How do I build an automated journey?

Automation is a powerful tool for any brand to create a more personalized experience for their email subscribers and leads to higher engagement and greater ROI. It can accomplish this while saving time for the email team who can set up the campaign and simply let it run without multiple dedicated sends.

 

Examples of Common Automated Journeys

• Multi-email welcome campaign
• Re-engagement campaign
• Long-term nurture campaign
• Short-term nurture campaign
• Cross-sell campaign
• Subscription renewal reminders campaign
• and more.

Our software makes it easy and fast to build your automated journeys to accomplish your goals by creating personalized opportunities to interact with your subscribers based on their actions and your brand's typical buying cycle.

 

Who can build automated journeys?

Automation is available to all license levels however features may vary depending on license. For more information about license packaging, please visit https://www.delivra.com/pricing or email our Client Success team.

To create and launch an automated journey an admin's permission set must include: View Automation, Manage Drip Campaigns, Manage Templates, Add Content, Edit Content and the Mailing permissions. 

Only a site admin can update roles and permissions. See how here. 

 

Strategizing your journey

While you can create, test, and schedule a journey all in one session we recommend thinking out the goals, logistics, and email design BEFORE setting up your automation. This will result in a faster build time and clearer testing priorities. 

For more recommendations and best practices around automation strategy, visit our blog to browse related articles on automation. 

We also have several in-app resources around specific workflow strategy. When you create an Automation, we offer templates to help you get started.  Each template includes a "Learn More" link.

 

Automation Dashboard

The Automation Dashboard pulls all of your automated journeys together in one place for easy management. 

The dashboard shows each Automation, the campaigns that make up that automation, allows you to filter between statuses, toggle between automations and templates, and view/edit/create automation workflows.

 

Starting your build

You have a few options to start your workflow. Each automation journey can start with the following: an Event, SMS, Email, or Triggered seen below as a selection of Automation Type:

1. Email (All licenses, however your license may limit the types of campaigns available to you)
   Start your automation workflow with a regular (dedicated send at a specific date and time) or triggered (reactive email based on date, category, or action taken by the contact) email. 
   
   
2. SMS (SMS platform required)
   Start your automation workflow with a regular or triggered SMS message.
   
   
3. Event 
   Start your automation workflow with an event or condition. This allows you the flexibility to wait for a change in category, an action taken (like browsing a web page, etc), or a change in demographic information (for example: lead score moves from Cold to Warm). 
   
   
4. Triggered (Professional license)
   Start your automation workflow with a triggered segment clause. This allows you to build a clause based on a date field stored for contacts.

 

Templates

Our software has several stock workflow templates no matter how you would like to start your automation.

From the Automation Dashboard click the "Create Automation" action button at the top-right and explore offered templates. Click the yellow "Use Template" button to choose a workflow template. These are entirely editable and any piece can be changed except for the "Start With" element. To start with a blank template choose one of the "Standard Templates" seen below as "Standard Template -Email".

Tip: Use the filters on the left of the page to narrow template results by Industry!

 

What is possible in the automation builder?

Now you have your workflow builder open and are ready to start creating your automated journey. The automation builder uses drag-and-drop functionality, simply move elements from the right to the left. Use the pencil icon on any workflow step to edit that step. Pull the trash can icon over a step to delete it. 

For easy and efficient building it is important to understand each of the functions available in the builder:

1. Action Steps

• Email: Pull this step over to create or import an email campaign into this step of the workflow. 
• Send SMS: Pull this step over to create or import a SMS campaign into the step of the workflow.
• Update Email Field / Update SMS Field: Change or add data in contact record. Example: Someone clicked on a link to a product line? Update a data field to place them in a segment to send more relevant offers in the future.
• Update Category: Similar to update field, use this to or remove a contact from a category.
• Export CSV: Export a CSV of subscribers that made it to a certain point in your workflow. This function is perfect for sales team follow ups or sending to a direct mail printer.
• Pause: Pause is a literal pause between workflow steps. For instance, pause 1 week after a Send Email step then evaluate open activity to split the workflow paths. 
• Stop: This function stops the workflow and holds the subscriber at that point. If you would ever like to add on to your workflow in the future you can add elements after the stop, remove the stop, and the workflow will continue.
• Exit Move contacts in this branch of the workflow to another Automation. For instance, use an Exit step where in-activity has been detected and move them to a re-engagement Automation.
• Lead Alert Use this to email an internal alert when contacts enter a specific step of the Automation. 
• Update Custom Audience: Use this to add to / remove from / or create a new custom audience for Facebook Ads. Requires Facebook business account and connection to your Delivra account.
• Split: Use this to branch the workflow, similar to the way Condition steps branch into Yes / No paths. The Split step will divide the audience into two groups based on user defined percentages.
• Join Paths: Use this to converge two branches of a workflow after a condition evaluation, eliminating the need to build out two paths when the content is the same.

