How to add filters to your program effectively
To keep your program’s performance at an optimal level, we recommend starting your program with a Decision node that will filter out most of the insignificant events effectively.
Instead of starting your program with a Decision node that filters contacts by their Opt-In status (which condition would be fulfilled by many of them), it is a good idea to define conditions by using specific attribute filters depending on the payload or by specifying a complex Event happened decision.
How to avoid sending the same campaign to a single contact multiple times in an abandoned browse program
A contact can trigger the same Interactions program multiple times and may receive the same campaign more than once. If various events belong to the same contact, then each of them can trigger message sending.
If, for instance, you have different programs triggered by the Web Extend Viewed product page event, then a contact can trigger one or multiple programs by viewing various product pages. In this case, it can easily happen that a contact triggers the same program more than once by browsing multiple product pages. We have collected useful tips that help you prevent your contacts from receiving the same campaign multiple times.
In the following example, we would like to create a program that will only send campaigns to contacts who viewed at least 7 product pages and which contains the following nodes:
- a Decision node that filters contacts who triggered the
Viewed product pageevent at least7times in the last5minutes, - a Decision node that filters contacts who did not receive your campaign in the last
3days, - a Wait node that is scheduled to wait as required (in this example, we scheduled it to wait
90minutes ). - a Decision node that targets contacts who did not perform any activity since the trigger event.
- a Channel node (in this example, we have used a Mobile Engage push message node).
Example
The following image shows you how the events that belong to a single contact who viewed 9 product pages (i.e. triggered the Viewed product page event 9 times) travel through this program.
- Each time the contact views a product page, the Abandoned browse program will be triggered.
- The first 6
Viewed product pageevents will be filtered out because they do not meet the criteria defined in this node, i.e. triggered at least 7Viewed product pageWeb Extend events in the last 5 minutes. - The 7th, 8th and 9th
Viewed product pageevents will continue their journey. - If the contact had received this campaign in the last 3 days, then this visitor would have been filtered out.
- Add a Wait node to your program and schedule it as required.
- Due to the Since the trigger timeframe option, all previous events (i.e. the 7th and 8th
Viewed product pageevents) will be filtered out, except for the last one. - Only the 9th event will continue its journey, so the contact will receive your campaign only once.
Procedure
To create such a program, follow the instructions below:
1. Add a Decision node to your program and set it as follows:
a. Select the Event happened type,
b. Choose the Web Extend event source.
c. Select the Viewed product page event.
d. Choose the Count events operation.
e. Select at least from the dropdown and set it to 7 time(s),
f. Set the Timeframe to In the last 5 minutes.
The first Decision node will look like this:
2. After the first Decision node, add another one to your program and configure it as follows:
a. Choose the type Messages not sent.
b. Select the Channel you need.
c. Choose the required messages from the dropdown.
d. Set the Timeframe to In the last 3 days.
The second Decision node will look like this:
3. Add a Wait node to your program and schedule it to wait as required (if you would like to personalize your content with the Predict Email Recommendations widget, then schedule it to wait 90 minutes).
4. Add another Decision node to your program and set it as follows:
a. Select the type Event did not happen.
b. Choose all the available events by clicking Select all from the dropdown.
c. Under Timeframe, select the option Since the trigger.
If you do not configure the last Decision node properly, then your contacts may receive the campaign multiple times as they might trigger several events during their journey. To prevent this, you have to make sure that only the last Viewed product page event triggers message sending.
The last Decision node will look like this:
5. Add a Channel node to your program and set it as required.
How to schedule a program
Interactions programs become active when you activate them and stop when you freeze them but they cannot be scheduled to run within a specific time period. The operators between (time of day) and on days of week help you overcome this problem. These operators are available for the types Event happened, Event did not happen and Trigger attributes in Decision and Decision splitter nodes after selecting an attribute. In the following example, we would like to show you how to use them.
Typical use case: Geofencing
If, for example, you would like to send a push notification to customers who are in the vicinity of one of your stores that is open from 10 AM to 9 PM between Monday and Friday, then it is important to react only to events triggered within this timeframe. For this reason, you can add either a Decision or a Decision splitter node to your program and set it as follows:
- Select the type you need.
- Choose the source of the event and select an event.
- Add the attribute that you use for filtering events by their timestamp (in the example below we have used the
event_timestampattribute).
a. Add <your_timestamp_attribute>, select the operator between (times of day) and set it to 9:00–21:00.
b. Add <your_timestamp_attribute>, select the operator on days of week and choose the following days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
The time period that you specify with the operators between (times of day) and on days of week is based on your account's time zone.
If you have selected a Mobile event, then use the event_timestamp attribute filter that is populated by Mobile Engage and indicates the time when an event happened. If you use your own custom date attribute, then consider that it must comply with the ISO 8601 date format. You can also combine date attributes with the operators between (times of day) and on days of week.
In the following example, we have added a Decision splitter node to our program and used the event_timestamp attribute. This is how it looks like:
How to edit Triggered Emails in active programs
To edit the content of a Triggered Email stream in an active program, proceed as follows:
- Freeze your program.
- Deactivate the Triggered Email used in your program.
- Modify the content of the mail stream according to your needs.
- Save the mail stream, then activate it.
- Re-activate your program.
How to control message sending and refer to messages used in other Interactions or Automation Center programs
You can select any email, SMS or Push message used in other Interactions or Automation Center programs. To do so, proceed as follows:
- Double-click the Decision node and choose the type Messages not sent.
- Select the Channel you need.
- In the Message(s) dropdown, all emails, SMS or Push messages will be available for selection even if they are used in other Interactions or Automation Center programs.
Tips for using the Interactions editor
We have collected a few useful tips about the Interactions editor. With the new editor:
- You can drag and drop nodes to the canvas:
◦ To insert a node between two others, drag and drop it on the arrow that connects the two nodes.
◦ To connect two nodes, drag and drop the node on the other one.
- You can add the Finish node to the last nodes automatically, so you don’t need to add it to your program manually.
The new editor will be available in the Automation Center as well. If you would like to have a sneak peek and improve your journey building experience, please contact your Client Success Manager and we will be more than happy to welcome you in the Pilot phase.
