Work with journey entry and exit criteria entry-exit-criteria-guide

Customer behavior - Actions taken by customers trigger journey entry in real-time, such as making a purchase, abandoning a cart, or opening your mobile app.

Profile attributes - Customer characteristics determine eligibility based on data stored in their profile, like loyalty tier, location, age, or communication preferences.

External events - Business or environmental triggers that affect multiple customers simultaneously, such as low inventory alerts, weather conditions, or price changes.

Audience membership - Belonging to a specific audience segment enables targeted journeys for groups like high-value customers, inactive users, or new subscribers.

Journey completion - Profiles automatically exit when they reach the end of all journey paths, completing the designed experience.

Success metric achievement - Profiles exit when they complete the journey objective, such as making a purchase or downloading an app, eliminating unnecessary follow-up communications.

Condition-based - Profiles exit when specific conditions are met, like inactivity over a set period or changes in profile attributes.

Event-based - Profiles exit when specific events occur, such as subscription cancellation or product return.

Audience disqualification - Profiles exit when they no longer meet the target audience criteria, ensuring messages remain relevant.

Relevance: Only the right customers enter the journey, increasing engagement and conversion rates by targeting the most appropriate audience at the optimal time.

Efficiency: Prevents customers from staying in irrelevant journeys, reducing unnecessary communications, operational costs, and customer annoyance.

Personalization: Enables dynamic tailoring of experiences based on real-time data and behavior, creating more meaningful customer interactions.

Compliance: Helps manage frequency capping and avoid over-communication, respecting customer preferences and regulatory requirements while maintaining brand reputation.

Event-Based Triggers: Use events like “profile creation,” “transaction completed,” or custom events to kick off a journey. Configure events in Administration > Events, define event schema and fields, then add the event from the Events palette in the journey designer.

Audience-Based Entry: Target journeys to profiles who belong to specific audiences, either as a one-time batch or on a recurring schedule. Create audiences in the Audiences menu, then add a Read Audience activity and configure the schedule.

Audience Qualification Entry: Trigger journeys when profiles qualify for or exit from specific audiences in real-time. Define streaming audiences, add an Audience Qualification event from the Events palette, and choose the trigger type.

Attribute Filters: Refine entry criteria by combining events or audiences with profile attributes and context using AND/OR logic. Use conditions to reference profile attributes, events, or external data.

Time Windows and Scheduling: Set temporal constraints to keep journeys timely and relevant. Configure schedules on Read Audience activities, use Wait activities, and add time-based conditions to control timing.

Journey Completion: Profiles automatically exit after they reach the final journey step. Design journey paths to end at End activities.

Success Metric Achievement: Define success metrics (like purchase or subscription) and exit profiles upon completion. Click Show exit criteria icon, select Add exit criteria, and choose an Event or Audience as the exit trigger.

Inactivity Timeouts: Exit profiles if no engagement occurs within a set timeframe. Use Exit Criteria with audiences that check last engagement date, set Wait activities with defined durations, and use conditions to check for activity.

Re-entry Rules: Decide if profiles can re-enter the journey multiple times or only once, depending on your campaign strategy. Configure Re-entrance settings in journey Properties to set wait periods, enable forced re-entrance, or use supplemental identifiers for context-specific re-entrance.

Customer onboarding journey - Build personalized welcome experiences with audience qualification, event timeout, and goal-based exits

Abandoned cart recovery - Recover lost sales with event-triggered journeys, playbooks, and channel routing

Re-engagement campaigns - Win back inactive customers with behavioral targeting and paid media activation

Send messages to subscribers - Target subscription lists with Read Audience and personalized content

Send multi-channel messages - Combine email and push with reaction events and multi-path logic

Send emails only on weekdays - Schedule communications using time-based conditions and wait formulas