How to start an automation after a specific point threshold

You can have an automation run for a contact once they've collected a certain number of points: a thank-you at 500, a bonus voucher at 1000.

There's no "point threshold reached" trigger. Instead you use Points balance increased, which fires every time a contact receives points, with a filter that only lets through contacts who are over the line.

Don't use Contact updated for this. It doesn't fire when a contact's points change, so an automation built on it never runs.

Build it

1. Click Automation in the top menu, then New automation.
2. Choose Empty automation and click Next.
3. Choose Event, pick Points balance increased from the Events list and click Submit. The editor opens straight away. The automation is named after the event, and you can rename it later on its Information page.
4. Click the Start step and add a filter: Filter group → Contact, set Option to Filter on profile attributes, pick the Attribute Total points received, set the Operator to Is greater than or equal, enter your threshold and click Save filter.
5. Click the plus sign in the flow, add whatever the contact should get and click Update.
6. Click Activate at the top right, check the summary and confirm with Activate.

Loyalty transaction created works as a trigger too: it also fires each time a contact receives points.

Use "greater than or equal", not "equals"

This is the mistake that makes this automation look broken. With an equals operator, the contact's total has to land on your number exactly. A contact who goes from 940 to 1040 in one purchase never has a total of 1000, so the automation never fires for them. There's no error to look at, just an empty Runs list.

Is greater than or equal catches everyone who crosses the line, whatever size their steps are.

Filter on Total points received, not Points balance. The balance drops when a contact spends points on a reward, so a contact can cross your threshold, spend, and cross it again.

Leave re-enrollment off

Total points received only ever goes up, so once a contact is over the threshold they stay over it. Every later points increase fires the trigger again, and with re-enrollment on they'd get the reward each time.

Re-enrollment is off by default, so you don't need to change anything. Check it under Settings → Re-enrollment, where Allow re-enrollment should stay off unless you really want a repeat.

Contacts who are already over the threshold when you activate get the reward the next time they receive points.

Check it worked

Open the automation and go to Runs in the sidebar. If it's empty, the filter is the first thing to look at. Open a run and click Show start reasons to see what qualified that contact.