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How to manage Automation campaigns
How to manage Automation campaigns

Learn more about how to use advanced logic to create complex automation campaigns in a simple way!

Support Team avatar
Written by Support Team
Updated over a year ago

This feature is available for Marketing PRO plans only.

Automation (also called "Journey") is an advanced version of our standard Event Campaigns. It allows you to set up a path with an unlimited number of "Steps" which composes advanced logic leading a Contact through multiple actions and conditions (eg. 'send email' or 'add contact to a list').

To create an Automation campaign:

  1. Name your Automation.

  2. Select when the automation will start (see "Trigger" below).

  3. You will see a space where you will design your Automation. Click the "plus" sign to add more "Steps". You will be given choices for specific kinds of "Steps" - once selected, you will be able to configure it in the menu on the right. All options are described in the "Step types and subtypes" section below.

  4. Click "Publish" button in the top-right in order to launch the Automation.

Once published, any Contact that triggers the automation will follow the provided, even most complicated, path.

Step types and subtypes

A "Step" is a building "block" containing logic that is processed separately on each Contact. Below is a list of all "Step" types along with their subtypes.

Trigger

This Step starts an Automation for a Contact. Currently only one Trigger can exist in one Automation. It determines an "entering" event for a Contact: what has to happen for a Contact to make it appear in the Automation.

Currently possible enter events:

  • Contact joins a list: triggered when Contact is added to a provided list. Only one list can be specified. Triggered only by: contact/quickadd, contact/add, API v1 "lists/create-contact" or double opt-in registration.

  • Contact opens an email: triggered when Contact opens an email from a specified Campaign.

  • Contact clicks a link: triggered when Contact clicks any link from the provided Template. It can be triggered by any Campaign which uses the given Template.

  • Triggered by the action of another automation campaign: triggered by a special Action Step "trigger another Automation" of another Automation.

  • When API request is sent: triggered when a specific API request is called (campaign/triggerautomation). Triggerable only for one Contact at a time.

Email

This Step is an "Action" as well, but it has been separated in our Editor as it is the most commonly used one. Multiple options can be specified, eg. template, subject, IP Pool etc.

Delay

This Step delays any further processing of its child by the provided time. This does not halt processing other paths in which a Contact might have appeared after triggering an "Event" Step.

Condition

This Step contains a logical question which our system tries to answer. This Step can have two children: one which is followed if the answer to that question was positive (True path) and another one for a negative answer (False path). It's triggerable only after a Contact has entered this Step. Some of this Step's subtypes do an immediate answer check, while others can have a waiting period provided (and for some it is required).

Currently possible subtypes:

  • Email activity - Was opened: Monitoring a specified Campaign. If it's an A/X Campaign, you have to choose one of it's children. Waiting period for the Event has to be specified.

  • Email activity - had a specific link clicked: Monitoring a specified Template, so each email or Campaign using this Template should trigger the condition. You can specify a link from a set of detected Template links. Waiting period for the Event has to be specified.

  • Email activity - had any link clicked: Monitoring a specified Template, so each email or Campaign using this Template could trigger the condition. Any clicked link triggers this Condition. Waiting period for the Event has to be specified.

  • Contact list status: Monitoring a specified List. Initially checks if a Contact is already on the list - if it's not and if a waiting period has been provided, then we start responding to one of the following events: contact/quickadd, contact/add, list/addcontact, API v1 "lists/create-contact" or double opt-in registration. You can optionally provide a waiting period for the Event. If not provided, we immediately follow the 'false' path if Contact is not on the list.

Action

This Step performs an action reflected in our system. It's usually related to a Contact, although not necessarily (e.g. Webhook). This Step is also unique in that it can contain multiple Event/Condition children and also a normal child path.

Currently possible subtypes:

  • Add to a list: adds a Contact to the provided List, if it exists.

  • Remove from a list: removes a Contact from the provided List, if it exists.

  • Send text message: send an SMS with specified content to a number read from a provided Contact's Custom field. If the custom field is missing, we move on. Any sending errors are managed by SMS API.

  • Trigger new automation: inserts the given Contact into another Automation, but only if that Automation contains an 'another Automation' Trigger.

Reports

Report of your automation campaign should be available as soon as you publish it. The report contains following data:

  • Flow of contacts through each state of your campaign: Total recipients, Recipients have completed this automation, Recipients are currently in this automation

  • Automation's status and date of publishing

  • Performance of the automation broken into: Opens, Clicks, Bounces and Unsubscribes

  • Performance graph presenting number of opens and clicks in a specific date range.

  • Workflow emails: the list of all email templates chosen for this particular automation life cycle.

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