Understand campaign configuration basics

In Optimizely Data Platform (ODP), you can create, run, and manage campaigns through multiple channels to boost customer engagement, enhance brand visibility, and increase sales conversions. To create a campaign, go to Activations > Overview > Create New Campaign.

Campaign types

You can choose from the following four types of campaigns:

• One-Time – Send personalized communications to your customer segment just once. 
• Behavioral – Contact customers on an ongoing basis when they trigger an event, like signing up for a newsletter, or meet certain criteria, like three days after placing an order. You can send the campaign immediately after the event is triggered or on a recurring (daily or weekly) or continuous (hourly) basis.   
• Transactional – Create a transactional email for business transactions such as order receipts, account updates, and shipping confirmations. For information, see Create a transactional email.    
• Web – Show a message to website visitors or send it to customers in a real-time segment. For information, see Manage web embeds or Manage pop-up modals and forms. 
  

Campaign name

When managing campaigns, ensure you use unambiguous names for easy recognition in other app areas, such as reporting. After creating a campaign, click Untitled Campaign and enter the campaign name. 

Campaign tags

Tags make it easier to identify campaigns.

1. Click Add Tags.
2. Select an existing tag or create one by entering a name and pressing Enter.

Campaign enrollment

You can enroll customers in a campaign in the following three ways:

• Match a segment – Target customers that match a standard or real-time segment and click Apply to add the segment. Standard segments are available for one-time and behavioral campaigns. Real-time segments are available for web campaigns.
• Match an event (for behavioral campaigns) – Target customers when they trigger an event by interacting with your brand. For example, you can send welcome emails to customers when they sign up for your website. 
• API – Send customers in-app push notifications by issuing HTTP requests with your credentials, campaign identification, message, and customer ID to an ODP endpoint.

Enrollment rules

You can also configure enrollment rules to select the target customer more precisely. Analyze the reachable audience when applying an enrollment rule, as it may change.

Schedule a campaign

To schedule a campaign, expand Touchpoints > Select start time and schedule. Scheduling options vary depending on the type of campaign. You cannot schedule campaigns immediately after an event is triggered. However, you can schedule additional touchpoints after the initial send for all campaign types.

One-time

Use a one-time campaign to send communications only once. You can set the following scheduling options in one-time campaigns:

• Send Date – Select a date to send the campaign.
• Send Time – Select when to send the campaign.
• Time Zone – Select the time zone to start sending the campaign.
• Delivery Strategy
  • Send all at the scheduled time – The communication is sent at the specified time in the time zone selected in Settings > Localization.
  • Use recipients timezone when available – ODP sends the communication at the specified time in each customer's time zone. The first time zone is selected in Settings > Localization, followed by the remaining time zones in order. If a customer's time zone is unknown, they receive the message in the default time zone.
    

Behavioral (recurring)

Use recurring behavioral campaigns to send communications on a daily or weekly basis. Select Recurring when expanding Touchpoints > Select start time and schedule. You can set the following scheduling options in recurring behavioral campaigns:

• Start Date – Select a date to start the campaign.
• End – Select a date to end the campaign.
  1. Never – Select Never to send the campaign for an undefined period of time.

  2. On Date – The communication ends on the date you enter in the End Date. If you select Use recipients timzeone when available, the last time zone ODP sends the communication is the last time zone of the end date. If you select 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US and Canada) as the time to send your last communication and the end date is set to January 1, 2024, then the last day to send will start at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time (US and Canada) on January 1, 2024. The customers received their last communications 24 hours later, on January 2, 2024. 

  3. After Occurrences – The communication ends after ODP completes the number of occurrences you entered in the Occurrences.
• Repeats – Select the frequency of the communication.
  • Select Daily to send your communication daily and choose the number of days after which it repeats.
  • Select Weekly to send your communication weekly and choose the number of weeks after which it repeats. You can also select specific times on specific days of the week.
  • Select Monthly to send your communication monthly. You can select the number of months after which it repeats and a specific Day of Month or Day of Week on which ODP sends the communication.
• Timing – Choose when to send the campaign.
• Time Zone – The time zone to start sending the campaign. The default time zone is the one selected in Settings > Localization.
• Delivery Strategy
  • Send all at the scheduled time – The communication is sent at the specified time in the time zone selected in Settings > Localization.
  • Use recipients timezone when available –The communication is sent at the specified time in each customer's time zone. The first time zone is the time zone selected in Settings > Localization, followed by the remaining time zones in order. If a customer's time zone is unknown, they receive the message in the default time zone.

