The purpose of Workflow is to help plan and automate marketing campaigns. It lets you easily set even complex campaigns in order. All registered contact activity can be used as events or conditions to trigger actions. Workflow campaigns can be adjusted to meet the demands of a project, allowing the creation of sophisticated marketing campaigns. By using Workflows, you will be able to:
- build strong relationships with your customers by using welcome emails and SMS,
- send accurately personalized messages to target groups. For example, define groups by particular tags or by activity on your website,
- generate discount coupons to encourage repurchasing,
- promptly deliver offers to customers thanks to activity alerts and information on what interests them,
- constantly update your database by deleting inactive contacts or redirecting them to different campaign stages,
- simplify the process of campaign management and specify various actions and conditions to achieve goals,
- create multilevel structures to achieve maximum synergy between features.
Workflow 2.0
The brand new interface and the mechanism of workflow make creating advanced automation processes as easy as pie. Hone your workflows with A/B/X tests and alternative paths. Make use of the new analytics to service your marketing and sales processes even more effectively.
- A/B/X tests – conduct A/B/X tests of any workflow element: event, condition or action. Verify in an easy way which of your emails, dynamic emails and personalized banners bring better results.
- Setting priorities of paths followed by a contact – decide which path the contacts will follow if they fulfill more than one condition necessary to move to the next stage. Make use of the full freedom in designing the scenarios for each priority.
- Setting alternative paths – prevent contacts from being stuck in a stage when unfulfilled conditions make impossible for them to move on. Lead them through an alternative way instead.
- Testing Workflow settings – while creating a campaign, you can test the validity of the settings. Before you activate campaign, make sure everything works smoothly.
- Enhanced campaign design – we prepared a new interface and perfected the process of organizing elements in Workflow. The new way of joining the elements and the grid will facilitate the campaign visualization.
- The unlimited number of drafts – if you want to try out several variants before you activate the campaign, you can save as many drafts as you want, which you can later launch in the blink of an eye.
- Workflow analytics – detailed analysis of the contact flow for each step in the campaign let you optimize your workflow as you immediately can distinguish the paths that work miracles.
To create a new campaign to go
AUTOMATION PROCESSES → WORKFLOW → ADD NEW WORKFLOW
Contents
- Workflow mechanism – basic rules
- List of campaigns
- Creating a campaign
a) saving campaigns - Categories: Events, conditions, actions, end and wait
a) events
b) conditions
c) actions
d) A/B/X tests
e) end
f) wait
1. Workflow mechanism – basic rules
- the contact who has started the campaign always follows one path, in other words, the contact cannot be in several places simultaneously in one campaign,
- the contact can participate in several campaigns at the same time,
- if the contact reaches the end of the path in the campaign, the contact can start the campaign all over again if he or she fulfills the conditions specified in the campaign,
- any path in the campaign can’t remain without the ending part (i.e. End element),
- you can add several events to the Start of the campaign. In the case when several events occur at the same time, the system chooses a path for the contact at random,
- you can have up to 10 active campaigns in the system (up to 5 campaigns created in the previous Workflow version [which are properly flagged on the list of campaigns] and 5 campaigns created in the new version),
- the alternation to the campaign (e.g. deleting an event and adding it once again) that interfere with the campaign structure creates a situation in which you can choose one out of two solutions:
1) you can allow contacts that already participate in the campaign to finish it – then the contacts who will start the campaign will go through newly created paths, however, the contacts who already have started the campaign will continue the path from its older version,
2) you can stop the campaign for the contacts who already have started the campaign and as a result, they will stay there,
2. List of campaigns
Each campaign created in the system is presented on a list in the form of a bar. It contains such pieces of information as the name of the campaign [1], the status (draft, active, inactive) [3], date of creation and the date when the campaign was modified, and the description [2]. You can find also the buttons [4], [5], [6], that are described below.
The list of campaigns can consist of those campaigns which were created in the previous version of Workflow and they are flagged with a dark blue label with information that this particular Workflow has been designed on the basis of the previous version of the wizard. In such a case, you will not be able to duplicate the campaign, however, you can edit it.
