---
schema_version: "1"
id: 64bce864345b51c49067cc511a5209ee9222e10bbdd47b3c461d85fa48ac6bcc
title: Requirements for Creating Triggered Campaigns
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/mc_pers_triggered_campaign_prerequisites.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_triggered_campaign_prerequisites.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: e831271c79244484ede275e5082b80c55ed166cdad6a3f81f4d523e60abaa706
description: To create a triggered campaign, you must configure components in Contact Builder, Journey Builder, and Personalization.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Salesforce Personalization
release: "264"
---
# Requirements for Creating Triggered Campaigns

To create a triggered campaign, you must configure components in Contact Builder, Journey Builder, and Personalization.

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            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d16881e38">Setup Step</th>
            <th scope="col" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" id="d16881e41">Description</th>
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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Create a data extension</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">
              <p>Triggered campaigns are associated with Journey Builder Entry Events.
                In Contact Builder, before activating a journey, update the data
                extension to include fields for any options you added in the triggered
                template for each campaign experience. </p>
              <p>Data extension changes made
                after journey activation aren’t reflected in journey data. If you create
                a new version of a journey and replace the journey entry event, you must
                reconfigure the triggered campaign for the new journey entry event.</p>
              <p style="margin-bottom:0;">For more information, see <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_cab_create_a_new_data_extension.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">Create a Data Extension in Contact
                  Builder</a> and <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_admit_contacts_via_api.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">Admit Contacts via API</a>.</p>
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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Create a journey API event</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">In Journey Builder, create an API event as the journey’s entry source
              using the data extension that you created in Contact Builder. See <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_api_entry_source_use_case_1.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">API Event Entry Source Use
                Case</a>.</td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Create a journey</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">In Journey Builder, build and launch the journey that you want to use
              with the campaign. See <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_create_multistep_journey.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">Create a Multi-Step Journey in Journey
                Builder</a>.</td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Set the contact entry mode for the journey</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">In Journey Builder, set an entry mode for the journey. See <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_jb_choose_a_contact_entry_mode.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">Choose a Contact Entry
                Mode</a>.</td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Review and complete trigger requirements</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">Some triggers need additional components, such as segments, or have
              catalog setup requirements, such as numeric inventory count. To review the
              setup requirements for the different triggers, see <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_triggered_campaign_trigger_types_user.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="A user trigger activates a campaign based on user behavior.">User Triggers</a> and <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_triggered_campaign_trigger_types_catalog.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="A catalog trigger activates a campaign based on updates or changes to item data in your catalog. The trigger activates after a change in your catalog, but what drives the trigger is the amount of time the user views an item before the catalog change occurs.">Catalog Triggers</a>.</td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Define triggered templates</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">Before you can create a triggered campaign, you must have a triggered
              template in your dataset. Personalization-triggered templates define the
              data you pass to Journey Builder and provide configuration options for each
              campaign experience, such as what recipe to show to the qualified user. If
              you need options other than the options included in the default triggered
              template, have your developer create any additional templates. For more
              information, see <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_triggered_campaign_save_global_template_dataset.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="A triggered template defines the data to pass to Journey Builder. You can modify it for each campaign experience, such as which recipe to show to the qualified user. To create a triggered campaign, you must have a triggered template in your dataset. Marketing Cloud Personalization includes a standard template that you can add fields to. If you need options other than what’s included in the default template, have your developer create a template.">Configure a Triggered Campaign Template</a>.
            </td>

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            <td data-label="Setup Step" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e38 ">Create the triggered campaign</td>

            <td data-label="Description" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d16881e41 ">Create the triggered campaign and add the trigger type, any delays,
              campaign targeting rules, and a template and journey for each campaign
              experience. For more information, see <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_pers_triggered_campaign_create.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Use a triggered campaign to launch a journey when a specific action or event occurs. For example, send a promotion to a shopper who spent time viewing a product but didn’t purchase. You can recommend unread articles or products to a visitor who has spent more than 5 minutes reading about a topic. You can remind new users to complete onboarding steps, or alert sales reps when target prospects spend a certain amount of time on your site. When creating a triggered campaign, you can define when to trigger the campaign, which users to target, and which experiences to deliver.">Create a Triggered Campaign</a>.</td>

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