A decision diamond in your automation builder evaluates contact data and routes each contact into the correct sequence based on rules you define. Use decision diamonds when a single automation needs to send different contacts down different paths — for example, sending dog owners one newsletter and cat owners a different one based on what they selected on a signup form. Decision diamonds are created automatically when a goal or sequence connects to two or more sequences.

How to Configure a Decision Diamond

In the example below, a veterinarian's office uses a web form to segment clients into dog owners and cat owners. The form goal connects to two sequences: Dog owners and Cat owners. Contacts who select the Dog radio button on the form enter the Dog owners sequence. Contacts who select the Cat radio button enter the Cat owners sequence.

1. Double-click the decision diamond icon on the automation canvas to open the Decision Rules screen. The Decision Rules screen displays one card for each sequence connected to the goal. In this example, one card appears for the Dog owners sequence and one card appears for the Cat owners sequence. The order in which the sequence cards appear on this screen is determined by the order in which you connected sequences to the goal — the first sequence you connected appears at the top.

2. Click the Add a rule button on the sequence card you want to configure. Rules can be based on tags, radio button or checkbox selections, custom fields, or the following contact fields: Title, Job Title, City, State, Country, Birthday, Contact Type, or Owner. If a contact matches the rules for more than one sequence, the contact will enter all matching sequences. If you leave a sequence card with no rules configured, all contacts who do not meet the criteria for any other sequence will be placed into that sequence automatically.

   In this example, the rule for entering the Dog owners sequence requires the contact to select the Dog radio button on the newsletter signup form. The rule criteria is configured as: Form Submission, Option, Type of pet — Dog, is selected. The label "Type of pet" matches the radio button label on the signup form.

   

3. Click the And button to add additional criteria to the same rule set. When you add criteria using the And button, both the first criteria and the second criteria must be true for the contact to enter the sequence. You can add an unlimited number of And criteria to a single rule set.
4. Click the Add a rule button under the Or separator to add an alternative rule set for the same sequence. When you add an Or rule set, a contact enters the sequence if the first rule set is true OR if the second rule set is true. In the example below, a contact enters the Dog owners sequence if they selected the Dog radio button on the form, or if they already have the Dogs tag applied to their contact record.
5. Click the Back arrow when all sequence rules have been configured to return to the automation canvas.

How to Import Rules from Another Sequence

If you have already configured rules in one sequence and want to reuse a similar rule set in another sequence, you can import the existing rules instead of rebuilding them from scratch.

1. Double-click the decision diamond on the automation canvas to open the Decision Rules screen.
2. Open the menu on the sequence card where you want to import rules by clicking the menu icon on that card.
3. Select Import rules from from the menu options.
4. Select the rule set you want to import from the list of available rule sets. The selected rules will be copied into the current sequence card, where you can modify them as needed.

How to Copy a Rule

Save time by copying an existing rule and modifying it instead of building a new rule from scratch. This is useful when two sequences share similar criteria that only differ by one or two values.

1. Double-click the decision diamond on the automation canvas to open the Decision Rules screen.
2. Click the copy button next to the existing rule you want to duplicate.
3. Modify the copied rule as needed to reflect the criteria for the new sequence path.

How to Delete All Rules in a Decision Diamond

If you need to clear all rules from a sequence card and start over — for example, if you imported rules from the wrong sequence — you can delete all rules at once.

1. Double-click the decision diamond on the automation canvas to open the Decision Rules screen.
2. Open the menu on the sequence card whose rules you want to delete by clicking the menu icon on that card.
3. Select Delete all rules from the menu options.
4. Confirm that you want to delete all existing rules by clicking the confirmation button in the dialog that appears. All rules on that sequence card will be permanently removed.

Logic for Empty and Filled Fields

You can configure decision diamond rules to route contacts based on whether a specific field on their contact record is empty or filled. For example, to send an email to all contacts who do not have a birthday stored on their record, create a rule using the Birthday field with the condition set to "is empty." Contacts whose birthday field is blank will meet the rule and enter the sequence.

Else Logic: What Happens When No Rules Are Met

At the bottom of the Decision Rules screen, you can configure what happens to contacts who do not meet any of the rule sets you have created. You can choose to not place those contacts into any sequence, or you can route them into a specific sequence connected to the decision diamond. Configuring Else logic ensures no contact falls through without a defined path.

Advanced Logic: AND and OR Rule Combinations

For more complex segmentation, use the following reference to choose the correct rule combination for your scenario.

Important: Do not use "Doesn't contain A OR B" logic. The automation builder will only evaluate the first part of the rule and ignore the second, producing unexpected results. The correct way to set up this scenario is "Doesn't contain A AND B."

Pro Tip: Use a Catch-All Sequence

For automations with decision diamonds, consider adding a Catch-All sequence connected to the decision diamond with no rules configured. A Catch-All sequence is an empty sequence — you can title it "Catch-All" or "Other" — that automatically receives any contact who does not meet the criteria for any other sequence. The Catch-All sequence keeps those contacts in their current position in the automation while giving you a backup list of every contact who passed through the decision diamond without matching a defined rule set. You can then review that list and take action on any contacts who may have been missed.