The Journey Canvas
One of the topics that Marketing Ops are excited about during training is actually building a journey in Journey Builder. They are excited about being able to map all the possible routes that a customer could be navigated along.
Although it looks appealing, there is a lot that goes on into developing a journey beyond dragging and dropping activities into the canvas. Hope the below insights help you blaze through your journey.
The journey canvas allows for the following configuration –
- Entry Events – These are trigger that allow for customers / subscribers to enter into a Journey. These could be API events, CRM data changes, table value changes etc. Be sure to get this right upfront – if these events are not configured correctly and the right data is not selected then it could break decision points and activities in the Journey. Best practice dictate that you spend time configuring the underlying data extension OR attribute groups (if there are multiple related data extensions)
- Messaging Activities – Each type of message – SMS, Email, Push, Ads – requires configuration. An email requires you to ensure that the content is validated for the data extension, the personalization variables and dynamic content are resolving correctly, the Send Classifications are applied correctly, exclusion lists are selected, CC/BCC are selected and so on. Ensure that you have all the underlying assets that go into your messages and that the underlying data is available to successfully send the emails.
- Flow Control / Splits – Decision splits, wait times, einstein split and joins, all help in navigating and pacing the customer through the journey. Over the past 3 years Salesforce has made tremendous amount of improvements to accomodate for common routing scenarios
- Salesforce Events – Not only can Sales and Service cloud object changes be used to trigger journeys, they can also be used to update records, create tasks, convert leads, etc.
- Settings / Exit criteria and Goals – Journey setting include selection of how many times a customer enters the flow and with which email address / mobile number if they have multiple. Exit criteria and Goal allows for us to determine, upon meeting which criteria can the customer/subscriber be removed from the Journey.
Hope these help you prepare for you design and configurations. Contact us to learn more about best practices and governance around Journey Builder and other modules.