Home / Docs / Proactive triggers

Proactive triggers in AnroAgents

Rules that make the chat open itself on specific visitor behaviour.

Proactive triggers in AnroAgents are rules that open the chat, or show a greeting bubble, when a visitor does something specific. They are configured per agent, in the Integrations step of the agent form, and take effect on your site within a minute of being saved.

How many proactive triggers an AnroAgents agent may have active depends on the plan; triggers are not available on the Free plan. See the AnroAgents pricing document for the limit per plan.

The eight trigger types

AnroAgents offers eight types of proactive trigger:

• Time on page — fires after a number of seconds on the page, optionally only on pages matching a URL pattern.
• URL match — fires immediately when the visitor is on a page matching a pattern, for example /pricing*.
• Exit intent — fires when a desktop visitor moves the cursor towards the browser tab, as if leaving.
• Returning visitor — fires for someone coming back to the site for the Nth time or more.
• Scroll depth — fires once the visitor scrolls past a given percentage of the page.
• UTM match — fires when the UTM query parameters match, which is how you greet paid traffic differently.
• Referrer match — fires when the visitor arrives from a given domain, such as Google or LinkedIn.
• Idle — fires after a number of seconds with no mouse, keyboard, scroll or touch activity.

Configuring a trigger

Every AnroAgents trigger has a frequency: once per session, once per visitor, or every time. "Once per visitor" is the safe default for a sales prompt; "every time" needs a cooldown in seconds so the same person is not interrupted repeatedly.

Every AnroAgents trigger can be limited to a device — all devices, desktop only, or mobile only. Exit intent is a desktop behaviour and has no meaning on a phone, so restrict it accordingly.

Every AnroAgents trigger has an action: open the chat window, or show a greeting bubble. The bubble is the gentler option and generally performs better on a first visit; opening the window outright suits a returning visitor or a high-intent page.

Every AnroAgents trigger can carry its own greeting, which replaces the agent's default first message when that trigger fires. This is where triggers earn their keep: a visitor who has been on the pricing page for forty seconds should be greeted about pricing, not with a generic hello.

Every AnroAgents trigger has a priority. When several triggers become eligible at the same moment, the one with the higher priority wins, so the specific rule beats the general one.

URL and referrer patterns in AnroAgents triggers are globs: * matches any text and ? matches a single character. /pricing* matches every page under pricing, and *.google.* matches any Google domain.

Using triggers without annoying people

Start with one AnroAgents trigger, not eight. The pricing-page trigger with a delay of thirty to sixty seconds and a pricing-specific greeting is the one that pays for itself most often.

Set the AnroAgents trigger frequency to once per visitor for anything that opens the chat window. A visitor who dismissed the chat has answered the question; asking again on the next page reads as pestering.

Do not attach an AnroAgents trigger to a checkout or payment page. Interrupting someone who is already buying only creates hesitation.