The Inbound Email trigger lets you create workflow automations based on any email that lands into your connected email inbox (including cold emails from brand new contacts). If you currently rely on manually checking your inbox to respond to common enquiries, route emails to team members, or follow up with leads, this trigger is how you can automate that process inside Ivorey™.
This guide is perfect if you want to:
Automatically respond to common enquiries without manually checking your inbox
Route inbound emails to the right team member based on sender, subject, or content
Capture and log cold emails from new contacts directly into your CRM
Personalise automated replies using details pulled from the inbound email itself
The Inbound Email trigger starts a workflow the moment an email arrives in your connected mailbox. Unlike the Customer Replied trigger, which only fires when a contact replies to a message you sent, this trigger captures all inbound emails, including cold emails from people who are not yet in your CRM. You can use filters to define exactly which emails should start a workflow, and combine multiple filters to get as specific as you need.
From the main Ivorey™ menu, go to Workflows > open an existing workflow, or click [+ Create Workflow] > and then select [Start from Scratch]
At the top, give your workflow a relevant name > click [Add a Trigger] > search for and select the Inbound Email trigger:
Select Filters to specify which emails should trigger this workflow (e.g. sent to a specific email address, with a specific subject line, or with an email attachment) > and add as many filters as needed
Note: Please see the full list of filters below, for more details on how each one works.
(optional) Toggle ON to Trigger Only for New Email Conversations so the trigger fires only when a brand-new email conversation starts, and will not re-fire for replies within an existing thread
Click [Save Trigger]
Click the [+] button to add an action to your workflow > and search for or select an action (this is what you want to happen when the inbound email is received), for example:
Send Email - automatically reply to the sender with a confirmation, answer to a common enquiry, or next steps
Send Internal Notification - notify yourself or team members
Add Note - add a note with specific details from the email directly onto the contact's profile
Add Tag - tag the contact based on what the email is about, for easy segmentation later
Note: Use 🏷 custom values to pull in specific information from the inbound email received. See more information on the available custom values below.
Add as many actions as you want/need > toggle the workflow to [Publish], at the top right corner > and click the [Save] button
Test your workflow by sending yourself a test email (make sure it matches any filters set) > and check the [Execution Logs] tab in your workflow to see if there are any errors
Filters let you control exactly which inbound emails should start a workflow. You can use a single filter or combine multiple filters together to get as specific as you need, the workflow will only fire when all of your selected conditions are met.
Starts a workflow when an email is received into a specific mailbox on your connected domain. Any email sent to your dedicated domain will be captured regardless of the inbox name, so whether it arrives at [email protected], [email protected], or any other address on your domain, Ivorey™ will pick it up.
You can use then use the Equals filter to match one exact inbox address, Is Any Of to match against multiple addresses, or Contains / Does Not Contain to match any inbox on a domain (for example, @yourdomain.com). This is perfect for automating a standard reply to an inbox, alerting and assigning a team member, or automatically tagging a contact.
Starts a workflow when an email is received from a specific sender's email address (not their display name). This is a helpful way to assign the right team member to a conversation, or create an internal notification when an email from an important contact arrives.
Starts a workflow when a specific email address has been CC'd into an email you have received. You can add multiple email addresses within this filter. This is useful for routing or automatically replying, based on who has been copied into the conversation.
Starts a workflow based on words or phrases found in the email subject line. Matching is not case-sensitive, so you can target phrases like Refund or Enquiry, and automatically send a reply or assign the email to a team member for priority follow-up.
Starts a workflow based on words or phrases found in the plain-text body of a received email. Use the Contains or Does Not Contain filter to specify exactly which words or phrases should commence the workflow.
Starts a workflow based on whether an attachment has been received on an email. Set to true to fire when an attachment is present.
You can combine this with additional filters, such as a Subject line match (e.g. has an attachment and the subject line Contract), to trigger a more precise automated response.
Starts a workflow when an inbound email is a reply to a message that was sent from a specific workflow. This is useful for isolating replies to a particular workflow, and is a great way to automate quick responses to emails that contain FAQs.
Starts a workflow based on whether the contact has or does not have a specific tag. This allows for automatic replies to contacts that are already grouped with a tag, such as being booked into a service offering.
Once you’ve set the Inbound Email trigger, you can start adding actions to build out your workflow, and you’ll have access to a set of custom values that pull information directly from the incoming email. These allow you to personalise your automated responses, route conversations, and reference email content within your workflow actions.
Custom Value | Information it auto-fills |
{{inboundEmail.messageId}} | Unique message ID of the inbound email - this is a reference number that is automatically assigned to all emails |
{{inboundEmail.subject}} | Subject line of the inbound email |
{{inboundEmail.bodyPlain}} | Plain-text body content of the inbound email |
{{inboundEmail.bodyFullPlain}} | Full plain-text body including the entire reply thread |
{{inboundEmail.fromEmail}} | Sender's email address |
{{inboundEmail.fromName}} | Sender's display name |
{{inboundEmail.cc}} | CC recipients of the inbound email |
Yes, you can use both the Inbound Email trigger and the Customer Replied trigger, but we don’t recommend using both in one workflow. Use the Inbound Email trigger with the Trigger Only for New Email Conversations setting toggled ON, to handle brand new enquiries. Then use the Customer Replied trigger in a separate workflow, to handle replies to specific outbound emails or sequences.
This way, new contacts get one automated response, and existing conversations get a different, more contextual follow-up, without the same contact ending up in both workflows for the same email.
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