Home>Knowledge Base>Campaigns>What is the difference between trigger-based and custom campaigns

What is the difference between trigger-based and custom campaigns

May 12, 2026
5 min read

Understanding the two types of campaigns in Spear is essential for creating effective campaigns and optimizing your outbound performance.

What is a Campaign?

An outreach campaign is an organized sequence of messages designed for outbound prospecting. It uses a specific copy strategy and may include multiple follow-up messages sent at set intervals.

Spear's two campaign options:

-Trigger-Based Campaigns

-Custom Campaigns

Overview

Trigger-Based Campaigns

Trigger-based outbound is Spear’s core strategy. It lets you reach prospects with timely, personalized connection request messages - leading to higher connection rates and more conversations.

In this type of campaign:

  • Spear monitors the web using the defined ICP and keywords.
  • When a relevant signal or prospect is found, the system suggests the prospect with a trigger-based message.
  • Each prospect receives a tailored connection request based on the origin trigger.
  • Messages can be edited when approving the prospect suggestion.

Custom Campaigns

Custom campaigns use a fixed connection request message, which is sent to all prospects assigned to this campaign.

In this type of campaign:

  • Excellent for event outreach, for example, inviting prospects to a webinar or to connect prior to a conference
  • Can be used for a targeted list

Strategy: Moving Prospects for Higher Relevance

If you have prospects in a Custom Campaign but prefer to reach them with a personalized touch, you can move them back to the monitoring pool.

  • Action: Select "Monitor for another trigger".
  • Why: This tells Spear to stop the fixed-message flow and start scanning the web for new activity (job changes, posts, etc.).
  • Frequency: The system will re-scan every three weeks until a fresh, relevant trigger is found.

The Result: You transform a "cold" custom outreach into a high-impact, trigger-based conversation.

Next Steps

Ready to build your campaign? Read our step-by-step guide on How to set up a campaign to start targeting sharper audiences today.

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Turn Triggers Into Pipeline

With Spear, companies leverage trigger-based outbound to craft a quality-driven GTM motion that actually books meetings.