The participation settings determine how frequently, and how often, a contact can enter a program.
To open the dialog, click Participation on the bottom of the canvas.

- Standard entry criteria are based on whether or not a contact has already entered the program, and if so, how recently.
- Advanced entry criteria assume that the contact has been through the program once already, and are based on when they last exited it.
Important:
- Please note that programs with Advanced participation settings will be deleted on February 28, 2023. Please consider copying the program and use one of the suggested alternatives described in Advanced participation settings. If you need further assistance, please contact Emarsys Support.
- Please note that the Advanced participation settings feature has been deprecated. Only programs that were activated in the legacy editor will keep their Advanced participation settings.
The settings you define here will be applied to the entry node of a transactional program, or the first segment node in a recurring program.
The participation settings you define will also apply to the program when it is in testing.
- Using the advanced settings may have an impact on your program’s performance. For more information, see Troubleshooting.
- You cannot change the participation settings after the program has been launched, even if you pause it.
- A day in the context of Participation Settings means 24 hours. This is independent of calendar days or timezones. For example, if you define that contacts can only enter a program again 3 days after exiting it, this will be calculated as exactly 72 hours.
- One-time batch programs cannot have participation settings enabled due to their automated nature.
- ‘Contact’ here means a unique contact ID. If an existing person is re-registered with the same email address but with a new ID they will not be excluded and could enter the program more than once.