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Creating an SMS List Subscription Campaign in Journey Hub
Creating an SMS List Subscription Campaign in Journey Hub

Learn more about how to nurture new SMS subscribers after they opt in to your keyword campaign using Journey Hub.

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Written by Support
Updated over 3 months ago

SMS Keyword Campaigns or List Subscription Campaigns on your website are a great way to acquire new contacts on your SMS list. These allow you to provide an incentive to contacts who may have signed up to your SMS list. You may also want to send new SMS subscribers additional messages to nurture the relationship and provide additional information about your business after the Keyword Campaigns and List Subscription Campaigns. The SMS List Subscription Campaign in Journey Hub allows you to send additional messages to your new SMS subscribers.

Need some inspiration? Use a Journey Hub template to use Listrak's best practices, or check out an example journey or get started by using a template,


Initial Setup

The initial setup allows you to determine how contacts enter and exit a journey based on your specific goals.

How a Contact Enters a Journey

The entry criteria control who is entered into a journey after subscribing to a sender code via a keyword campaign, list subscription campaign, 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.

Accessing Journey Hub

  1. Navigate to Automation > Journey Hub Journey.

  2. Click the New Journey button.

  3. Select a template or Start from Scratch.

  4. If starting from scratch, select the the SMS List Subscription event.

  5. Give your journey a name.

Adjusting the Entry Criteria

  1. Click on the list subscription event in the builder and select the list that a contact must subscribe to to enter the journey.

  2. Set the re-entry frequency to No Limit or Once.
    πŸ’‘ Setting the frequency to No Limit allows a contact to enter the journey multiple if they unsubscribe and later re-subscribe.

  3. 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.

    πŸ’‘ 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 contact 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: You can include a coupon to incentivize purchase if a contact did not purchase after receiving the keyword or list subscription campaign.

    ⚠️ The coupon code must have an expiration date in the future or have no set expiration date in order for the message to successfully send.

  • 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.

πŸ’‘ 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.

πŸ’‘ Use the multi-path option to create a fully customized experience for different groups of purchasers.

  • βœ‰οΈ 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.

  • πŸ“¦ Purchase History Split: This split can customize a contact's path based on their past order history. Message contacts who have purchased differently than those who have not by reminding non-purchasers about their coupon.

  • πŸ“± Channel Affinity Split: This split can be used to prioritize the messaging channel used to communicate with a customer.

  • πŸ”€ 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.

  • β˜‘οΈ 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.
πŸ’‘ Contacts will immediately become eligible to receive the Welcome Series. Test all messages prior to activating the campaign for accuracy.


Example List Subscription Campaign

πŸ“Έ Click Image to Enlarge

In this example journey, contacts who subscribe to the SMS sender code are entered the journey. They will then wait for 24 hours to give them time to respond to any data acquisition functionality that is part of their acquisition. Then, they will be checked to see if they are a re-subscriber to the sender code in a subscription split.

Contacts who had previously subscribed will be directed down the yes path and receive a single message. This message is time zone optimized and will not be sent during quiet hours (8 PM - 8 AM).

Net new subscribers to the sender code will be directed down the No path. The contacts will then receive an MMS message with a VCF card attachment that will not be sent during quiet hours. They will then wait one day and enter a purchase history split. This split checks to see if a contact has made a purchase and therefore had an opportunity to use the coupon included in their acquisition. Contacts who have made a purchase will be directed down the yes path and end their experience in the journey. Non-purchasers will be directed down the no path and receive a message that contains a new coupon code. They will then exit the journey.
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