[3] Campaign status – the campaign can have three statuses: draft, inactive and active. In the case when the campaign is saved as a draft, you will not be able to check its analytics. Find the detailed description in point 3a.
[4] Edit – click the button to edit the campaign. If you alter the active campaign, the contacts who already have started the original version of the campaign will be able to either continue this version or cease
[5] Analytics – in the campaign analytics you can check the flow of contacts between stages and distinguish the most effective path. You can find more information about Workflow analytics here.
[6] Action – you can delete and duplicate the campaigns.
3. Creating a Workflow campaign
Click Add new Workflow to launch a Workflow wizard in which you will design your campaign.
The wizard dashboard consists of three main elements: menu, design space and the list of elements with which you will build the processes.
[1] Settings – go to settings to assign a name for the Workflow campaign, so later you can find it on the list of campaigns. Apart from that, you can switch on or off the grid by ticking or unticking the checkbox Show grid.
[2] Active – the button that activates or deactivates the campaign. If you don’t activate the campaign before you save it, the campaign will remain inactive and will be marked on the list as inactive. When deactivating a campaign, you can use one of the three scenarios.
IMPORTANT: You can have 5 active campaigns (5 in the new version and 5 in the previous version of Workflow).
[3] Save as draft – you can save your campaign as a draft and edit it once again any time. There are no limits if it comes to saving campaign drafts.
[4] Save – if you click the button to save the campaign, the system will verify whether you have configured settings of all elements correctly. In the case, when there are still some elements without proper configuration, the system will notify you about it.
[5] Elements – click the sidebar button to unfold the list of elements. Click it once again, to fold the button to the primary position. The list consists of 5 elements: Events, Conditions, Actions, Wait, and End. You can find each element described in detail below. Use the magnifying glass to search for a particular element by typing the word that is included in the name of this element. The arrow in the right corner takes you back to the list where you can choose a category once again. The x closes the list.
[A] Saving campaigns
- Saving the active Workflow
Once you attempt to save an active campaign, the system verifies the settings of each element used in the campaign (the system checks whether you filled in the settings of each element and if the settings of each element don’t conflict with each other). It’s a campaign that contact will participate in if they fulfill the necessary conditions.
To save active Workflow you need to switch the button [2] to the ON position (illustration above) and save the campaign in the system [4].
Such a campaign can be deactivated on the list of campaigns, choosing the button Actions => Deactivate.
- Saving the inactive Workflow
Once you attempt to save an inactive campaign, the system also verifies the settings of each element used in the campaign (the system checks whether you filled in the settings of each element and if the settings of each element don’t conflict with each other). It’s a campaign that contact will participate in if they fulfill the necessary conditions.
To save an inactive Workflow you need to switch the button [2] to the OFF position (illustration above) and save the campaign in the system [4].
Such a campaign can be deactivated on the list of campaigns, choosing the button Actions => Deactivate.
- Saving Workflow as a draft
If you save a campaign as a draft, the system doesn’t verify whether the settings are configured correctly or if each path has an element that ends the campaign. The campaign will be labeled on the list of campaigns as a draft.
To save a campaign as a draft, you need to click Save as draft [3] (illustration above).
4. Categories: Events, conditions, actions, end and wait
To build a workflow campaign, use the basic elements – Events, Conditions, and Actions. Create individual causal chains by placing Events, Conditions, and Actions, in any configuration, between the opening Start and closing End elements. The Start can be connected only to an event.
Use the Timer to specify when to activate chosen elements. All in all, the creation of a workflow is very intuitive. Just select a category, pick a specific element, then drag and drop it onto the editor field. To join the points, click the arrow icon (in the middle of each element) and drag it to the other element. As a result, the elements will be joined with a dark blue arrow which vector indicates the order. To delete the connection, click the red cross on the arrow.
- use ❌ to delete an element from the project,
- use ⚙ to open the settings of a specific element,
- use 🕘 to set an activation delay for an element
[A] Events
Events are marked with dark blue color and they initiate the processes in Workflow. The contact needs to fulfill the conditions specified in the events to proceed to the next stage of the campaign. Events are added as the first elements of the process, but you can use them also in the middle of the campaign, except for the event Contact has been added to the system.