Behavioral (continuous)

Use recurring continuous campaigns to send communications continuously as customers qualify for the segment. Select Continuous when expanding Touchpoints > Select start time and schedule. You can set the following scheduling options in continuous behavioral campaigns:

• Start Date – Date to start the campaign.
• Timing – Time to send.
• Time Zone – Select the time zone to start and stop sending the campaign.
• End – Select a date to end the campaign.
  1. Never – Select Never to send the campaign for an undefined period of time.

  2. On Date – The communication ends on the date you enter in End Date.

Campaign touchpoints

1. Go to Activations > Overview.
2. Select an existing campaign or click Create New Campaign and select the campaign type. 
3. Expand Touchpoints to edit Touchpoint 1. Select a channel and configure the touchpoint settings. Click Add a touchpoint to create additional touchpoints.
4. Clone or delete a touchpoint by clicking Touchpoint actions > Clone or Delete. You can disable any touchpoint except the first by clicking Touchpoint actions > Disable.

Schedule additional touchpoints

After setting the first touchpoint, you can schedule additional touchpoints. For recurring or continuous campaigns, ODP assesses each customer individually based on when they received the last touchpoint. To schedule another touchpoint, click Schedule next touchpoint.

• Delay – Set a delay of hours, days, or weeks between the first and the second touchpoint. If ODP sends the previous touchpoint late, ODP uses the actual send time when scheduling the next touchpoint. For example, a delay of two days requires 48 hours to pass before ODP sends the next touchpoint.
• (Optional) Send Time – You can also set a time when the campaign is sent by clicking Send Time. If the time entered in Delay expires after the Send Time has passed, the touchpoint is sent the next day.
• Use recipients timezone when available – ODP sends the communication at the specified time in the time zone selected in Settings > Localization. If a customer's time zone is unknown, they receive the message in the default time zone.

Example

• ODP sends a campaign at 12:00 p.m. Monday.
• The next touchpoint is scheduled for two days later (Delay) at 11 a.m. (Send Time).
• Two days (or 48 hours) later is 12:00 p.m. Wednesday, which is already past 11 a.m., so the campaign waits until the next day (11:00 a.m. Thursday) and sends the touchpoint.
• Setting a delay longer than one day and shorter than two days (such as 30 hours) along with the time when ODP sent the campaign ensures ODP sends the touchpoint at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday. This means 30 hours later, it is 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, and ODP sends the touchpoint at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday.

Preview, test, activate, and pause campaigns

Preview a campaign

1. Click Preview.
2. Enter the email address or customer ID of someone in the campaign's reachable audience to preview their version of the content.
3. Click Preview.

Test a campaign 

1. Click Test. 
2. Enter the test email's recipients (separated by commas) in the Recipient Email Address.
3. Expand Render Template with Customer (Optional) and search for the email address or name of someone in the campaign's reachable audience to preview their version of the content. Leave the field blank to preview the email as an unspecified customer.
4. Click Send.

Activate a campaign

1. Go to Activations > Overview.
2. Edit a campaign or create a campaign.
3. Click Save to ensure the touchpoints are updated.
4. Click Go Live > Yes, Go Live to confirm and resume a campaign.

Pause a campaign

1. Go to Activations > Overview.
2. Select the campaign you want to edit and click Pause.
3. (Optional) Select Mark as complete if you do not expect to relaunch the campaign. 
4. Click Resume to resume the campaign at any time.

Emulate a campaign

You can use Emulate to test campaigns and determine which customers receive campaign communications on specific days without sending notifications. For information, see Emulate a campaign.