Branches in journeys

Heads up: this article assumes that you’re already familiar with how journeys work in Attentive. Before diving in here, you may want to check out the following first:

• What are journeys?
• Add a step to a journey

When you add a branch step to a journey, you send subscribers along different paths in a journey depending on their attributes, past activity, segment, and more.

For example, you can:

• Send a tailored message to subscribers who viewed specific products:
  
  
  
  
• Send a cart abandonment message to subscribers who added a product to their cart, but not to subscribers who didn't:
  
  
  
  
• Send a different message to subscribers in different segments, like a special VIP discount:
  
  
  

Also, note that if a subscriber qualifies for more than one branch at once, then they enter only the left-most branch in the journey.

Available types of branch step

• Device: Subscriber device details, like the device type or operating system.
• Subscriber action: Subscriber past activity like viewing or adding products to their cart.
• Subscription type: Whether or not the subscriber has opted-in to receive both transactional marketing messages, or just transactional messages. For more, check out What are transactional journeys?
• Product data: Branch based on the name, category, tag, or availability of the product that the subscriber interacted with. For more, check out What is branching on product data.
• Segment: Branch based on the segment the subscriber is included in.
  
  

Device branch step

Use an attribute branch if you want to send different kinds of messages to customers using different operating systems or device types. For example, send customers discount codes for iOS products if they’re using an iPhone.

There are two types of attribute branches:

• Device type: Desktop, Mobile, or Other
• Operating system: iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Windows, Chrome OS, or Linux

Subscriber action branch step

Use a subscriber action branch if you want to branch your journey based on actions your customers have made. For example, send a browse abandonment message if a customer has added an item to their cart but hasn’t completed the purchase.

E-commerce actions

• Has viewed products: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve added at least one item to their cart but haven’t completed the purchase.
• Has added to cart: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve completed a purchase.
• Has made a purchase: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve viewed a product but haven’t added it to their cart.
• Has started a checkout: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve begun checking out on your store but haven’t completed the transaction.

Text message actions

Branch on how your subscribers interact with text messages you send them. You can branch on:

• Has received a text: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve received one or more text messages from you.
• Has clicked a shortlink: Use when you want to branch on subscribers who’ve clicked a shortlink in at least one text message from you.

You can also use the Action Filter to filter for actions subscribers took on specific campaigns or journeys you sent them.

Email actions

Branch based on how subscribers interacted with emails that you send them. Email action branches work for both emails you send with Attentive and Klaviyo.

Email activity doesn’t appear in real-time in journeys. There’s a delay between when a subscriber interacts with an email and when that activity is “seen” by a journey. Delays are typically about 30 minutes.

Branch on how your subscribers interact with email messages you send them. You can branch on subscribers who've:

• Received an email: Subscribers who received an email from you, whether or not they opened it.
• Opened an email: Subscribers who opened an email from you, whether or not they clicked on any links.
• Clicked on an email link: Subscribers who clicked on at least one link in an email you sent them.

You can also use the Action Filter to filter for actions subscribers took on specific campaigns or journeys you sent them. Note that the Action Filter only filters emails you send with Attentive. The action filter will not filter emails sent with Klaviyo.

Subscriber action branches let you set both the frequency of the action and the time period in which the action took place.

You can also apply an action filter to message engagement branches. Action filters allow you to filter by specific campaign or journey messages.

Notes:

• Action filters don’t currently support the ability to filter by A/B test messages.
• You can only filter by engagement with Attentive messages. Action filters don’t currently support the ability to filter by messages sent by other providers.

To add a past activity branch to a journey:

1. Add a Branch step, and then select What action the subscriber has taken.
2. Select the past action you want to branch on.
   
   
   
   

3. From the remaining menus, select the frequency of the past action and the time period in which to look for the action.

4. (Optional) Add an action filter to target subscribers based on engagement with a specific campaign or journey.

5. Click Save.

Subscription type branch step

The subscription type step lets you branch a transactional message journey by the type of messaging your subscribers have opted in to. Once branched, you can send marketing messages in the branch that includes subscribers who have opted into marketing and transactional messages. The subscription type step is only available in transactional journeys.

To add a subscription type branch step:

1. Create a transactional journey, and then click Edit in the upper-right corner.
   
   
   
   
2. Add a Branch step after the transactional message, and then select Subscriber is opted into promotional and transactional texts.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Save.
   
   

Product data branch step

The branch on product data step lets you send messages to subscribers based on the products that they interacted with in your store. You can add this type of branch step to Post Purchase, Browse Abandonment, and Cart Abandonment journeys. Note that the branch step that appears while building a journey is based on the type of journey you started with:

• Post Purchase: What product was purchased. Use to branch a journey based on what product subscribers purchased.
  
  
  
  
• Browse Abandonment: What product was viewed. Use to branch on what product subscribers viewed, but didn't add to cart or purchase.
  
  
  
  
• Cart Abandonment: What product was added to cart. Use to branch on what product subscribers added to their cart, but didn't purchase.
  
  
  
  
• Price drop: Only available in price drop journeys. Price drop journeys send triggered messages when the price of any product or product variant in your store drops. Adding a price drop branch to price drop journeys lets you set specific products to trigger price drop journeys instead of all products on your store. For more, check out Create a price drop journey.
  
  
  
  
• Low inventory: Only available in low inventory journeys. Low inventory journeys send triggered messages when the inventory of any product or product variant in your store reaches a low threshold which you can set. Adding a low inventory branch to a low inventory journey lets you set specific products to trigger low inventory journeys instead of all products on your store. For more, check out Create a low inventory journey.
  
  
  
  

You can include up to 20 product detail branches in both the main and else branch paths.

You can also create branches in checkout abandonment and post-purchase journeys based on any items in a subscriber’s cart, all items in a cart, or the value of items in a cart. See What is branching on product data? for more information.

Not sure how to use branching on product data for your business? Be sure to check out Branching on product data use cases.

Segment branch step

The segment branch type lets you create a unique journey path for different subscriber segments. View the following video to learn how to build a transactional journey:

With segment branches, you can send tailored messages to your subscribers based on existing audiences that you’ve already defined. You can also create a new dynamic segment from within a journey.

For example, you can send a bigger discount to subscribers in a VIP segment, or send a custom journey message to subscribers who've recently clicked on a message from you or browsed particular pages.

Before jumping into segment branches, it might be helpful to check out What is segmentation? and Create a dynamic segment.

To add a segment branch to a journey:

1. Create a new segment or decide which existing segment you want to include in your journey.
2. Add a Branch step, and then select What segment the subscriber is in.
3. Click Choose segment, and then use the search field to find the segment you want to branch on.
   
   
   
   Note: You can also click + create a new segment to create a new segment.
   
   
4. Click the segment you want to branch on, and then click Apply selection.