🛠️ How-to tutorials

Run a flow when a contact joins a group: onboarding and nurture automation

Updated 2026-09-19 · 5 min read · By the Convo360 team

In short

A group trigger starts a flow the moment a contact is added to a specific group, making it a clean entry point for onboarding sequences or segment-based campaigns. Chain sequences by ending one flow with an Add to Group block that starts the next, and rely on the built-in loop guard to stop repeated triggering. Bulk CSV imports do not fire this trigger.

Key takeaways

A group trigger fires when a contact is added to a specific tag/group, not on every contact update.
Chain multi-stage automation by ending one flow with an Add to Group block that adds the contact to the next stage's group.
A built-in 10-minute loop guard prevents the same trigger firing repeatedly if a contact gets added to the same group again quickly.
CSV imports do not fire group-join triggers — use the Add to Group block inside a flow instead if you need imported contacts to enter a sequence.
Group triggers work well for segmenting by intent, source or lifecycle stage rather than one flow trying to handle everyone.

Prerequisites and what a group trigger is for

You need at least one group (tag) already created, or the confidence to create one on the fly while setting the trigger. It also helps to sketch your intended stages beforehand, for example 'New Lead' → 'Nurture Day 1' → 'Ready to Buy', since a group trigger is most powerful when it's part of a deliberate multi-stage plan rather than a single one-off automation.

Contacts in Convo360 can be organised into groups (tags), such as 'New Lead', 'Trial Started' or 'VIP Customer'. A group trigger lets a flow start automatically the moment a contact is added to one of these groups, rather than waiting for the contact to message you first.

This turns tagging into an automation entry point: tag a contact as 'Demo Booked' and a confirmation-and-reminder flow can kick off instantly, with no manual step from your team. It's the mechanism that connects everyday actions, such as a sales rep tagging a lead or a webhook adding a customer to 'Order Placed', to automated conversations, without anyone needing to manually open the flow builder and press send.

Exact click path: setting up a group trigger

Create or choose the group you want to use as a trigger, e.g. 'Trial Started'.
In your flow's trigger settings (step 3 of Create flow, 'When should it start?'), select 'When a contact is added to a group' as the trigger type.
Pick the specific group from the list, or type a new name, which creates the group on first use.
Build the flow body: a welcome message, a Wait/Delay drip, whatever the group represents.
Publish, then test by manually adding a test contact to that group.

A worked example: chaining sequences with Add to Group

The real power comes from chaining. End one flow with an Add to Group block that moves the contact into the next stage's group. This automatically fires that group's trigger and starts the next flow. For a D2C skincare brand, that might look like:

Flow 1 ('New Lead' group trigger, fired when a website form is filled) sends a welcome discount code, then ends by adding the contact to 'Nurture Day 1'.
Flow 2 ('Nurture Day 1' group trigger) sends a product education message after a short Wait, then adds them to 'Nurture Day 3'.
Flow 3 ('Nurture Day 3' group trigger) sends a limited-time offer, and if the contact clicks through and purchases, a webhook moves them into a 'Customer' group that stops the nurture and starts a post-purchase care sequence instead.

This lets you build a multi-stage journey out of several small, manageable flows instead of one giant one that's hard to read or debug later.

The loop guard: why a contact won't get stuck retriggering

If a contact is added to the same group twice in quick succession, say an automation accidentally re-adds them, a built-in 10-minute loop guard prevents the trigger firing again for that contact within that window. This protects against runaway loops where a flow's own Add to Group block could otherwise cause it to trigger itself repeatedly, which is a real risk once you start chaining several flows together as above.

This matters most in longer chains: imagine Flow A adds a contact back to a group Flow B already used earlier in the same journey, perhaps because of a branching condition that loops back. Without the guard, that single contact could re-fire the same automation dozens of times in a few minutes. The 10-minute window gives you enough breathing room to catch and fix a chaining mistake before it becomes a customer-facing problem.

Troubleshooting common issues

Issue	Fix
Flow doesn't fire when a contact is added	Check the trigger points at the exact same group name, and that the flow is Published.
A chained flow never starts	Confirm the Add to Group block at the end of the previous flow references the correct next-stage group name exactly.
Contact seems stuck, not retriggering	Check whether the 10-minute loop guard is still active if they were recently re-added to the same group.
Imported contacts didn't enter the sequence	CSV imports don't fire group triggers by design, see the section below.
Two flows both trigger off the same group	Only one flow should own a given group trigger; consolidate or rename groups to avoid ambiguity.

Why CSV imports don't fire group triggers, and what to test

Bulk actions like CSV import add many contacts to a group at once as a database operation, and deliberately do not fire the group-join trigger. This is intentional, to stop a large import from suddenly blasting hundreds of contacts into a live automated sequence at once. If you want imported contacts to enter a flow, add a short step afterwards using the Add to Group block from within a controlled flow (for example, a manual 'start onboarding' flow you trigger once you've reviewed the imported list), which does fire the trigger correctly. Before relying on any group-triggered chain, test the full path end to end with one throwaway contact, watching it move group to group exactly as designed.

Good use cases for group triggers

Group	What the triggered flow does
Trial Started	Onboarding tips over the first week
Cart Abandoned	Recovery nudge sequence
Event Registered	Reminder and joining details before the event
VIP Customer	Priority support routing and special offers

Step by step

Create or choose the trigger groupDecide which group membership should start the automation, e.g. 'Trial Started'.
Open the flow's trigger settingsSet the trigger type to 'When a contact is added to a group'.
Select the groupPick the exact group from the list, or type a new name to create it.
Build the flow bodyAdd the welcome message, drip steps or logic that this group's automation should run.
Add a chaining block if neededEnd the flow with an Add to Group block pointing at the next stage's group.
Publish and testManually add a test contact to the group and confirm the flow fires correctly.

Example conversation

(system: contact tagged 'Demo Booked' via a form submission)

Hi Aisha, thanks for booking a demo! I've sent the calendar invite to your email, and I'll also send a reminder here on WhatsApp an hour before we start.

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Frequently asked questions

Does adding a contact to a group always start a flow?

Only if a flow's trigger is set to that specific group's join event. Adding a contact to a group with no associated trigger simply tags them, without starting anything.

Can I chain several flows together using groups?

Yes. End one flow with an Add to Group block pointing at the next stage's group, and that group's trigger will start the next flow automatically, a common way to build multi-stage journeys.

Why didn't my CSV-imported contacts get the onboarding message?

CSV imports don't fire group-join triggers by design, to prevent large imports from blasting a live sequence at once. Use an Add to Group block inside a controlled flow instead.

Can a contact accidentally trigger the same flow repeatedly?

A built-in 10-minute loop guard prevents the same group trigger firing again for a contact that was just added to that group, protecting against accidental loops.

Is a group trigger the same as a keyword trigger?

No. A keyword trigger fires on message content; a group trigger fires when a contact's group membership changes. They're often combined: a keyword can add a contact to a group that then starts a separate flow.

How many stages can I chain together with group triggers?

There's no fixed limit built into the concept, and businesses commonly chain three to six stages. Beyond that, it usually becomes easier to review and maintain if you map the stages out visually before building each one.