Automated Programs let you eliminate manual processes so you can deliver your email marketing campaigns with low effort.
Here we'll create a basic automation to get you confident with the Automated Journey Builder.
Step A: Create a New Program
When signed in to Act-On, go to Automation > Automated Programs:
At the top right, click + New Program. The Automated Journey Builder opens to build your new program.
Step B: Settings For Your Program
In the Act-On Automated Journey Builder, at the top, click the Settings tab.
In Program Details on the right, type a Name and Description for your program, for example:
In Contact Sources, click Select Sources. The Select Lists & Segments dialog appears.
Find the contacts segment you created in step 2. Add Your Contacts. In the example below, a segment in Act-On Contacts is selected:
Select your segment and click Submit. The segment appears in Contact Sources.
In Options, select Suppress entrants on suppression lists. This ensures that contacts on bounce lists or suppression domains are blocked from entering. It’s highly recommended that this option is selected.
At the top right, click Save.
Step C: Build Your Program
At the top left, click Build > Program Flow. We'll create a simple program that emails on two occasions and then takes action depending on whether the email was opened.
Click (between Start & Exit the Program) and in the Add New Step dialog, select Send Email:
In the Send Message dialog, from the Select Message list, select Click To Add New Message...:
In the Send Message dialog, check your email is in Select Message and click Submit. The Send Email Message step (A-1) is in the program flow:
Now click the under the Send Email Message step, and in Add New Step, click Wait:
In the Wait dialog, set the wait time to 10 minutes and click Submit:
Note: It's important to always add a Wait step after a Send Email Message step to give recipients a chance to respond. Here, we set the Wait Period to 10 minutes to see the program working quickly. It would usually be longer, such as 2 days.
Your program flow should now look like this:
Repeat from step 2 above to add another Send and Wait step, so your program flow looks like this:
Now, below the second Wait step (A-4), click the and add a Branch step.
In the Step dialog, type the Step Name "Didn't open emails 1 & 2", select the branch criteria as shown, and then click Submit:
We now have a branch for actions to take if the recipient did or didn't open the email. Click the on the YES branch, and add a Send Alert step. In Send to Emails enter your email address, to receive the alert. Type a Subject and a Message for the alert in the boxes, for example:
When you have finished, click Submit.
Click the on the NO branch, add a Send Email step and select an email. If you have time, make the program more interesting by creating a different email to use here (as described in Step 3. Create a Basic Email) such as a friendly message reminding them of the benefits of engaging. If not, the same email will still show the program working.
Your program flow should look like this:
At the top right, click Save.
Step D: Start Your Program
If you have your program open and saved in the Automated Journey Builder, at the top right, click Actions > Start program:
Otherwise, go to Automation > Automated Programs > Programs tab > All Programs, hover over your program, and click Start program:
In the Start Program dialog, you are prompted about the contacts you added to the program in Step B above. Select Add contacts to program and click Confirm:
A confirmation appears regarding adding contacts to the program. In the All Programs list, a green dot shows the program running:
Step E: See Your Program's Performance
With your program running, go to Automation > Automated Programs > Programs tab > All Programs, hover over your program, and click Show dashboard:
A program performance report should show meaningful data about your running program, for example:
At the top left, click Report > Steps. A report shows the steps in your program completed by the contacts, for example:
Click Report > Email performance. A report shows how your emails performed in the program, for example:
Rather watch a video? Have a look at Automated Program Strategy in the New User Video Learning (Act-On sign-in is required for access).
There's More to Program Building
This exercise is a basic program to get you started; there is much more to building a program to deliver your email marketing campaigns with low effort. See Advanced Automated Programming.
You've finished the new user training - well done!