Marketing automation | Building a scenario

What is the difference between a scenario template and my own scenario?

Our scenario templates are prebuilt scenarios with preset actions based on various triggers. All you need to do is complete the designated steps. Many marketing strategies are suggested. You could, for example, use the "Birthday" scenario to send your contact an email when their birthday is approaching.

It's possible to edit and change a scenario template if it doesn't quite suit your needs. The actions already present in the template are merely suggestion to help you perform better.

Choosing "Create my own scenario" allows you to use your own creative side! You can create you own scenario from scratch by choosing one of the possible triggers and adding as you go different actions and conditions to complete the scenario.

Build a scenario from a template

Go to the Marketing automation menu and click "New scenario".
Scroll through the different scenario templates to find the one that fits your need. Once you've found what you are looking for, click "Start" on that template.
Click the steps to complete and enter the appropriate information to complete the specified steps.
If needed, you can add (click the Plus sign ) more actions/conditions or delete the ones you don't want to use. You also can edit the trigger settings and the existing actions/conditions in the template.
Select, at the top of the scenario, how many times your contact can go through your scenario. You can choose only once or multiple times.

You could, for example, want to restrict the number of times a contact can receive an email after subscribing to your newsletter from one of your forms. When offering a special offer following a subscription you most likely don't want your subscribers to receive the offer multiple times. In that case, you'd select "Only once" so the contact would only go through the scenario once even if they subscribe multiple times with the same email address.

It's simply not possible to allow multiple runs in a scenario for some types of triggers (for example, scenarios based on emails opened or links clicked). This explains why you won't be able to change the permission on some triggers.
Save your scenario. You'll find the save button on the top right of your screen. Enter a name for your scenario in the appropriate field and click the "Save" button.
If you've finished setting up your scenario and are ready to activate it, click here for the activation process. If it's not the case, jump to the next step.
If you've finished setting up your scenario but you're not ready to activate it just yet, you can click the "Quit" button on the top right to exit the scenario builder.

Your scenario will then remain "Under construction". You'll need to come back to edit it once ready to activate it.
Save your last changes, if need be.

Build your own scenario

If none of our templates are what you're looking for, you can create your own from the start. You can automate many actions based on various triggers and criteria. Here is how to create your own scenario:

Go to the Marketing automation menu and click "New scenario".
Click the "Create my own scenario" button.
Click the "Add a trigger" zone. Select a trigger from the list appearing on the screen.
Enter the appropriate information for the trigger chosen.

If you'd like your trigger to be "Subscrption from a form", for example, you'll need to select from the existing forms in your account. Needless to say, you'll need to have created your form prior to starting to build your scenario.
Click the "plus" sign (add and action/condition) to choose the first action/condition that will follow your trigger. There must be at least one action in your scenario.

Following a subscription through a sign up form generated in your account, you could, for example, send out a welcome email with a promo code to the new subscriber.
Enter the necessary information pertaining to the action/condition chosen.

The "Send an email", for example, action requires to select a template from the existing templates in your account (you'll see a list of your templates) or to create one specifically for this scenario (you'll see our predrawn templates). Once your template has been chosen, you'll have to set up the mailing settings (subject, preview text, language of the footer...). Afterwards, you'll be able to edit the template if necessary.

If you've added a condition (like "Contact's consent type", for example) a junction will be created in your scenario. The system will verify each contact at this step in order to know if they acted on the specified condition or not. If the answer is "Yes", the contact will move to the "Yes" branch and will continue the scenario from there. If the answer is "No", your contact will move to the "No" branch and follow this path until the end of your scenario. An action in each branch is not mandatory. If you haven't added an action for a branch, the scenario will simply end there for the contacts segmented through the condition.

For example, if you chose the condition "Contact's consent type", because you wish to verify if they fall under the "implied" category, contacts who entered into the scenario and have an implied consent will be sent to the branch "Yes". If they don’t have an implied consent, they will be sent to the "No" branch. From there, you can determine the different actions for each branch. For example, adding the contacts to a group when they fall under the implied consent category and send them a mailing to ask for their express consent. For the ones who don’t fall under that category you can chose to not add further actions and have them stop the scenario there.
Add additional actions/conditions if needed. There is no maximum to the number of actions and conditions you can add in a scenario. Keep in mind, however, that the more you add, the more complex your scenario becomes.

Note : Additional options are available following a "Send email" action. These conditions are "Opened an email" and "Clicked a link". They are linked to the "send email" action above them in your scenario. To add these conditions click the "Plus" sign following the "Send email" action.
Select how many times your contacts will be allowed to go through your scenario: Only once or multiple times.

You could, for example, want to restrict the number of times a contact can receive an email after subscribing to your newsletter from one of your forms. When offering a special offer following a subscription you most likely don't want your subscribers to receive the offer multiple times. In that case, you'd select "Only once" so the contact would only go through the scenario once even if they subscribe multiple times with the same email address.

It's simply not possible to allow multiple runs in a scenario for some types of triggers (for example, scenarios based on emails opened or links clicked). This explains why you won't be able to change the permission on some triggers.
Save your scenario. You'll find the save button on the top right of your screen. Enter a name for your scenario in the appropriate field and click the "Save" button.
If you've finished setting up your scenario and are ready to activate it, click here for the activation process. If it's not the case, jump to the next step.
If you've finished setting up your scenario but you're not ready to activate it just yet, you can click the "Quit" button on the top right to exit the scenario builder.

Your scenario will then remain "Under construction". You'll need to come back to edit it once ready to activate it.
Save last minute changes, if need be.