A Welcome Series Journey can introduce a new subscriber to your brand after they sign up. Journey Hub allows you to send a single message or multi-message series and change a subscriber's path through the Welcome Series based on their action.
Not sure where to start? Use a Journey Hub template to use Listrak's best practices, or see an example of an enhanced email welcome series.
Or, jump in below and see all of the elements you are able to customize in your List Subscription journey to create a Welcome Series.
Initial Setup
Accessing Journey Hub
Navigate to Automation > Journey Hub Journey.
Click the New Journey button.
Select a template or Start from Scratch.
If starting from scratch, select the the Email List Subscription event.
Give your journey a name.
How a Contact Enters a Journey
The entry criteria control who is entered into a journey after subscribing to a list based on the subscribing via a subscription point or a list import. A contact can be entered into list subscription journey each time their subscription status changes to subscribed. If a contact is currently subscribed to a list and enters their email address into a subscription point, they are not eligible to enter the journey.
Adjusting the Entry Criteria
Click on the list subscription event in the builder and select the list that a contact must subscribe to to enter the journey.
Set the re-entry frequency to No Limit or Once.
💡 Setting the frequency to No Limit allows a contact to enter the journey multiple if they unsubscribe and later re-subscribe.If desired, set entry prevention rules to stop contacts from entering the journey if they are in another journey, or their email address or phone number contains certain information.
💡 Use the email option to stop internal contacts in your organization from receiving an email.
Configuring Exit Events
An exit event determines what must happen in order for a customer to exit a journey. If no exit events are configured or customers do not take the specified action they will naturally exit the journey at the end of their path.
Do you need an exit event? Exit events are not commonly used in Welcome Series, but ask yourself the following questions to help determine if you should add an exit event:
Do I want new subscribers to continue receiving messages if they purchase? If no, add a purchase exit event.
Do I want to prioritize other journeys, such as cart abandonment? If yes, add the journey entered or specific event trigger exit type.
Customizing Your Journey
Configure the Flow
Now that you have determined how a customer becomes eligible to enter or exit the journey, you can determine the experience they will have by customizing paths based on past purchase history, messaging channel, and more.
Below are a few of the strategic considerations you may make when configuring your journey
Actions
Coupons: Make sure to include a coupon if your subscription sources mention an offer, such as percentage off or free gift.
Exit: Use the exit action to stop contacts in a specific path from continuing through the journey.
Webhook: A webhook can be configured to send information to a third-party system such as sending information to a system that manages your catalogs. Learn more about setting up a webhook.
Wait Step
Use wait steps to pause a contact before they receive additional messages.
Messages
Add messages from the following channels:
Email
SMS
A contact must have opted-in to the specific channel to receive messages in the channel.
Message Delivery Settings
When configuring an email or SMS message you can set turn on the message delivery settings in the Properties Panel. Enabling this setting allows you to limit the time range for when a message is sent. You can also enable Time Zone Optimization to adjust the time to a customer's location based on their IP address, if sending an email message, or the area code, for an SMS message.
💡 It is not recommended to apply message delivery settings to the first message so that contact can immediately receive any offers mentioned during sign up.
Decision Splits
Most decision splits can be placed anywhere in the journey to customize a customer's experience as they progress through the journey. Below are a few of the strategic ways decision splits can be used in a List Subscription Journey. Once you have determined the strategy you would like to customize, learn more about configuring your decision splits.
💡 Use the multi-path option to create a fully customized experience for different groups of purchasers.
✉️ Engagement Split: This split can change a contact's path if they have engaged with a previous email or SMS message. Use this type of split to send additional messages to those who have shown interest.
📦 Purchase History Split: This split can customize a contact's path based on their past order history. Message contacts who have purchased prior to opting into your marketing program differently than those who are still prospects.
📱 Channel Affinity Split: This split can be used to prioritize the messaging channel used to communicate with a customer.
🔀 Random Split: The random split can be used to test different components of a campaign by sending a percentage of customers one experience and the rest another experience. Use the random split to test how many messages to include, which subject lines have impact on open rates, or test how long to wait between messages.
☑️ Subscription Split: This split can be used to customize a contact's path based on how, when, or if they are subscribed to a specific list. This can be used to tailor a customer's path based on their membership to other programs that may have lists in your Listrak account, such as a loyalty program. One of the most common engagement splits in List Subscription is contact is a previous subscriber. This split allows you to message contacts who have unsubscribed and are re-subscribing differently than brand new subscribers.
Activating the Journey
Click the Activate button to allow contacts to start receiving the Welcome Series.
💡 Contacts will immediately become eligible to receive the Welcome Series. Test all messages prior to activating the campaign for accuracy.
Example Build
In the example above, an email-only List Subscription campaign is created to enter contacts into the journey when a contact subscribes to the Master List. There are no entry limits to the event, so the first step after entrance is to determine if a contact is a re-subscriber who had previously unsubscribed and is now subscribing again using a list subscription decision split. Contacts who are a previous subscriber are directed down the yes path and receive a single email message with no offer to welcome them back.
Contacts who are new to the list will be directed down the no path and receive a coupon. They will then be directed to a random 50/50 split test to see the impact of calling out the offer in the subject line.
All net new contacts will then wait one day before receiving message two and another day before entering an engagement split. This engagement split looks to see if a contact has clicked through the previous message in the one day since it was sent. If a contact has not clicked to show engagement with the message the coupon is increased to incentivize purchase. For clickers, the coupon previously provided is referenced in the third email message.