Building journeys using cross-channel data gives you access to all your contact's data allowing you to create a personalized triggered campaigns. Learn about the updates made to Journey Hub in Platform 2.0 below.
Cross-Channel Coordination through Journey Hub
Channel coordination is dependent on the Listrak’s deterministic identify resolution system, where the first time a contact enters the Listrak system with or without a Channel ID, also called a Point of Contact (POC), a new Listrak Identifier (Listrak ID) is created. As more activity for the contact is sent to the Listrak system, the contact’s Listrak ID could be linked to multiple points of contacts (i.e. emails and phone numbers). The number of POCs linked to a unique Listrak ID and which POCs are sent with the event, will have an impact on the number of messages a contact will be sent in an automated campaign.
Listrak utilizes two channel coordination strategies to target contacts in automated campaigns sent through Journey Hub: Channel Linked to Event and All Subscribed Channels.
Channel Linked to Event is a channel coordination strategy that targets contacts on the channel that was sent with the event. Sending a message to the same channel ID that came with the event ensures a consistent user experience.
This strategy is Listrak’s default channel coordination strategy for targeting contacts in automated campaigns sent through Journey Hub.
All Subscribed Channels is a channel coordination strategy that targets contacts on all subscribed channels that match the channel in the automated campaign, therefore maximizing the chances the contact receives the message.
This strategy is Listrak’s channel coordination strategy used only when a contact enters an automated campaign without a channel ID or a channel ID that does not match the channel.
Review the different scenarios below to learn more on how the Listrak platform coordinates sending through Journey Hub.
Cross-Channel Send Strategy
Channel Linked to Event
Scenario 1: The Channel ID is sent with the event (recognized contact)
When an email address enters into a cart abandonment journey, at the time the contact reaches the email message step in the journey, an email will be sent to the email address that came with that cart abandonment event.
All Subscribed Channels
Scenario 2: The Channel ID is not sent with the event (anonymous contact)
When an anonymous contact enters into a cart abandonment journey, if at the time the contact reaches an email message step they are recognized, an email will be sent to all of the subscribed email addresses associated to the contact's unique Listrak ID.
Scenario 3: Messages don't match Channel ID
When an email address enters into a cart abandonment journey, at the time the contact reaches an SMS/MMS message step in the journey, SMS/MMS messages will be sent to all of the subscribed phones numbers associated to the contact's unique Listrak ID.
Cross-Channel Subscription Strategy
In addition to managing sends, Listrak also utilizes the two channel coordination strategies to manage automated subscriptions through action steps in Journey Hub. Review the different scenarios below to learn more.
Scenario 1: The Channel ID sent with the event matches the Channel Subscription Action
When an email address enters into a cart abandonment journey that contains an action step to be subscribed to an email list, the email address that entered with the event will be subscribed.
Scenario 2: The Channel ID sent with the event does not match the Channel Subscription Action
When a phone number enters into a cart abandonment journey that contains an action step to be subscribed to an email list, all email addresses that are tied to the unique Listrak ID will be subscribed.
Journey Hub Elements Specific to the NextGen Platform
Entry Events
When a journey is built from either a Template or from scratch, it will mapped to an Organization to determine which list, brand or sender code dropdown options will be displayed.
When entry event data is received by Journey Hub, it will be mapped to an Organization to determine which journey the contact is eligible to enter. Then the contact's data will then be pulled from their unified Contact Profile to determine if they should enter the journey.
Subscription Event Type:
The user is required to select the channel subscription(s) and the corresponding lists that are allowed entry into the journey.
This event will include a removable Subscription Split (immediately following the Subscription Entry Event). The Event Type condition will automatically be applied for each path.
A contact identifier is entered into the subscription journey any time the identifier is entered into a subscription form. As a result, a contact may be a new subscriber where the ID has never been added to Listrak, a resubscriber where the ID has previously been unsubscribed, or an existing subscriber where the ID is already subscribed to the selected list.
Segment Event Type:
This Entry Event is used to enter a contact into a journey when they meet a saved Segment's criteria. The Segment Entry Event expands Journey Hub's functionality by allowing contacts to enter a journey based on a criteria that is relevant to your marketing program. Some examples include, but are not limited to - loyalty tier to send a message when a tier changes, re-engage with unengaged contacts, birthday greetings, predictive analytics data (subscription to PA required), preference center data and much more!
