# Journeys

Learn how triggers, steps, entry rules and exit events control automated customer journeys.

A journey responds to an event, date or audience change with a sequence you define. Each contact moves through email, push, waits and decisions at their own pace. Use journeys for welcome messages, onboarding, renewals and re-engagement.

## Triggers: how contacts enter

Every journey has one trigger, set under **Starts when**:

| Trigger | A contact enters when… |
| --- | --- |
| **An event happens** | your app, store or payment provider reports a matching event, such as *Order Completed* |
| **Joins a group** | they're added to a group (any group, or one you pick), by import, a form or by hand |
| **Submits a form** | one of your signup forms accepts their submission |
| **Enters a segment** | they start matching a segment's rules. This is checked every 15 minutes. |
| **An attribute changes** | one of their attributes changes, optionally to a value you choose |
| **A date arrives** | a date stored in one of their attributes comes round, such as a birthday or renewal date |

Events come from your systems. A developer sends them (see the [API quickstart](/docs/api/quickstart)), or you [connect a payment provider](/docs/guides/integrations/connect-an-integration) so orders arrive as *Order Completed* events.

**Entry conditions** (event triggers only) narrow which events count. For example, only *Order Completed* events where `channel` equals `online`.

### Date triggers

A date trigger reads a date attribute and lets you set:

- **Repeat**: **Every year** (birthdays, anniversaries) or **Once** (a one-off renewal date). Dates without a year only work with Every year.
- **Days from the date**: `0` is on the day, `-7` is a week before, `3` is three days after.
- **Time**: the local time to enter, in each contact's time zone, or the workspace's for contacts without one.
- **29 February in other years**: use 28 February, use 1 March, or skip that year.

Each contact enters at most once a year (Every year) or once ever (Once). To narrow who gets in, add a **Contact filter** step at the start.

## Re-entry and limits

- **How often a contact can enrol**: **Once**, or **Each time** the event happens. With Each time, you can set a wait in days before they can enter again.
- **Stop after this many entries**: an optional cap on the total number of entries across all contacts. Once reached, nobody else enters.

## Exit rules

Add an **Exit event** to take people out when something happens, for example leaving a "come back" journey once they place an order. You can require the event's properties to match. A **Contact filter** step set to check **Here and before later steps** also removes anyone who stops matching.

## Journey statuses

| Status | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Draft** | Nothing is sent and nobody enters. |
| **Active** | New contacts enter and move through the steps. |
| **Paused** | Nobody new enters and further steps wait. Messages already queued may still be delivered. Resume to continue. |
| **Ended** | Nobody new enters and everyone still in it leaves. An ended journey can't be edited or reactivated, but you can duplicate it. |

Turning a journey on is always a separate, confirmed action. If the owner has turned on **Only admins and owners can send**, only they can activate or pause journeys.

## Editing a live journey

You can edit an active or paused journey:

- **Changes to a message** (subject, content or sender) reach everyone who hasn't reached that step yet, including people already in the journey.
- **Changes to the path** (waits, branches, splits, or adding and removing steps) apply to people who enter from now on. People already in the journey finish the version they started.

## Checks at send time

Every send step checks the contact just before sending: consent, topic, suppression, and that your sender domain or push app is ready. Quiet hours and message limits apply as they do for campaigns. Someone who can't receive a message skips it and carries on, or takes a fallback path if you set one.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a contact go through the same journey twice?

Only if you allow it. Under **How often a contact can enrol**, choose **Each time** instead of **Once**, and optionally set a wait in days before they can enter again.

### What happens to people already in a journey when I edit it?

Changes to a message reach everyone who hasn't reached that step yet, including people already in the journey. Changes to the path apply only to people who enter from now on.

### Does pausing a journey stop messages that are already queued?

No. Pausing stops new entries and holds further steps, but messages already queued may still be delivered.

### Can I restart an ended journey?

No. An ended journey can't be edited or reactivated. Duplicate it to start again.

## Next steps

- [Build a journey](/docs/guides/journeys/build-a-journey) — set up a trigger, steps and exit rules
- [Journey results](/docs/guides/journeys/journey-results) — see who entered, who left and what each step sent