Guide profiles through automated steps that start when they do something. Pick a trigger, lay out messages, waits and branches, then see how many profiles entered and completed.
What a journey is
A journey is an automated path that profiles walk through on their own. Something a profile does starts it, and from there each profile moves through the steps you laid out: messages, waits, branches and updates to its data.
Every journey starts with one trigger, the thing that puts a profile into it, such as starting a session, sending an event, joining a cohort or finishing another journey. After the trigger come the steps. Engage steps show an in-app message or a survey or send a push notification. Flow steps wait, or split profiles into branches. Data steps record an event, update the profile or call a URL.
A journey is always in one of five states.
- Draft has never run. You can edit it freely.
- Active is running. New profiles enter its live version, and that version's steps are read-only. To change the journey, choose Edit as new version in the builder; the live version keeps running until you activate the new one.
- Paused is on hold. Profiles in it wait where they are. Choose Resume to carry on, or Edit as new version to change it, as for an active journey.
- Completed has ended for good. No new profiles enter it.
- Pending approval is waiting for an approver when your project requires approval.
Journeys live under Journeys in the Experience menu. Each journey belongs to one project, and its messages come from the content library, so you create or pick the content once and use it in as many steps as you like.
How a profile moves through a journey
When the trigger fires and its filter matches, the profile enters the journey and starts at the first step. At every step there are only three possibilities: the profile continues to the next step, waits, or leaves the journey.
- Continue. A message step continues once the message is handed off. Push continues straight away. A survey step waits for the answer first.
- Wait. A wait step holds the profile for a set time, until a date and time, or until an event happens. A profile waiting for an event moves on only when it sends that event.
- Leave. A profile that reaches an Exit step, or a step with nothing after it, has completed the journey. A profile that reaches a Condition with no false branch and does not match, or a Switch where no case matches, drops off at that point.
The entry limit decides how many times the same profile may start the journey. With the limit off, a profile enters every time the trigger fires. Set it to 1 to let each profile through once.
Pausing and completing act on the profiles already inside:
- Pausing stops sending messages to profiles currently in the journey. They wait where they are and continue when you resume it, or when you activate a new version of it.
- Completing stops new profiles from entering, while profiles already in it finish their remaining steps. It cannot be undone.
- Deleting stops the journey for everyone in it and removes it permanently.
Use Cases
Build a journey
Send the right profiles a sequence of messages automatically, starting when they do something.
- Open Journeys in the Experience menu and select New journey.
- Pick a template and select Use this template, or select Start from scratch. A template gives you a ready flow whose steps you can all change afterwards.
- In the panel on the right, choose what starts the journey. Fill in what the trigger needs, such as the event or the cohort, optionally turn on the entry limit, and select Add trigger.
- Select the + below a step to add the next one from the menu. Select any step on the canvas to set it up in the side panel. For a message step, choose the content from your library.
- Rename the journey in the toolbar and select Save.
- Select Activate. It only works once the journey is saved with no unsaved changes and no step is still marked Incomplete. When a step is incomplete, Activate highlights it on the canvas.
If your project requires approval, activating sends the journey for approval instead, and it goes live once an approver accepts it.
Branch on what profiles do
Treat profiles differently depending on what they did, instead of sending everyone the same thing.
- Where the path should split, add a step from the Flow group of the add-step menu.
- Choose the step that fits the question:
- Condition lets through only the profiles that match its rules. Turn on Add else branch to send the others down a false branch instead of dropping them.
- Switch sends each profile down the first case it matches, checking the cases from top to bottom. A profile that matches no case drops off.
- Wait for trigger holds each profile until it sends the event you pick, so the next step only reaches profiles that did it.
- Add the steps for each branch under it.
- Save and activate.
To remove a step that splits the journey, delete it and choose which branch keeps its place. The other branches are deleted with everything in them.
Change a live journey
Fix or improve a journey that is already running.
An active journey's live version is read-only: you can open and inspect every step, but not change them in place. Changes go into a new version. A paused journey is read-only in the same way, because its paused version holds the steps that profiles are waiting on.
- Edit as new version. In the builder toolbar, choose Edit as new version. A draft copy of the live version opens on the canvas, and the version badge next to the status reads Draft. The live version keeps running untouched while you work. Make your changes, Save, then Activate and confirm. From then on new profiles start on the new version, and profiles already in the journey finish on the version they started with. The old version shows as Retired in the version menu, kept for its results. If a draft already exists, the button reads Continue draft followed by the draft's version number, and opens it instead. The draft is kept on the server, so everyone who opens the journey is offered it. To throw it away, open it, choose Discard draft from the builder's menu and confirm. Only the draft is deleted: the live version keeps running, and the next new version takes the discarded number.
- Duplicate it. Choose Duplicate from the row's menu or the builder's menu. The copy is a separate new journey that you can change and activate on its own, while the original keeps running. Duplicating works even while a journey is active or waiting for approval.
To stop a journey without ending it, choose Pause from the row's menu or the builder toolbar, and confirm. New profiles stop entering, and profiles already in the journey wait where they are and receive no messages. To carry on, choose Resume in the builder toolbar, and they continue from where they stopped. To change a paused journey, choose Edit as new version, make your changes, Save, then Activate and confirm. New profiles start on the new version, and the profiles that were waiting carry on from where they stopped and finish on the version they started. While that draft is open, the toolbar still offers Resume for the paused version, so you can get the journey running again without publishing the draft.
To end a journey for good, choose Complete from the row's menu. New profiles stop entering, and profiles already in it finish their steps. Complete is offered only for an active or paused journey, and it cannot be undone.
See how a journey did
Find out whether a journey is working and where profiles drop off.
- On the Journeys page, compare journeys by Sent, Completed and Completion rate in the table.
- Select the Results icon on a row to open its results page.
- Set the date range at the top. Every number on the page follows it.
- Read the headline numbers, then the funnel. Hover a step in the funnel to see how many profiles dropped off between steps, and select a step's profile count to see who they are.
- Select a content block in the side panel to see how that message did on its own.
FAQs
Why is the Activate button disabled?
Activate needs a saved journey with no unsaved changes. Save first. If Activate still refuses, a step on the canvas is marked Incomplete and needs to be finished.
Why can I not change the steps of my journey?
The journey is active, and the live version is read-only. Choose Edit as new version in the builder toolbar: a draft copy opens, you change it, save, and activate it. Or duplicate the journey and change the copy. A paused version is read-only too.
What happens to profiles already in the journey when I activate a new version?
They finish on the version they started with. New profiles start on the new version. The old version stops taking new profiles and shows as Retired.
Can the same profile go through a journey more than once?
Yes, by default a profile enters every time the trigger fires. Turn on the entry limit on the trigger to cap it, for example at 1 to allow each profile through once.
What happens to profiles in the journey when I pause it?
They stop where they are and receive no messages. When you activate the journey again, they continue from the step they were on.
Why did a profile leave the journey before the end?
It reached a Condition with no false branch and did not match, or a Switch where none of the cases matched. Add a false branch or a case for everyone else to keep those profiles in the journey.
Why do some journeys show a red warning icon?
The journey's trigger depends on a background task, such as the one that calculates cohort membership, and that task is failing, overdue or turned off. Hover the icon for details. Profiles may not enter until it runs again.