📖 Check out this article to learn more about building NextGen Segments.
Channels
When a contact reaches a message step in Journey Hub, the contact’s data will be pulled from their unified Contact Profile to determine if they are eligible to receive the message.
When a message in a journey contains a personalization tag that pulls contact data, the contact data will be pulled from their unified Contact Profile. ⚠️ Workflow tags will no longer be supported.
Actions
Webhook: When a contact reaches a Webhook in Journey Hub, the contact’s data will be pulled from their unified Contact Profile and all the contact’s channel identifiers will be passed to the established endpoint.
Coupons: Coupons are assigned every time a participant flows through a coupon step in Journey Hub. The coupons can be used to facilitate a cross-channel strategy by using the same coupon tag in all messages across channels.
Data Management:
When a contact reaches a Data Management step in Journey Hub, the contact’s data will be pulled from or added to their unified Contact Profile.
In addition to subscription management, the Profile Data Management option gives you the ability to manage a contact's profile field by creating and setting a new profile field value, updating a profile field value, or clearing a profile field value. Some examples of how to use these feature include:
Distributing the same unique coupon code in a single journey regardless of the channel. To do this,
Add a coupon step to select the code from the pool and create a coupon tag. Note a coupon pool needs to be created first, learn how to set up a pool here.
Then add the data management step to set the coupon tag value to a contact's profile field.
Furthermore, adding a profile field split could be added to check if the coupon field has a value or not, followed by steps explained above.
Apply a coupon expiration date based on a set number of days after the recipient got the message.
💡 Helpful Tips:
Creating and setting a new value allows you to select a data type. The options include text, number, checkbox, radio, comment or date types. Learn more about how data types work.
Date data types give you the option to set a static or dynamic date value.
If an existing Profile Field is duplicated when creating a new Profile Field within a Journey, an error message will appear at time of activation, alerting you to reconfigure the Profile Field.
Decisions
When a contact reaches any Decision Split in Journey Hub, the contact’s data will be pulled from their unified profile and evaluated against the condition to determine which path the contact will be routed down.
Subscription Split:
The option to select IS Today (MM/DD/YYYY) is available as a selector in the conditions Email Subscription Date, SMS Subscription Date and Web Push Subscription Date.
The option to identify an email or SMS resubscriber is also available. A contact identifier's original subscription date is compared to the current date to identify a resubscirber.
In the email channel, the subscription split can identify an existing subscriber. An existing subscriber is an ID that is already subscribed to the selected list.
Profile Field Split: This decision split allows the user to access all profile field data available to the organization. Learn more about the data available.
💡 To ensure all profile fields values are up-to-date, the system will apply a slight delay to check the data. This is beneficial in situations where subscribed contacts are imported and immediately entered into a subscription journey where a profile field split is present.
Purchase History Split: When used in journeys that require a merchant to be selected in the entry step, the purchase history will be based ONLY on that merchant. However, in journeys that don't require a merchant to be selected in the entry step, the purchase history will look across all merchants. This is important to consider when building within a a multi-merchant Organization.
💡 Journeys required to select merchants are all abandonment journeys, all alert journeys and the post purchase journey.
AI Channel Affinity: This split uses Listrak's Intelligence technology to allow marketers to send messages to a contact's preferred subscribed channel.
Following a subscription, it takes approximately 1 day to determine a contact's preferred channel. Channel Affinity will then be reevaluated daily.
Learn more about how to use this split in a Journey.
Exit Events
Segment Exit Event: The ability to remove contacts if they join a segment while flowing through the journey.
Managing Journeys
When a user puts a journey into a test state, they will have the option to include the Listrak ID of the contact(s) they will permit entry during testing.
When a user activates a journey, it will be activated for the organization that is currently selected in the UI.
When a user duplicates a journey, the following will be driven by the brand currently selected in the UI:
The list, merchant or sender code selections on the duplicate modal.
Where the new journey will appear after is has been created.
📑 Additional Resources
Learn how to build a Welcome Series Subscription Journey with the enhanced capabilities.
Check out the Guide to Listrak's NexGen Platform to give you a better insight into how the NextGen Platform works, terminology and more!
Learn more about building or managing a Journey Hub Journey by visiting the Journey Hub Table of Content that walks your through everything from the basics to personalizing a journey.