Enrichment on event

Description

The pattern that triggers third-party or computed enrichment when a specific event fires, rather than enriching every record continuously. Used when enrichment costs (API calls, computation, vendor pricing) make per-event a wasteful default, but where the enrichment becomes load-bearing for downstream decisions at specific moments. Distinct from real-time contextual enrichment at the edge because the trigger is event-driven and the result is persistent, not request-scoped.

Common failure modes

• 01Trigger event fires before the upstream record is durable, so enrichment runs against a not-yet-committed identity and the result lands orphaned
• 02Enrichment vendor latency exceeds the downstream decision window, so the freshly enriched record arrives too late to inform the activation it was meant to inform
• 03No deduplication on repeat triggers, so the same record is re-enriched on every event and vendor charges balloon
• 04Enrichment failure handled by silent skip, leaving downstream consumers reading a partial profile without any signal that enrichment didn't complete

Tools for this pattern

The capability a stack needs to run this pattern, and the vendors that provide it, on Martech Stack Builder.

• NeedsData Enrichment
• RelatedTrigger-based Automation

Recipes composing this pattern