Should a keyword trigger use contains or exactly matches?

Use exactly matches for short words that appear inside other words, and contains for phrases people type in the middle of a sentence. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason a keyword automation answers the wrong messages.

There are five modes:

• contains, the default: the keyword appears anywhere in the message.
• equals: the whole message is exactly the keyword.
• starts with: the message begins with the keyword.
• any message: no keyword matching at all, every inbound message triggers.
• regular expression: a pattern, for structured input like an order number.

Casing is ignored by default and you can turn that off.

Worked example. Keyword PRICE in contains mode matches "what is the price" and also matches "I appreciate it", because appreciate contains price. In equals mode it matches only a message that is exactly "price", which is how a lot of people actually reply to a comment prompt.

So the rule of thumb: one short word, use equals. A phrase like "how much does it cost", use contains. A command-style prefix, use starts with.

If you want both behaviours, build two automations. When several automations match the same message, the more specific one answers, so an equals automation wins over a contains automation on the same word.