IMPORTANT: You can set the delay for the events used in the middle of the campaign, however, it’s not allowed in the event which initiates the campaign.
- start each causal chain with an event. Add at least one event following the opening Start element,
- you can add as many events as you like, anywhere in the Workflow,
- causal chains in one workflow can be independent, or interwoven, depending on the project at hand,
- you can build different structures for events of the same type,
- use the clock icon to create an alternative connection “If the event does not occur”. Use this feature to set a delay after which a contact that did not trigger the specified event is moved to a different stage in the Workflow. Event with the delay needs to be joined with any other element (e.g. End) to prevent contacts from being stuck in the campaign forever (it concerns those events which are added in the middle of the campaign).
EXAMPLE: If the event Contact clicked the link in email will not occur within an hour, the campaign for the contact, who is in this particular place in the campaign, will be finished.
[B] Conditions
Conditions are marked with orange color. Use them to specify the conditions for an action to be fulfilled. To verify if a contact met a condition, an entire contact card is checked by the system. You can add any number of conditions.
- there are two types of events in the system: Conditions yes/no and Conditions with priorities,
CONDITIONS YES/NO
- for each condition, you need to design two paths: one path for the contact if he or she fulfills the condition and the alternative path (if the contact fails to fulfill the condition). Some conditions allow you to create additional ways, by clicking the plus icon in the middle of the element, e.g. condition Contact has tag (you can create up to 5 paths),
- the orange arrow on a white background in the middle of the element represents an action that will be triggered when the condition is met (on the dark blue arrow that links elements the label with condition settings will be displayed). Conditions can be reversed, which is why a similar, white arrow on an orange background represents an action that will be triggered when the condition is not met (on the dark blue arrow that links elements, a label with No will be displayed).
CONDITIONS WITH PRIORITIES
- for each condition of this type apart from the alternative path (path No), you can create up to 5 paths when the if contact fulfills the condition and each scenario will be granted a priority of 1 to 5, where 5 is the lowest. Click the plus icon in the middle of the element to add another path,
- to illustrate, the condition Contact is tagged with, you can design 5 scenarios that will be taken into effect if a contact has one of those 5 tags
assigned. In the case, when a contact has several or all tags assigned, the priorities added to tags will be an indication for the system which of the scenarios is the most important.
[C] Actions
Actions have green icons. They are automated system operations that are triggered be preceding elements. In a workflow, you can interlace actions, events, and conditions in various combinations.
- multiple actions can be activated at the same time,
- you can set actions to either trigger if a condition is met, or when it is not. Same can be done for event-action causal links.
- you can delay the activation of an action by setting custom time requirements,
- though it is often the case, actions do not have to end a workflow,
[D] A/B/X tests
- A/B/X tests can be added to events, conditions and actions,
- you can create up to 4 tests and their total amount has to equal 100%,
- the contact will follow only one path,
[E] End
- use this element to close finalized causal chains or entire campaigns.
- contacts who reach this element exit the workflow,
- close at least one causal chain with the End element. Chains without this element remain active indefinitely. For example, if a contact moves through some stages in a workflow, but reaches the End element, then they will exit the workflow immediately. Conversely, if they reach the final steps of chains without ever reaching a closing element, they will remain in the workflow.
IMPORTANT: A contact that has reached the End of a workflow can begin the entire process again if events and conditions permit.
[F] Wait
- use this element to set a delay between a trigger and an activation of an action or a condition.
- you can add the Timer to any element.
- to set a delay in the activation of a causal link, add this element between the chosen elements.
- you can specify the time according to the following criteria:
- [1] Wait – a specific number of hours/days/weeks/months,
- [2] Wait until – a specific date,
- [3] Wait for a specific day – a specific day of the week or month.
IMPORTANT: Automated workflow campaigns are an expanded version of Automation Rules. Though the use of both functions is analogous, they work independently. Carefully consider every step of the campaign and make sure that they do not repeat, lest some actions are performed twice.
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