Lead Management24% of the exam

Automation rule criteria, match types and actions

How automation rules find existing and future prospects by criteria and apply actions: match types, criteria quirks, actions, Repeat Rule, paused creation, and when to pick a rule over a segmentation rule, dynamic list or completion action.

Official exam objective
Explain the components and use cases of an automation rule.

~8 min read · 10 practice questions ·

What the exam expects

  • Choose between an automation rule, a segmentation rule, a dynamic list and a completion action from a requirement.
  • Predict which prospects a rule matches from its match type, operators and criteria, including negative operators and related-record criteria.
  • Pick the automation rule action that meets a goal and know the action-specific limits (no reassignment, duplicate email handling).
  • Explain the rule lifecycle: created paused, previewed, resumed, then evaluating existing and changed prospects, with Repeat Rule controlling repeat matches.

Key terms:

  • Automation rule: a repeatable, criteria-based rule that finds matching prospects and applies actions to them.
  • Match type: Match All (every criterion, AND) or Match Any (at least one, OR).
  • Rule group: a set of criteria added as one unit inside the Rules section.
  • Repeat Rule: the option that controls how many times a rule can match the same prospect.
  • Relation group: the Prospect opportunity criterion's way of requiring several conditions on one opportunity.

Key facts

Who creates
Detail
Administrator or Marketing role
After Create
Detail
Saved paused and still editable; preview, then Resume
Repeat Rule
Detail
Controls repeat matches; can't change after resume if set to repeat
First run
Detail
Checks every prospect on resume; can take several hours for millions
Preview cost
Detail
Same time and resources as running the rule
Match Any + isn't
Detail
Matches nearly everyone; use Match All to exclude several values
Account field criterion
Detail
Prospect must have an account, even with is empty
Prospect opportunity
Detail
Relation group on one opportunity; not inside a rule group
Assign actions
Detail
Don't reassign prospects who already have an owner
Shared email address
Detail
All match; Send prospect email goes to the first found, others Not Applied: Duplicate Email
Sources for this section (5)
  • Why should you confirm a rule's logic before you preview it in a large database?
  • When a synced prospect's title changes so it newly meets a rule's criteria, how soon does the rule act?
  • How long can a semicolon-separated value string be in one criterion?
  • When does one day end for the day count in a Prospect time criterion?
  • What must you do before a rule clears a synced field value?

The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.

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