This is designed to take you step-by-step through the key processes required to build your Welcome Series. If you are working on a project with the Implementation team, please consult them before following the guide.
To create a Welcome Series you will focus on the following:
💡 Once you have created a basic Welcome Series, learn more about ways to optimize Conductor Conversations and how to enhance your Welcome Series with Product Recommendations.
This welcome Series guide will walk through the creation of a standard 3-message Welcome Series. All contacts will receive the same message. You can adjust the logic of your campaign to best fit your use cases and goals. For example, differ messages based on how a contact signed up or create a split test to test out different offers
Create External Events
The first component you will need to set up is the external events you will use in the Welcome Series. An external event acts as a bridge between elements you have integrated on your site, like your subscription point code, and the Conductor Conversation itself.
⚠️ Before you begin ensure you are on the list where your marketing subscribers will be added.
To access your external events, navigate to Automation > Conductor External Events.
Click New Event.
Give your event a name corresponding to a subscription point on your website.
Repeat these steps to create event for every subscription point on your website.
Once all your events are created, make sure they are added to the External Event configuration of your Subscription Points. If you are using the API, you can reference these external events in your API call instead.
💡 You can organize your events by creating a New Event Group and then using the Move Selected option to change an event's grouping.
Create a Conversation
Next, you will create the shell of the conversation for your Welcome Series.
Navigate to Automation > Conductor Conversations.
Create New Conversation.
Name your Conversation.
Leave the Copy from Template as default.
Click Create Conversation.
Once the conversation has been created you will add the logic of your campaign using the different Conductor Step Types.
Click on the plus sign between the trigger step and terminate step and select a message step from the drop-down.
Click on the plus sign after the message step and select a wait step from the drop-down.
Then, add another message step.
Add another wait step.
And a third message step.
💡 You can add or remove steps based on the goals of your campaign.
Adjusting Your Step Properties
Next, you will configure the steps of your campaign. This will specify properties such as wait derations and what messages a contact receives. These steps review how to adjust the properties for each of the step types.
Adjust the Trigger Step.
Click on the trigger step.
Click on blue plus sign next to the name of the entry events that should enter a contact into your Welcome Series.
💡 Typically all subscription points will enter contacts into a Welcome Series.
If desired, give your trigger step a relevant name..
Click Update.
Adjust a Message Step.
💡 Follow this process for all message steps in your conversation.
Click on the message step.
Select Edit a Saved Message.
In the Saved Messages screen, click on the name of the message that should be used in Conductor.
Scroll to the bottom and select Commit Message to Conversation.
Confirm the setting on the following screen and click Commit Message to Conversation.
Click Update in the Conductor popup.
Adjust a Wait Step.
Click on the wait step.
Put a number in the empty text box.
Select days or another time frame based on the goal of your campaign.
Click Update.
💡 The wait type can also be updated, but is not necessary for the Welcome Series where the goal is to wait between messages.
Adding an Exit Thread to Filter Contacts
An exit thread is a common feature in many Conductor Conversations. You can use an exit thread to stop contacts from receiving messages. These contacts may have purchased since receiving a previous message, or in the case of Welcome Series may have subscribed in the past. You can also add additional criteria, if desired to meet your goal.
Click on the green plus sign under the thread you set up above.
Click the plus sign after the trigger step and add a Wait Step.
Click on the wait step and in the wait type drop-down select No Wait.
Click on the trigger step and check the No Entry Events Required checkbox. This will only allow contacts into the exit thread if they are sent there via a filter.
💡 Optional, override the default name to Exit Thread.
In the main thread, click on the plus sign after the trigger step and add a Go To Step.
To configure a filter to remove those who have previously subscribed:
Click on the step to open the properties.
In the GoTo tab, click on the wait step in the exit thread.
In the Segment Filter tab, click New Filter.
Select System Fields > Subscribe Date > Is Before Today.
Click Update.
Click Update on the popup.
💡 If desired, add a message after the wait step in the exit thread that is sent to contacts to tell them they are being welcomed back.
Updating Conversation Properties
The last step before you let contacts start receiving a Welcome Series, is to update the properties of your conversation. These properties can improve your analytics for your campaign.
Click on the gear icon at the top of the Conductor designer.
In the popup, in the blank textbox, enter the name of your Welcome Series.
Select New.
Ensure the Conversation Entry Limit Per Contact is set to unlimited.
Click Update.
Publishing a Conversation
After your properties are updated and your campaign logic has been created, you are ready to publish your conversation. Publishing a conversation allows contacts to begin entering your Welcome Series when they fill out their email address in any of the subscription points you have associated with your trigger step.
Click the green Publish button.
Once your conversation is published new subscribers via the subscription points associated with your external event will receive the three message series in the top thread. If a contact has previously subscribed to your marketing program they will be sent to the exit thread.