Designing Workflows

This task is a step in Process of Creating a Workflow Campaign Manually.

Use workflow campaigns to diagram nurture paths, using a WYSIWYG graphical editor. Consider creating a workflow campaign if you know the nurture path that you want prospects to follow in advance. Diagramming icons are available for the following:

• Send program. Sends the specified program to the contact.

• Decision. Defines a condition and then branches to True or False results.

• Wait. Specifies the amount of time to wait before continuing the workflow.

• Switch Program. Switches the contact to a different program.

• Exit. Stops the flow of execution for the selected branch. All branches must end with an exit.

Examples of workflow campaigns include:

• Sending a topical white paper, then invite those who download the white paper to an online Webinar, then offer Webinar attendees a free product trial.

• Sending a series of white papers with a 30-day waiting period between each email execution.

• Nurturing warm contacts or contacts with no activity for a period with a series of white papers to try to generate a response and collect more qualification information.

In each of these examples, you might want to switch nonrespondents to another path or campaign to determine if they are more interested in a different subject.

To design a workflow

1. From the Campaign Details screen, click Configure in the Automation Workflow section, or click the Workflow Wizard step at the top of the screen.

   The Workflow builder drawing board appears.

2. Start the workflow using a start node.

3. Drag nodes from the Node list to the left into the workspace on the right.

4. Connect nodes by clicking the arrow in the center of a node and dragging it to another node.

5. To delete a node, select it, and click Delete Node.

6. Reorganize nodes by dragging and dropping them into a new sequence.

About Automation Rules and Triggers

Triggers are conditions or events upon which you can designate that the campaign execute a particular action. For example, you might have a workflow campaign designed to offer a series of white papers on storage topics to your target audience over time. The first white paper is offered in program one for the campaign. Defining automation rules instructs Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing to send white paper two depending on a contact's response behavior to program one, or after a certain period of time.

The standard triggers are:

• Email delivered to contact

• Email viewed by contact

• Contact clicked on email link

• Contact registered

• Contact downloaded offer

• Always trigger this rule. (This trigger does not depend on any event.)

• Email might not be delivered to the contact

• Email was not viewed by the contact

• Contact did not click any email link

• Contact did not register

• Contact did not download an offer

Rules are defined to perform an action within a certain specified time after the last trigger event date. To specify the time period after selecting a trigger, add a value in the phrase Within XX days.

If you have a rule, Contact Downloaded Offer within 15 days, the rule instructs Oracle CRM On Demand Marketing to select only contacts who completed the download with 15 days after the invitation was sent. Anyone who downloaded the offer after the 15 days passed is not selected according to this rule. You can also insert a waiting period between the rule and the next program execution. This modification does not change the contacts who are selected but delays sending the next program for the defined period.

You can insert multiple conditions in a string. For example, to treat contacts differently depending on the length of time they took to download a white paper, you create a condition for each period.

When defining a fixed path using a workflow campaign, be aware that a dynamic inclusion list adds contacts as they become eligible for the campaign and the campaign starts by sending the first program.

If a program is added midway through the nurture path after the campaign is launched, any contact who has progressed beyond the new program insertion point does not receive the new program.

You might choose to exit or switch contacts from a workflow campaign at any point during the campaign flow. The switch is based on the automation rules and conditions. For example, if an individual contact meets the defined scoring rules and is scored as an A (Very Hot) or B (Hot) lead and is subsequently delivered to Sales for followup, you might want to discontinue nurturing that individual and pass all responsibility for interacting with that contact to the appropriate sales representative. To do so, insert a decision node at the points in the workflow where you want to check for scoring and remove those contacts who have been assigned a score. Insert an exit node at each stage of the automation flow.