Confused About Pre-built Engagement Automations

Ask a question
,
1

Howdy

Although I manage several clients on AC with several thousand on their lists, their situations have been a lot more straight forward. They are bricks and mortar firms. Some automations have been layered, but nothing I couldnt handle thanks to these forums.

I am just now beginning to work on my own list. I know, right? My podcast is starting to take off, web traffic is up, getting ready to launch a (30) day challenge around ideation per an inforgraphic of mine that has taken off– so I guess I need to start dialing my own list management and automation.

Q1: Engagement 2 tagging. There is no time frame allocated to this which massively confuses me. All the triggers (read, click, or visits) are open ended. So if they did any of those things six months ago and not once since, Im not seeing how this helps me. What am I missing? I read that its on a 30 day clock but Im not seeing that in any of details?

Q2: Right below that is an exit and then below that is an enter automation with no delays or criteria in between. Not getting that? Why exit them if you are going to renter them right away?

Q3: On engagement tagging 1 automation, I get the first series of 4 tags and remove tags. But then it says wait 7 days followed by remove the recent tag. There is no action qualifier, as in, the person did or did not take an action. So whats, then, is driving the tagging determination of recent or not? This continue throughout the automation, with tags added or removed based solely on days not actions taken, which has me totally confused on how this tracks engagement when no engagement criteria are present?

I get that part 2 does track engagement, and that the two automations work in tandem, but per what I noted in Q1 and Q2, Im not getting how time frames drive any of this as none are listed.

In other words, Im totally lost! LOL

Thanks for the help
Bob

2

Hi Bob,

This is a good question because these automations aren’t exactly intuitive. Here’s how it works…

Engagement Tagging 2’s sole purpose is to remove the contact from Engagement Tagging 1 and then reenter them. The reason for this is that Engagement Tagging 1 is best thought of as a timer. So, when there’s engagement, you want to restart the timer. That’s the exit and add back in. You’re basically saying “They engaged recently so we’re going to restart the timer.”

Engagement Tagging 1 is adding and removing tags based on how long it’s been since there’s been engagement. It starts at “Recently Engaged” then goes to “Active” and so on based on how long it’s been since they engaged. So, the longer the contact goes without engaging, the deeper they’ll go into the automation and, eventually, if there’s no engagement for long enough, they’ll receive the Disengaged tag at the very end. But, if they engage at any point, they’ll start back at the top (thanks to Engagement Tagging 2) and all the other tags will be removed and they’ll be given the “Recently Engaged” tag again.

Let me know if you still have questions about how these two automations work together.

2 Likes
3

Hey Brian!

Im actually signed up to drink beer and learn more at an Austin AC event this month. So if you’re at that, I owe you a beer for all your counsel.

That helps me understand the timer automation. Thanks. But the tagging automation, while its mission makes sense, how it does what it does is whats confusing me. Its entirely made up of tags with no conditions. So how will it know if a contact has recently engaged or not engaged at all? Or for how long?

Contact one- engaged a month ago
Contact two- engaged three months ago
Contact three- engaged yesterday and bought me a latte

If no conditions are present, how will sort all those various levels of engagement to ensure proper tagging?

Thanks!

4

Ah, cool. I won’t be there but I wish I could be! Sounds like it’s going to be awesome.

So, Automation 1 doesn’t care about conditions. It’s just a timer that’s adding and removing tags as time passes. It might be clearer if it were more simple. So, let’s break Part 1 down to it’s most essential elements. Think of it as nothing but a 60 day wait and then “Add tag - Disengaged.” In this simplified scenario, Part 2 is just restarting the timer each time a contact engages with an email or website. Let’s say they go one week without engaging. They still have 53 days left on the timer. But, when they click a campaign link, they’re taken out and put back in (by Part 2) which, in effect, sets the timer back to 60 days.

Part 2 is the one controlling the conditions (the triggers on part 2) and then Part 2 is controlling the timer in Part 1.

When Part 2 sees an engagement, it says to Part 1: “Restart the timer. This contact just engaged with us.” As time passes Part 1 is adding and removing tags based on the recency of engagement. If at any point in that process the contact engages with Part 2, Part 1 starts the contact back at the top.

Please let me know if it doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to come up with a better way to explain it.[quote=“realmomentsrealpeopl, post:3, topic:3312”]
Contact one- engaged a month ago
Contact two- engaged three months ago
Contact three- engaged yesterday and bought me a latte
[/quote]

Contact one would be 30 days into Part 1. So, that contact would be right here in the automation:

… If it was exactly 30 days ago, they’d have just received the Inactive tag (because they have the recently engaged tag for 7 days and then there’s a 21 day wait, and then Inactive tag is applied).

Contact two would have made it all the way to the bottom of the automation. So, they’d be tagged as Inactive. If they were to engage with your campaigns or website again, Part 2 would drop them back into the top of the automation and they’d be tagged as Recently Active.

Contact three would be tagged as Recently engaged because they’re 1 day into the 7 day wait at the top of the automation. If they don’t engage in the next 6 days, the “Recently Engaged” tag will be removed and they’ll be tagged as Active. If they don’t engage any time in the next 21 days, the Active tag will be removed and the Disengaged tag will be applied. If they don’t engage in the next 30 days, the Disengaged tag will be removed and they’ll be tagged as Inactive and the automation will end. If they engage at any point during those waits, Part 2 will take care of dropping them back into the top (restarting the timer).

5

Thanks for the detailed response, Brian!

1 Like