Every Audience Trigger available when creating an Automation — what fires it, when it fires, and when to choose each one.
Audience Triggers are the starting point for an Automation. The trigger decides who the Automation fires for and at what moment. Pick the wrong trigger and the Automation either misses the audience entirely (a one-time login trigger on a recurring program) or fires repeatedly when it shouldn't (an update trigger that fires every time a profile is saved).
This article is the reference for every Audience Trigger Continu supports. For the strategic frame on choosing between Automation and Direct Assignment overall, see Designing Assignments: Direct vs. Automated. For the creation flow, see Creating an Automation.
User Lifecycle Triggers
A User Is Added To Continu. Triggers when a user confirms their account and logs in for the first time.
Use when: You want to launch an Automation based on a user's first login. If you need to assign content before first login, use A User Was Hired Today or A User Was Hired X Days Ago instead.
A User Is Updated. Triggers when an active user account is updated with changes. Saving a profile without making changes will not trigger the Automation. The user must have confirmed their account.
Use when: You want Automations to react to user profile changes — department changes, title updates, role promotions.
A User Is Created or Updated. Triggers when a user is added or updated. Combines the behavior of User Is Added to Continu and User Is Updated. Does not trigger if the user is provisioned without details (e.g., from an HRIS sync that creates a stub account).
Use when: You want to handle both new users and changes to existing users in a single Automation.
Completion Triggers
A User Has Completed Content. Triggers immediately after a user completes a course, path, or other content piece.
Use when: You want to chain learning together — follow-up content, feedback requests, certification steps after the prerequisite.
A User Has Completed An Assignment. Triggers based on the delay you set during Automation setup.
A 1-day delay triggers ~24 hours after completion.
A 2-day delay triggers ~48 hours later, and so on.
Exact timing may vary slightly based on processing intervals.
0-Day Delay Behavior. Triggers the Automation immediately after completion and includes all past completions, not just new ones. This is the critical difference from 1+ day delays — a 0-day setting can retroactively fire for every learner who has already completed the source content. Test in a small audience first.
Use when: You want to delay the next assignment by a defined window after the trigger content is finished — useful for spaced learning and certification follow-ups.
Workshop Triggers
A User Has Registered For A Workshop. Triggers immediately after a user registers for a Workshop.
Use when: You want to send pre-work, reminders, calendar events, or prerequisite reading after registration.
A User Has Attended A Workshop. Triggers once the user is marked as "Attended" for the Workshop.
Use when: You want to follow up after a session — recordings, next steps, post-session surveys, certification of attendance.
Hire Date Triggers
All hire date triggers require a valid hire date on the user's profile. If a learner's profile doesn't have a hire date, these triggers won't fire for them — regardless of audience or criteria.
A User Was Hired Today. Triggers daily at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET for users whose hire date matches today's date.
Requirements: Users must have a valid hire date, and must be added to Continu before the trigger time runs that day.
Use when: You want to preload assignments for new hires before they log in for the first time.
A User Was Hired Exactly 60 Days Ago. Triggers daily at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET for users whose hire date is exactly 60 days before today.
A User Was Hired Exactly 90 Days Ago. Triggers daily at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET for users whose hire date is exactly 90 days before today.
A User Was Hired Exactly X Days Ago. Triggers daily at 2:30 PM PT / 5:30 PM ET, based on the number of days you specify.
Use when: You want time-spaced touchpoints in onboarding — the classic 30/60/90 day program, anniversary check-ins, milestone certifications.
Configuration Pitfalls
0-Day Delay on a Long-Running Source Trigger. A 0-day completion delay fires retroactively against every past completion the moment you activate. On a Track that hundreds of learners have already completed, that's hundreds of immediate assignments. Use a 1-day delay if you only want the Automation to fire for future completions.
Hire Date Triggers Without a Hire Date. If your user profiles don't have hire dates set (HRIS sync gap, manual provisioning), hire-date triggers silently never fire. Verify hire dates exist on profiles in the target audience before relying on these triggers.
"User Is Updated" Firing on Every Profile Save. Some automations save profiles frequently (HRIS sync, manager updates). An Automation on this trigger can re-fire repeatedly. Use Criteria to narrow what kinds of updates should actually trigger the Automation.
First-Login Trigger on a Pre-Hire Program. "A User Is Added To Continu" fires on first login — not when the account is created or when the hire date is set. For onboarding that needs to start before the new hire logs in, use a hire-date trigger instead.
Stacked Hire-Date Triggers Creating Notification Overload. If your onboarding has 30/60/90 day Automations and all of them fire at 2:30 PM PT, learners receive a burst of notifications mid-day. Stagger them across Automations with different trigger days or spread notifications across the day.
If a Trigger Isn't Firing
If your Automation isn't behaving as expected, the first diagnostic is usually: was it activated? A created-but-not-activated Automation doesn't fire even when every trigger condition is met. After that, check for hire date data, profile completion state, and Criteria mismatches. See Troubleshooting Automations in Continu for a deeper diagnostic walk-through.
Where This Fits
You're here because you're picking the trigger for an Automation. The full creation flow is in Creating an Automation. The strategic decision — whether an Automation is appropriate — see Designing Assignments: Direct vs. Automated.
See Also
- Automation Design Best Practices — the strategic anchor.
- Automations — the section gateway.
- Creating an Automation — the full creation flow.
- Managing Automations — activate, deactivate, duplicate, delete.
- Groups Automations — Group-triggered Automations specifically.
- Troubleshooting Automations in Continu — what to check when an Automation isn't firing.
Pick the trigger that matches when the program should fire. Hire-date triggers need hire dates. 0-day delays fire retroactively. Activate before walking away.