in the                     respective input fields, as shown in the screenshot.

1. Key: Any action taken by your visitor on your website. You can provide the key using one of the two methods: 
   
1. By entering the 'activity name' that the visitor has or has not achieved on your web page. For example, Purchase, Checkout, or Payment. Note that in this case the 'value' field will be uneditable.
   
2. By entering the 'activityname.attributename' of the product on your website. For example, 'purchase.product_id', 'purchase.item_color' or 'purchase.model_number'. You can provide numerical values in the values field.
   
2. Value: A string, integer, or double data type that will be added to the PageSense's JavaScript. Keep in mind that it must be the same as in your Javascript, and no spaces are allowed. Example: Headphone, Blacktshirt, or 0917.
   
3. Modifier: The boolean logic used to evaluate the conditions for your custom trigger. This includes options such as achieved, not achieved, equals, not equals, contains, does not contain, on first activity, on last activity and more.
   
   

        5. Based on our example, enter the Activityname as 'Cartvalue', choose the operator as 'equals', and the attribute value as '200' as shown in the figure below.
            

        6. To create a complex visitor segment, click + and choose the AND or OR operators to define your conditions.

        7. Click Save Trigger to save the condition and find it under the CUSTOM TRIGGERS section.
            

Session Duration

This option triggers your experiment based on the duration of a visitor's session. A session duration in PageSense is defined as the amount of time your visitors spend interacting with your site during a single session. A session begins as soon as your visitor starts interacting with your webpages, and expires when they are inactive on your site for 30 minutes or leave your website. This information about individual visitor's session is identified and stored using the PageSense cookies set on your website.

The session duration trigger can be useful when you want to show generalized promotions or product offers to visitors who have already spent a considerable amount of time browsing your site and might have a high chance of becoming your potential buyers when enticed with an appropriate offer. To figure out the average session duration that visitors have on different pages of your website and then set your popup to display a little before they bounce off, you can check the Web Analytics report in PageSense.

For example, if a page’s session duration is seven minutes, you could show a popup or poll after five minutes to catch their attention even before they exit your site. To do this, choose the Segment as 'Session Duration' and the Modifier as 'is greater than', then enter the number after which you want to trigger your experiment.

Pages Visited in Session

This option triggers your experiment based on the number of pages a user has visited on your website in a single session. This can be beneficial to display your popups to people who have viewed a certain number of product pages on your ecommerce site instead of displaying it to them on every new page they visit.

For example, you could provide a feedback survey to visitors who have visited at least three pages of your site during their visit, or you could show a coupon to visitors on the shopping cart page once they visit at least three pages during the visit.

Number of Sessions by a Visitor

This option triggers your experiment based on the number of sessions an individual visitor has had on your website. A new session begins as soon as your visitor start interacting with your webpages and expires when a visitor is inactive on your site for 30 minutes or leaves your website. 

For example, let's say a visitor arrived on your website on Monday and left, but returned on Thursday to read more. That is two sessions; you can choose to trigger a popup or poll to this visitor on their second visit by selecting the right segment value as shown below.

New Session Begins

This option triggers your experiment as soon as a new session begins on your website. A session in PageSense starts as soon as a visitor lands on your website, and it comes to an end in any of the three conditions discussed here. Triggering an experiment based on new sessions can help in promoting a new product to visitors who enter your site thereby increasing traffic around the latest product pages with ease.  

Note: How is 'On page entry' trigger different from 'New session begins'?

The 'On page entry' trigger will activate your experiment every time a visitor enters a new page on your website whereas the 'New session begins' will activate your experiment only on the first page of a new session and not on any subsequent pages visited within the same session.

Few use cases with AND/OR conditions in triggers

Here are a few examples that illustrate the power of advanced trigger conditions using the AND and OR operators in PageSense.

• The AND operator is useful when you wish to trigger your experiment based on multiple rules that all need to be true. Conditions using the AND operator will only be evaluated as true when all of the values are met.
  

• The OR operator is useful for triggering multiple values where only one needs to be true for the condition to be evaluated as true. Conditions using the OR operator will be evaluated as true when any of the values are met.
  

Example 01:
Let's say you want to show a Free ebook download pop-up to visitors on the blog page of your site when either of the below conditions are met: 

      Condition 01: When a visitor scrolls 50% down the page.
      Condition 02: When the visitor spends a min. of 8 seconds on the page.

In this case, you can create a custom trigger condition using the OR operator and including the trigger types 'Time Spent on Page' and 'Page Scroll' as shown in the figure.

 

Example 02:

Let's say you want to offer a coupon discount on phone cases to visitors on your ecommerce site when they satisfy the following two conditions on your site:

      Condition 01: When the visitor adds a mobile phone to their shopping cart

      Condition 02: When the visitor tries to exit your site.

In this case, you can create an advanced trigger condition using the AND operator, and the trigger types 'Visitor Activity' and 'On Page Exit' as shown in the figure.

Similarly, you can create any number of triggers using the conditional operators to show pop-ups and polls that are relevant to your business and your visitor needs, within minutes in PageSense.