Use Contact Tracking to Tailor Journeys

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Evaluate contact activity in journeys.
• Route contacts to the correct locations.
• Re-evaluate and reroute contacts based on new information.

Use the Information You Have

In the last unit, Paulo set up the data extension and Update Contact activity, but now he needs to do something with that information. Remember that he’s trying to get contacts to reconsider opting into an SMS program. He tailors the journey to get these contacts to rejoin the journey based on a decision split that tracks the information from the Update Contact activity in the SMSJourneyPoints data extension. 

The decision split uses a join to pick up those contacts who dropped out and get them back into the journey for another opportunity to subscribe.

This successful exercise has Paulo thinking of what else he might be able to do. At this point, using the existing attribute group, he can use both contact-based and journey-based information in his journeys. The benefit is that your journey can handle contact data changes when a contact moves through the journey. Maybe the customer ordered more goods, changed an address, or even added a child to their family as the journey progressed. This information is available for use in the journey and may change how the customer progresses.

Create More Data Extensions

Paulo can also have contacts flow from journey to journey if necessary. This example is a little more complex because Paulo needs to create a new data extension and populate it with information from the SMSJourneyPoints and similar data extensions. Here are the steps he takes.

1. He creates a new data extension called JourneyFlow in Contact Builder that includes these fields.
   1. SubscriberKey
      • Text field
      • Primary key
   2. EmailAddress
      • Email type
   3. LastActivity field
      • Text
   4. Any other fields needed for personalization
2. Next, he navigates to Automation Studio to create a new automation.
3. He uses a scheduled entry source and drags an SQL Query activity to the canvas.
4. He clicks Choose and selects Create New Query Activity.
5. He names the activity Journey Flow and adds a brief description.
6. He adds the example query below and validates the syntax.
7. He clicks Next and selects the new JourneyFlow data extension as the target.
8. He clicks Next and then Finish.

Example Query

Select
t.SubscriberKey,
t.LastActivity,
e.EmailAddress
from SMSJourneyPoints t
join _subscribers e
on t.SubscriberKey = e.SubscriberKey
where t.LastActivity = 'Non Premier Exit'

This SQL applies only to the initial use case. You need to modify, add, and otherwise change it for the use cases in the following section.

The query produces data (contained in the JourneyFlow data extension) that identifies an audience of contacts who followed an engagement path in a journey, but then exited. After running the automation, Paulo can use the new data extension as an entry source for another journey. For example, he could send another email asking these users to consider subscribing to SMS messages. 

If he wants to go one step further, he can use these fields to see exactly where contacts are in multiple journeys and make decisions on what to do next. For example, he can set up logic that if a contact is active in the welcome journey, he wants them to exit the journey dedicated to recruiting new customers. Or he can insert Update Contact activities into specific journeys to indicate that these contacts received a high-priority send recently and don’t need to be distracted by other, less important communications. He adds fields to a new data extension that indicate recent journeys and email sends.

From there, Paulo can configure a decision split that bases actions on the priority of the most recent send.

Obviously, Paulo’s Journey Builder configurations can get as complicated and tailored as necessary, but he needs to keep in mind that these automations can overwrite existing data and can tax system resources—so testing and close observation is necessary. With the right approach, he can use these strategies to more accurately plot his contacts’ journeys and get them the NTO information they need at the right time.

Resources 

• Salesforce Help: SQL Query Activity