Campaign setup basics

The Activation page allows you to create, run, and manage campaigns through multiple channels. To create a campaign, go to Activation > Engage > Create New Campaign.

Campaign options

Type

You can choose from three types of campaigns:

• One-Time – Send personalized messaging a single time to a segment of your customers.
• Behavioral – Contact customers on an ongoing basis when they trigger a particular event (like signing up for your newsletter) or meet certain criteria (like three days after an order). You can choose to send the campaign's content immediately when the event happens or through a recurring (evaluated daily or weekly) or continuous (evaluated hourly) method.
• Web – Display a message to customers that visit your website. Learn more about web embeds or web modals. Web campaigns are not covered in this article.

Name

Naming conventions are important when managing campaigns. Be specific when naming your campaigns so they are recognizable in other areas of the app, such as reporting. After creating a campaign, click Untitled Campaign and enter a campaign name.

Tags

Tags make it easier to identify campaigns. To add a tag:

1. Click Add Tags and select an existing tag or create a new one by typing the desired name into the Type or select tag field.
2. Press Enter.

Enrollment

You can target customers for enrollment into a campaign in three ways:

• Match a segment – Target customers that match a predefined segment or create a new segment and click Apply to add the segment. You can use segment targeting for One-Time or Behavioral campaigns.
• Match an event (Behavioral campaigns only) – Target customers based on events and reach them following an interaction with your brand. For example, when a customer matches the event “Sign Up,” you can send an email welcoming them to the site.
• API – Send customers app push notifications by issuing HTTP requests containing your credentials, campaign identification, message, and customer ID to an Optimizely endpoint.

Enrollment rules

When segmentation is not enough, add enrollment rules that are more specific about who receives the campaign's content. When applying an enrollment rule, review the reachable audience as it may change.

Schedule

To schedule a campaign, expand Touchpoints and click Select start time and schedule. The options vary depending on which type of campaign you are sending. You cannot schedule campaigns that send immediately when matching an event. All campaign types include the ability to schedule additional touchpoints after the initial send.

One-Time

Send the communication exactly once. 

• Send Date – Date to send.
• Send Time – Time to send.
• Time Zone – Time zone in which to start the send.
• Delivery strategy:
  • Send all at scheduled time – The touchpoint sends at the specified time in the time zone defined on the Account Settings > Dates & Times page.
  • Use recipient's timezone when available – The touchpoint sends at the specified time in each customer's time zone. The first time zone to send is the time zone selected in Account Settings > Dates & Times, followed by all remaining time zones in order. If a customer's time zone is unknown, they receive the communication in the time zone defined on the Account Settings > Dates & Times page.
  • Send to # customers each hour – The touchpoint sends to your chosen number of customers every hour.

Recurring (Behavioral campaigns)

Send the communication on a recurring basis.

• Start Date – Date to start the campaign.
• End – Date to end the campaign.
  1. Never – Never stop sending.
  2. On Date – The touchpoint stops sending on the date you define in the End Date field. If you select Use recipient's timezone when available, the last time zone to send is the last time zone of the last day of sends. This last day of sends begins on the selected date in that time zone. If timing is specified as 3:00 PM US/Eastern and the last date is set to January 1, 2024, then the last day of sends begins at 3:00 PM US/Eastern on January 1, 2024. The last time zone sends around 24 hours later on January 2, 2024.
  3. After Occurrences – The touchpoint stops sending after the number of occurrences you define in the Occurrences field.
• Repeats – How often the touchpoint sends within the defined start and end dates. Select either Daily, Weekly, or Monthly and complete the corresponding additional fields.
• Timing – Time to send.
• Time Zone – Time zone in which to start the send. Defaults to the time zone selected on the Account Settings > Dates & Times page.
• Delivery Strategy:
  • Send all at scheduled time – The touchpoint sends at the specified time in the time zone defined on the Account Settings > Dates & Times page.
  • Use recipient's timezone when available – The touchpoint sends at the specified time in each customer's time zone. The first time zone to send is the time zone selected above, followed by all remaining time zones in order. Any customers with an unknown time zone receive the communication in the time zone selected on the Account Settings > Dates & Times page.

Continuous (Behavioral campaigns)

Send the communication as customers qualify for the segment.

• Start Date – Date to start the campaign.
• Timing – Time to send.
• Time Zone – Time zone in which to start the send.
• End – When the campaign will stop sending. 
  1. Never – Never stop sending.
  2. On Date – Stop sending on the date you define in the End Date field. If you select Use recipient's timezone when available, the last time zone to send is the last time zone of the last day of sends. This last day of sends begins on the selected date in that time zone. If timing is specified as 3:00 PM US/Eastern and the last date is set to January 1, 2024, then the last day of sends begins at 3:00 PM US/Eastern on January 1, 2024. The last time zone sends around 24 hours later on January 2, 2024.

Additional touchpoints

Use additional touchpoints to add content to a campaign. You can disable a touchpoint without deleting it. Disabling a touchpoint prevents campaign recipients from getting that touchpoint.

You can also clone a touchpoint from another touchpoint, such as if you want to create a similar touchpoint.

Scheduling

You can schedule additional touchpoints relative to when you set the previous touchpoint. For campaigns sent on an ongoing basis, ODP assesses each customer individually based on when they received the last touchpoint. To schedule another touchpoint, click Schedule next touchpoint.

1. Delay – Set the delay in hours, days, or weeks. The full time must pass before considering the optional Send Time. If the previous touchpoint goes out late for any reason, ODP uses the actual send time when scheduling the next touchpoint. For example, a delay of two days requires 48 hours to pass before the next touchpoint.
2. Send Time (Optional) – Use this field if a touchpoint should go out at a specific time. If the Delay expires after the Send Time has already passed, that touchpoint waits to send the next day.

Example:

• A campaign is sent at 12 PM on Monday.
• The next touchpoint is scheduled for two days later (Delay) at 11am (Send Time).
• Two days later (or 48 hours) is 12 PM on Wednesday, which is already past 11 AM, so the campaign waits until the next time it is 11 AM, which is Thursday, and sends the touchpoint.
• Setting a Delay longer than one day and shorter than two days (such as 30 hours) along with the desired Send Time ensures the touchpoint sends at 11 AM on Wednesday. This would mean 30 hours later is 6 PM Tuesday, sending the touchpoint at 11 AM Wednesday.

Activate and pause campaigns

Preview and test

In the editor, you can use the Preview function to review the touchpoint on-screen and the Test function to send a test through the touchpoint.

Go Live

1. Click Save on the main campaign page to ensure all touchpoints are up-to-date.
2. Click Go Live.

Pause

Touchpoints begin sending when a campaign is live. If you want to pause a campaign, return to the campaign and click Pause.

Emulate

The emulate mode helps determine which customers would receive campaign communications on specific days without actually sending any live communications. The emulated campaign runs per the schedule set for an understanding of campaign delivery but does not deliver anything.