2. Condition Steps

• Evaluate Email / SMS Contact: Use this step to evaluate data on the contact record at this point. Based on the data evaluation contacts could split into two branches.
• Evaluate Category: Similar to evaluate data, use this step to determine if a contact is in or not in a category at this point.
• Opened Email: Use this step to evaluate the open activity of a previous email in the workflow. Based on the activity, contacts cold split into two branches.
• Clicked on Email Link: Similar to opened email, use this step to evaluate click activity of a previous email in the workflow.
• Viewed (requires Anonymous Clickstream integration): Evaluate browse activity of contacts at this point in time.
• Subscribed to SMS: Evaluate if contacts are also subscribed to your SMS program. If so, this can split contacts into two branches and allow you to incorporate use of SMS messaging to those that are subscribed.
• Clicked on SMS Link: Similar to clicked on email link, use this step to evaluate click activity of a previous SMS (that contains links) in the workflow.
• Responded to SMS: Create decision trees in the workflow that can evaluate a response from a contact to a previous SMS campaign.
• Purchased from Clickstream (requires Clickstream integration): Evaluate purchase activity of contacts at this point in time from a previous email or SMS step.

3. Other Steps

• Duplicate Step: Duplicate a workflow step. This is useful for multiple pauses of the same length or to duplicate an Email or SMS campaign step.
• Remove Step: Either drag the step to the trash can or drag this element to the step to remove.

 

Creating your automated emails

Once you have your strategy in place and a solid understanding of the proper workflow elements to use you can create your automated emails. After the email that kickstarts the campaign (in the case you chose to start with Email), all campaigns in the workflow need to be Automated-API or Automated-Lead Alert type.

You have two options for building your automated campaigns:

1. Build the campaigns ahead of time in the Campaigns dashboard and add them to your automation steps OR
2. Build the campaigns directly in your automation workflow by adding an Email or SMS step, then editing it.
   
   

Functionally these options work very similarly. The only difference is convenience of the build. 

How-To

Use Campaigns built in the Campaigns dashboard

1. 1. Open your workflow either by creating a new automation or opening a draft.
   2. Drag a "Send Email" or "Lead Alert" element (depending on your use case) into your workflow.
   3. Click the pencil icon to edit.
   4. Click the "Choose a Mailing" button.
   5. Select your previously built campaign from the list. 
      1. Note: If you are creating a Lead Alert you will need to select a Lead Alert campaign type. Send Email will need to be an automated type (for all except the kick off email which should be Regular or Triggered).
      2. Note: You will not be able to use a campaign that is used in a different automation.
   6. Hit "Ok".
   7. To edit this campaign at any time click the pencil icon and select the "Edit Mailing" button.

Build Campaigns within Automation

1. 1. 1. Open your workflow either by creating a new automation or opening a draft.
      2. Drag a "Send Email" or "Lead Alert" element (depending on your use case) into your workflow.
      3. Click the pencil icon to edit.
      4. Click the "Create Mailing" button.
      5. Follow the Create a Campaign Workflow as usual. 

 

Testing

Once you are done building your workflow steps and creating your campaigns it is imperative that you test your automation. Test for correct responses to any Flag Event or Wait for Event behaviors. 

Testing is made easy in the automation builder. Simply choose the Test option at the top of the page. A "Save and Test" box will appear.

Here you can choose one or more administrators to send the test to. The Pause / Wait override will replace any pauses or wait for events from days or weeks to minutes (or another time period of your choosing) so your testing can be done quickly and efficiently. See this article for more information on testing your Automation.

 

Scheduling

When you are ready to schedule you will have a few different options based on how you are starting out your automation. 

1. Start with Email: Starting with a Regular or Triggered campaign gives you two different options for scheduling. A Regular campaign will see a start date and time.
   
   
   
   A triggered campaign will ask a few more questions to determine the first start date and how often to search for a relevant audience. For example, a birthday email only needs to run once a day. However, responding to an abandoned cart may want need to run more frequently. 
   
   
   
   
2. Start with SMS: Start with SMS will ask you to schedule your regular or triggered SMS send that kicks off this automation. This will look similar to Start with Event or Start with Email.
   
   
3. Start with Event: If you are starting with Wait for Event, your scheduling window will simply ask when you want that to take effect!
   
   
   
   
4. Start with Triggered: If you are starting with Triggered, your scheduling window will include several settings. 
   
   
   a. Schedule send date - Set first time (day/time) the automation should be live and evaluate the clause built in the step.
   b. Change previous send date - At the next evaluation period, adjust how far back to look at data in the system.
   c. Send frequency - How often the trigger evaluation should check for matching contacts in the system.
   d. When the trigger runs, how soon should the recipient receive the email? - After the trigger evaluate occurs (c above), determine how soon after should the next email be sent to the contacts that matched.
   
   

Saving workflow as a Template

If you like your automated workflow and would like to save the layout for re-use (such as an event-follow up that will need to be used for other events) or with another account on your site you can save your workflow as a template.

To save as a template, simply hover over the automation of your choosing and select "Save as Template" from the Edit drop-down that appears to the right.

 

Update your journey

If you need to make edits to an automation journey in the draft or stopped status, hover over the automation name and choose "Edit" from the menu that appears to the right. If you need to make edits to an automation journey in the scheduled or running status, hover over the automation name and choose "Change Status". Edits cannot be made to Automations that are in Running status.

To edit any campaigns within the Automation journey click the edit menu, select the email step (using the pencil) and choose Edit Mailing.

 

Review your results

We recommend using Report Groups when setting up your campaigns (Step 6: Schedule) to be able to later analyze the metrics of the automation as a whole without selecting multiple versions of the same campaign. For more on Report Groups, visit this article. 

 

Resources

Visit our e-Learning hub for online modules to learn more about automation, SMS, report groups, & other Delivra features.

Additional articles for Automation in the Help Center:

How do I?

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