Act-On's Automated Programs Dashboard is the hub for all data related to your Automated Programs.
- Go to Automation > Automated Programs, hover over the program you want & click Show dashboard:
Use your Dashboard to:
- Start your program
- Pause a program from running
- Add contacts to your program
- Monitor and gather reporting from your Automated Programs
Start or Pause Your Program
In the Automated Programs Dashboard, you can quickly start, pause, or restart your Automated Program. Depending on whether you've started or paused your program, the Dashboard displays one of the following statuses at the top right:
Your program is currently running.
Your program is not currently running.
You can edit your program or start it at any time.
Your program has errors and cannot be started.
Once the errors are fixed the program status changes to Program is paused.
Visit our Automated Journey Builder User Guide to learn more about the following:
- Creating and editing Automated Programs
- Editing the program flow and program steps
- Automated Journey Builder features and program settings
Start a Program
Any new Automated Program will be Paused by default. To start your program:
- Next to Program is paused at the top right, click Actions.
- Click Start program.
Once started, your program will pull all contacts from the source list or segments you've set under General Settings > Source Lists. Your Dashboard shows the green icon & Program is running at the top right.
Program has Errors
You cannot start your program if it has any errors. If this is the case, the Dashboard shows a red warning icon & Program has errors at the top right. To view and fix program errors:
- Next to Program has errors, click Actions and then click View error summary:
- In the pop-up, review listed errors to identify which program steps or settings need updating.
- Click Fix Errors to open the Program Flow.
- Update your program's steps, messages, or settings to resolve errors.
- Click Save.
Pause a Program
You must pause your program to make changes or stop it from running. To pause your Automated Program:
- Next to Program is running at the top right, click Actions.
- Click Pause program.
What happens when I pause my program?
Once you've paused your program, all contacts remaining in the program will stay in their current step location. Program automation steps will not run, messages will not be sent, and new contacts will not enter the program.
How can I end my program?
If you are ending your program and do not intend to restart it, leave it paused.
Restart a Paused Program
You can restart a paused program at any time in the same way as you Start a Program.
What happens when I restart a paused program?
Contacts already in your program will resume their progress, starting from the step they were waiting in before you paused the program. If new contacts entered your source list while the program was paused, Act-On will handle them in one of three ways:
- For programs set to add contacts immediately, new contacts in your source list will automatically enter your program when it restarts.
- For programs set to add contacts manually, your Dashboard will alert you to pending contacts waiting to enter your program. You'll manually select one of the following actions:
- Allow pending contacts to enter
- Exit pending contacts from your program
- For programs set to add contacts on a schedule, new contacts will enter your program daily, weekly, or monthly at a specified time.
See General Settings in the Automated Journey Builder User Guide for detailed information on settings related to how contacts enter your automated program.
View Automated Program Reports
Go to Automation > Automated Programs > Programs tab > select a program > Report (top left).
The Automated Programs Dashboard helps you track a variety of data from any of your Automated Programs, including:
- Your program's overall performance
- Email and SMS Message performance
- How many contacts are on each step of your program
- Your program's current settings
Program Performance
Go to Report (top left) > Program performance.
This gives you insight into how your program is running:
Along the top, you can switch between the following metrics:
All Contacts
See the total number of contacts added to your program since it started and view metrics on overall program entries and exits in a bar or line graph. You can also see how many contacts have entered or exited your program within a specific time frame. The default display shows your program's entries and exits by month for the last 12 months.
Under Contact Entries, you'll find a list of all past and current contacts in your program's history. Search by Name or Email to see if contacts are still in the program or have exited.
Contacts in Program
View the number of contacts currently in your program. You'll see a list view with each contact's name, email, source list, entry date & time, and current program step. You can also search for specific contacts or a group of contacts to find where they are in your program.
Early Exit Contacts
See Early Exit Contacts by Condition, including a list of all contacts who have exited your program based on early exit conditions.
Standard Exit Contacts
View the number of Standard Exit Contacts from your program by month. This includes a list of all contacts who have exited and the step where they exited.
Steps
Go to Report (top left) > Steps.
This shows you each step of your Automated Program and the status of your contacts' progression through the program. For each step, you'll see how many contacts are in each of these statuses:
-
Waiting: The number of contacts waiting to enter the next step
- Contacts will stay in a wait step until a specific time or until they meet certain criteria to move to the next step
- Completed: The number of contacts who have completed this step
- Exited: The number of contacts who met early exit criteria, were manually exited at this step, or made a standard exit at this step
Click on any number below a status column on the right to see the full list of contacts with that status.
Email Performance
Go to Report (top left) > Email performance.
This shows you the total number of emails sent from your program. The All Emails chart shows how many emails have been sent by the program within a selected time frame.
Under Individual Emails, you'll see the list of every email message currently used in your program. View the step in which each message was sent and the performance of each message with unique contacts. Click on an individual email's Subject to see the Sent Message Report, which provides a more detailed view of each email's performance.
Need a report for an old message? If you remove an email from your program, this email will no longer display in the program's Dashboard. To find reports for emails removed from your program, go to Outbound > Other Messages > Triggered Messages > Other.
SMS Performance
Go to Report (top left) > SMS performance.
This shows you performance metrics for SMS Messages sent by your program. Much like the Email Performance report, you can view SMS messages sent by your program over time and gain key SMS performance metrics per message.
Don't have SMS yet? SMS performance reporting is only visible if you've purchased Act-On's SMS add-on. Contact your Account Manager if you'd like to learn more about leveraging SMS in your Automated Programs.
Program Settings
The Settings tab (top left) provides key information on how your Automated Program is set up. This includes your program's name, its creation date, and the timezone used to schedule program steps.
Under Contact Sources, you can view which contacts were suppressed from entering your program, your program's Source List/Segments, and how your contacts move from the Source List to your program (manually, immediately, or on a schedule).
Options displays which of the following settings you've enabled for your program:
- Allow contacts to repeat steps
- Disable program history
- Use an alternate unique identifier
- Suppress entrants on suppression lists
- Allow contacts to re-enter
- Ignore email fatigue rules
- Attach sent notes to contacts or leads from my CRM lists
Need to make a change? You cannot edit Program Settings while your Automated Program is running. You'll need to pause your program to update any desired settings.