How to Set Up Your “Update Contact” Nudge
1. Create your nudge
Go to the Campaigns tab
Select your program
Click Create Nudge
Give your message a clear, unique name
If part of a series, consider numbering (e.g., “1 – Application Campaign”)
Select your audience and delivery time
Compose your message and include a clear question
Click Done
For more details, see: [How to create a nudge in campaign manager]
2. Add an update action
On your message, click + Add
Select Update Contact
Name the action based on the outcome
Example: “Set Interest Check” or “Save Major Interest”
3. Choose your audience
Decide which contacts should be updated:
Anyone who replies
Or a specific segment (e.g., first-year students only)
4. Select your trigger
Choose when the update should happen:
When previous message is sent
Use this to track message delivery or status, not replies.
Example: set a field like reminder_sent = TRUE once the message is delivered.
When contact replies
Use this to capture and act on responses from your contacts.
You can choose how replies are handled:
Any reply
The response will be saved regardless of what the contact sends.Best for open-ended questions
Typically used when saving the exact response to a string field
Branching is usually not required
Example: “What major are you interested in?” → saves whatever the contact types
Replies with any of these keywords (comma-separated)
The response will only be captured if it matches one of your specified keywords.Include all expected variations of each response
This ensures replies are correctly recognized and processed
Example keywords:
yes, y, yeah, yep, no, n, nope
For a full list of common variations, see: [Keyword reference guide]
How this connects to branching
If you are mapping responses to specific values, you will need a branch for each response group. For example:
Message:
“Are you still interested in applying? Reply YES or NO.”Setup:
Branch 1 (YES keywords: yes, y, yeah) → set interest_check = TRUE
Branch 2 (NO keywords: no, n, nope) → set interest_check = FALSE
Each branch should include:
Its own keyword set
Its own field update action
Tip: Your message, keywords, and branches should always match.
If your message says “reply YES or NO,” include common variations so responses are not missed.
5. Configure the field update
Select the field you want to update
(The field must already exist)Set the value:
For Boolean fields → choose TRUE or FALSE
For String fields → enter a value or save the exact response
Examples
Example 1: Tracking interest (yes/no)
Message:
“Are you still interested in moving forward with your application? Reply YES or NO.”
Setup:
Field: interest_check (Boolean)
YES branch → TRUE
NO branch → FALSE
Example 2: Capturing major interest
Message:
“What major are you interested in?”
Setup:
Field: major_interest (String)
Save exact response
Best practices
Ask clear, specific questions
(“Reply YES or NO” works better than open-ended prompts)Match your field type to the expected response
Plan how you’ll use the data before collecting it
Watch of for these common errors!
Field not created before setup
Selecting the wrong field type
Forgetting to create branches for each response
Missing keyword variations, leading to uncaptured responses
Asking unclear questions that lead to inconsistent data
What can I do with this data?
Once saved, response data can be used to:
Build targeted audiences
Trigger follow-up messages
Personalize outreach
Export and analyze responses
To export this data, download your contacts and locate the corresponding field column.
Comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.