Overview
Disclaimer: this feature is currently in Beta and is not available to all users.
Campaign Automation is the use of software and technology to automate repetitive, manual sales and marketing activities. Campaign Automation is often used for marketing activities like automated emails or sales activities like automating opportunity logging.
When used effectively, Campaign Automation brings data, rules, and compelling content together to send more personal, timely, and relevant messages to contacts or reduce time spent on administrative tasks. The result is a better customer experience, which can help develop deeper relationships and drive revenue.
With a combination of action and condition elements, you are able to build a workflow decision tree. Through this decision tree or drip campaign, contacts will move from one section of the workflow to the next based on decisions made. In the next section, we go into different types of workflow elements.
NOTE: the automation tool checks the workflow every ~1hr for updates (emails opened, links clicked, etc). Target Lists (additions or removals) are checked every ~3 minutes.
IMPORTANT: if you unpublish a workflow, modify it, and then publish it again, all recipients will restart start at the top of the workflow. As soon as a Campaign Automation workflow is published it will kick off the workflow.
See the manual attached at the bottom of this article for more information
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Workflow Actions
Based on drip campaign functionality, Campaign Automation elements are broken down into two segments: Actions and Conditions. In this section, we will be focusing on the action elements. These elements are based around the actions you wish to automate once the conditions are met.
Send Email – Action allows you to automate sending an email to a contact(s). Users will be able to select an email template from the Template section of CRM Marketing and set the From/Reply to Email Address on the template being sent.
- Note: From Email and Reply to Email can only be email addresses that match the configured domain in the Admin > Email Settings page. Any email that does not match this configured company domain will not send the email.
Add Task – Action allows you to automate a task being added to the contact(s). The Add Task element contains the following required field of:
- Subject
- Owner
- Task Type
Add Opportunity – Action allows you to add an opportunity to the contact(s). The Add Opportunity element contains the following required fields:
- Name
- Owner
- Tracking Group
- Follow-up In
Condition Elements are decision points in the workflow that decide how a contact advances through the campaign. Once a contact meets the criteria in the condition, they continue through the campaign. Conditions can be based on actions performed by a customer, such as referring a new job, or conditions can be based on dates, such as the contact's birthday or anniversary. Conditional workflow actions are represented in a diamond shape and are listed in more detail below:
Delay – The Delay condition is a time-based element that suspends the contact from continuing until the
countdown time is complete.
Dates & Events – Dates & Events condition is based on custom dates in the contact details page.
These custom dates could include the contact's birthday or anniversary for example. If the contact
contains the custom date, they will continue through the workflow once the calendar meets the custom
date.
- Note: the removal of any custom date that is tied to a workflow will automatically unpublish the workflow.
That means any progress made in that workflow will be lost once it is unpublished.
Email Opened – Email Opened condition is based on the contact opening the emails sent through the
workflow. This is a split condition meaning that the contact could travel down a positive or negative path.
The implication is that if the email was opened, the contact would travel a positive path, but if the
email was never opened, then the contact would travel a negative path.
Links Clicked – Also based on emails being sent from the workflow, the Link Clicked condition will only be met if the contact clicks the links within the email. The implication is that if the email link was clicked, the contact would travel a positive path, but if the link was never clicked, then the contact would travel a negative path.
Activity Added – Activity Added condition is met when a specific activity type is added to a contact. If the contact does not receive a new activity matching the activity type(s) listed in the condition, then the contact will not advance in the workflow.
Jobs Referred – The Job Referred condition is based on the contact was listed as the Referred
By doing a job.
Sharing Workflows
Once the workflow is designed, you have the option to make it public to choose who you want to share the workflow within your organization. Note that a public workflow will be accessible to anyone in your company who has the appropriate email marketing security. That means they will have access to edit and make changes to the workflow. To control whom, you wish to share the workflow with, click the ‘No’ option for, “Is this Workflow public?” Once done, you will be able to select whom, if anyone, you wish to share the workflow with.
After you’ve selected to share the workflow, you must click ‘Save’ at the top of the window. You will be able to see the name of the workflow in the grid below and come back to make future changes as needed.
Publishing Workflows
Publishing a workflow will kick off the Campaign Automation. This means that any emails scheduled to be sent or tasks that were automated will begin to run. You should only publish a workflow once you are satisfied with it. Publishing a workflow will also turn the workflow from ‘private’ to ‘public’ meaning that anyone who has the appropriate marketing securities will be able to copy or remove the workflow once it
is published.
Note:
- Workflows can be unpublished once they are live. Unpublishing a workflow will put it in an editable state to add/remove new actions or conditions. However, once a workflow is unpublished, all progress in that workflow will be lost.
- Meaning that a contact is near the last step of a workflow, and it becomes unpublished, if the workflow is published again, the contact will start back at step 1 of the workflow.
Questions? Contact Us
This article is meant to serve as a reference only and is not a substitute for training. If you are interested, feel free to check out our weekly Q&A sessions hosted by our CRM experts.