If you've already set up an Anniversary Campaign in this article, you can take this campaign to the next level by adding your existing subscribers to the campaign. Simply add these subscribers based on their original subscription date.
Create an External Event
The external event will allow you to specify which contacts should be entered into the campaign.
Navigate to Automation > Conductor External Events.
Click New Event.
Name the event something easily to identify. E.g. Existing Anniversary Contacts
Add Data to Existing Subscribers
Next, you will need to set data in the profile of an existing contact. This data will hold their subscribe date. This is necessary because the action and go-to steps utilize a profile field to identify when a contact should take the next step.
⚠️ Before following these steps, ensure you are on your Master List or the list associated with your anniversary campaign.
Create a Profile Field
Navigate to Contacts > Email Contacts Profile Fields.
Open your existing Anniversary Field Group or click Create Field Group and name it Anniversary.
💡 If you included a coupon in the conversation the field group should exist.
Create a new Field called Subscribe Date.
Change the Data Type to Date (mm/dd/yyyy).
Click Save.
Create an Existing Subscriber Thread
In this series of steps you will add a new thread to the anniversary campaign that will hold existing contacts until their next anniversary date.
Navigate to the Anniversary Campaign.
Click the Pencil Icon to open the working version.
Add a Thread by clicking on the green plus sign at the bottom of the existing threads.
Add the following steps:
Wait Step
Goto Step
Click the New Trigger step.
Override the default name to Existing Subscribers for ease of identification.
Click the plus sign next to the external event you created above.
Click Update.
Click on the Wait Step.
Select the Next Matching Date with Segmentation type.
Then select Year.
In the segment field drop-down, select the profile field created earlier.
If no value exists contacts should be terminated from the conversation.
Add a time in the second field in segment field. This will control the time a contact will be sent a message. If the value is left blank the time will be based on when they are added to the conversation.
Click Update.
Click the Goto Step.
In the first tab, click the No Wait step in the Anniversary message thread.
Click the Advanced tab.
Click the Limit Redirects To radio button.
Enter a number of times you would like to see the person loop through this campaign (maximum 200).
Click Update.
Publish the Conversation
Once your logic is finalized, click Publish to make the changes to the campaign live. Once the campaign has completed publishing you can import existing subscribers.
Import Subscribers
Now, you can import existing subscribers into the new existing subscriber thread. This thread will hold contacts until they reach the subscribe date in the profile field created earlier. During the import process you will save the contact's information in this field.
Any contacts who do not have a date in this field will be removed from the conversation.
Navigate to Contacts > Email Contacts View Subscribed Contacts.
Adjust your date range to All.
Then click the Export (arrow) icon.
Select an export format of .xls or .csv
Click Next three times. For this export you will not need to specify any additional data.
Click Finish to receive the contact list via email.
Download the contact list from the email you receive.
Navigate to Contacts > Email Contacts Import List Wizard.
With a one-time and add/update options selected, choose the File you downloaded.
Click Next Step.
For the import settings:
Select the Yes, Double Quotes option for Text Qualifiers. Leave all other questions to the default value.
Map the Email Address field if not already mapped.
Map the "Subscribe Date (UTC-04)" to the profile field you created in the Anniversary Field Group.
Click Add Field.
Near the bottom of the drop-down, select the External Event you created the beginning of the guide.
Click Next Step.
Review the File Layout. You should be importing a contact's email address, adding a date to the Subscribe Date profile field, ignoring a column for subscribe method, and adding a checkbox for the new external event.
Click Import File.
Existing contacts will now enter your existing subscriber anniversary thread. Contacts will wait until they meet their anniversary criteria. Contacts who do not have this information will be removed from the conversation.