Working with Multichannel Programs
Important: This feature is currently released under our Controlled Availability program. To request access to this feature, please log in to My Oracle Support and create a service request.
A multichannel program is a program that lets you reach customers by more than one channel - for example, Email and Push - during the program flow.
For example, you can send a welcome email campaign to new customers who are newly added to the profile list, and also invite them to install your mobile app. After an elapsed time, you can route them to a Send push campaign stage (for those who installed and registered the mobile app) or to a Send email campaign stage (for those who didn't).
With the Multichannel feature (new for Responsys 19B), you can create programs that start with device data (for example, an App channel list filter event) and then switch to sending email (or SMS) messages later in the program. Those email (or SMS) messages will reach the customers whose devices are linked to their profile. It will automatically send only one email (or SMS) per customer, not one per device.
With this new feature, you can also streamline your programs. For example, you can create a program that sends a push campaign to devices running your mobile app after the device leaves the range of a beacon. You can send the device owner a "thanks for visiting" message and offer a coupon to all registered users. Your program can then send an email campaign, which only goes to the registered users (where the device matches a specific customer). You do not have to filter out devices that don't have a link to a customer before it reaches the Send email campaign stage.
How it works
In Program, a program entry (also known as an enactment) represents a customer. A program entry is created at the start of a program. When it starts from profile list data, it represents a single customer. When it starts from app channel list data (device data), it represents a device belonging to a person who has installed your mobile app.
As the program entry moves through the program, it encounters different stages (entry events, activities, and switches). These stages take action based on the program entry data. The stage might expect the program entry to have profile list data, or it might expect the program entry to have device data. When Responsys can link a customer's profile list data and device data, it makes sure that the stage gets the data that it needs. When it can't give the stage the data it needs - that is, there's no link between profile list data and device data - Responsys skips the stage.
Responsys also keeps track of customers vs. devices. What this means is that when the program entry gets to a stage that uses device data, it will take action for all of a customer's devices. If the program flow takes the program entry back to a stage that uses profile list data, it will take action only for the customer. For example, you can send push messages to all of a customer's devices, and then send a single email message to a customer.
When you analyze your program, you can see how Responsys expands and contracts program entries for the different channels. For example, let's say that 100 customers enter your program, and among all of them there are 450 devices. When all 100 customer program entries reach a push stage, you'll see counts for both: 100 program entries for the customers, and 450 program entries for their devices.
Before you begin
- Log in to My Oracle Support and create a service request (SR) to get the Multichannel feature enabled for your account.
- Complete the needed setup for sending messages on profile list-based channels (Email, SMS), mobile app channel list-based channels (Push, In-app Message, Message Center), and the web push channel list-based channel (Web Push).
Tips for creating programs using the Multichannel feature
- You can mix and match channels at any point in the program. You can start with a profile list-based filter, and then later in the program, have an activity such as Send push campaign or Send web push campaign. You can also start with an event related to your mobile app, such as a Geofence Exit, and then send an email message to customers thanking them for their visit.
- You don't need special handling for unknown users of devices or for customers who don't have devices, because Responsys automatically skips the stages where it can't link the customer profile record and devices record(s). We do recommend considering these cases when you design your program.
- If all of a customer's device-based program entries are flowing through a program at the same time, you don't need a filter to eliminate duplicates before sending email or SMS messages. Responsys expands a program entry to include all of a customer's devices, and contracts program entries when you get to a profile-specific stage where you want to send one message to the customer.
But if there's a significant delay across the devices before they reach a profile-based stage, you may need to design for handling duplicates. For example, if you route a customer's iOS device and Android device through different paths, and there's a timer on the Android path, the device's program entries won't arrive at, say, a Send SMS campaign stage together, and the customer may receive more than one SMS message.
There are several ways to plan for this. You could have a timer before the profile-based stage, which allows the program entries to arrive at the same time. You could also add a data switch that tests whether the customer received an SMS message in the last X days, so that the customer receives a reasonable number of messages.
- You can run filters on any channel list, regardless of how a program entry is created. For example, a Data switch can route program entries using app channel list filters or web push channel list filters, even when the program entry was created using profile list filters.
- Understanding Program
- Understanding Program Entries
- Getting Started with Program
- Designing Programs
- Testing Programs
- Publishing Programs