Transactional entry points are ones where contacts are added to the program as soon as they have triggered the entry criteria. They are not processed at predetermined intervals, like recurring entry points, nor in batches.
Some transactional entry points ignore opt-in for the first email they send. For more information, see Ignoring opt-in for certain transactional emails.
Email nodes in programs that start with a transactional entry node do not support Send Time Optimization.
Once you are familiar with the basics of the nodes, see our Workspace Tips & Tricks section.
Form
This node allows your contacts to enter the program once they complete and submit the selected form.
- Only general registration forms can be selected and used here.
- Programs that start with this entry point follow the ignore opt-in rules for transactional programs.
Data change
Here you can select an action based on a change to a specific data field (such as email address). When a contact triggers a change to that field, it causes them to enter the program.
- You can select all standard system and custom fields here.
- You cannot select certain fields whose values are filled in dynamically, such as ‘Date of first registration’, or ‘Age’.
- Field values can be changed in many ways, for example through data import, API call, form submission, manual change, and so on.
Please consider the following:
- If a form is submitted containing field values that already exist, these will not be overwritten and the program will not be triggered. Only a change in the field value triggers the program, regardless of how it is changed.
- Importing new contacts or adding new contacts via the UI can trigger programs starting with the Data change entry point, if the contact is initialized with a field value associated with such a program. For example, if a new contact is imported and the contact data includes the contact's address, and you have a program that starts with the On change of field Address entry point, then that program will be triggered when the contact is created in Emarsys.
Contacts created via the API will not trigger programs starting with the Data change entry point.
New contact
This will add all new contacts in the account database to the program, regardless of how they were registered.
It has no effect on new contacts entering other programs via other nodes, for example from a registration form or data change.
External event
Here contacts can enter a program if they are returned by an API call containing the same external event (you must first create the API call before you can use this node).
- If you include external data in the external event API call, this external data will remain available for that contact throughout their journey through the program and can be used to personalize further emails.
- Programs that start with this entry point follow the ignore opt-in rules for transactional programs.
On auto-import
This node allows the contacts of an auto import to enter the program as soon as the import completes.
Although the Automation Center can typically handle batches of up to 250,000 contacts, the performance of the On auto-import node may drop considerably for larger batches if there are a lot of columns in the import. To reduce the risk of your program being put into fail-safe mode, you should break larger imports up into smaller batches or use the API.
