How can engagement scores drive trigger eligibility?

Imagine you have 10,000 subscribers entering your welcome series. Some opened your last three emails and clicked through. Others haven't touched anything in eight months. Should both groups get the same automation? Probably not.

Engagement scoring gives each subscriber a number that reflects how active they've been with your emails. You then use that number as a filter on your automation triggers, so only the right people enter the right flows.

How you build the score

You assign points for positive signals and subtract (or decay) points for silence. Here's a straightforward starting model:

• Email open: +2 points
• Email click: +5 points
• Purchase or conversion: +15 points
• Website visit: +3 points
• Bounce (hard): score reset to 0, suppress immediately
• Spam complaint: score reset to 0, suppress immediately
• No activity for 30 days: subtract 5 points
• No activity for 60 days: subtract another 10 points

These numbers aren't magic. They're a starting point you adjust based on what actually predicts conversion for your list. Clicks should be worth more than opens because clicks show real intent. Opens alone can be inflated by machine opens from privacy protection features.

Decay models worth knowing

The most common approach is linear decay: subtract a fixed number of points at regular intervals (every 30 days, for example). It's simple to set up and easy to explain to your team.

If you want to be more precise, a recency-weighted model makes recent activity worth more than older activity. An open from last week counts more than an open from four months ago. Tools like Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot support this natively. Platforms like Customer.io give you more control if you want to write custom scoring logic.

Using scores to control trigger eligibility

And once you have a score, you wire it into your automation entry conditions. A few examples of how this actually works in practice:

• Promotional campaign flow: only enter if score is above 40. This keeps your most engaged subscribers receiving offers, and protects your sender reputation by skipping the disengaged.
• Re-engagement flow: enter if score drops below 20. Instead of just suppressing these people, you route them into a targeted win-back sequence first.
• Full suppression: if score hits 0 or below, remove from all marketing automation entirely. No point in mailing someone who's signaling loud and clear that they don't want to hear from you.

The threshold numbers (40, 20, 0) are yours to decide. A useful starting approach is to look at your historical data. What score did subscribers have when they last converted? That's a reasonable "active" threshold. What score do subscribers have in the 90 days before they churn? That's your warning zone.

Why this connects to deliverability, not just personalisation

This isn't only about sending the right message to the right person (though it does that too). Mailing large volumes of disengaged subscribers inflates your send volume while suppressing your engagement rate. Mailbox providers like Gmail watch that ratio. A consistently low engagement rate is one of the signals that pushes your mail toward the spam folder, even when your content is clean.

Score-gating your automations means the emails that do go out are disproportionately likely to be opened and clicked. That pattern, over time, builds a stronger sending reputation. It's one of the quieter levers for keeping unengaged subscribers out of flows before they drag down your numbers.

If you're not sure where to start with thresholds, our SOS hotline is free and we're happy to walk through your specific setup. No pitch, just help. Grab a spot here.