Journeys

Outline

• What is the Journeys Feature?
• Common Use Cases
• Nodes in Journeys
• How Do I Set Up a Journey?
• Debugging and Analytics
• FAQs

Overview

Journeys is a powerful tool designed to manage and automate subscription workflows throughout the entire lifecycle. With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, expanded actions, and deep integration with external platforms like Klaviyo, Journeys enables merchants to create complex workflows that automatically adjust subscriptions based on customer actions or subscription events. This tool replaces the old Automations feature, offering more flexibility and customization options.

What is the Journeys Feature?

Journeys is an "if this, then that" automation tool that allows you to set up conditional workflows to manage subscriptions. These workflows can be triggered after an order is placed or when a subscription is updated. Journeys is designed to enhance the subscription experience by allowing ongoing adjustments and optimizations as the subscription recurs or changes.

Common Use Cases

Journeys can be used to:

• Swap trial products for full versions after a specific number of orders.
• Split single-SKU bundles into individual products at any point in the subscription lifecycle.
• Apply discounts at specific order counts or events.
• Add or remove products from a subscription as it recurs.
• Trigger banners in the Customer Portal with custom actions.
• Send notifications via email or SMS (Note: SMS messages cannot be promotional).
• Trigger events in Klaviyo for advanced marketing automation.
• Adjust shipping intervals based on customer preferences or subscription changes.

Nodes in Journeys

Journeys are constructed using nodes, which include triggers, actions, and splits. Each node serves a specific function in the automation workflow.

Triggers

Triggers determine when a Journey begins. Available triggers include:

• After order: The Journey starts after an order is completed.
• After a product is added: The Journey begins when a product is added or removed from a subscription.

Actions

Actions define what happens once the Journey is triggered and conditions are met. Available actions include:

• Add discount: Apply a discount to a subscription (can be a Shopify discount code or a manual Skio discount).
• Add product: Add a product to the subscription, either as a recurring item or a one-time add-on.
• Adjust next billing date: Change the next billing date to a specific date or by a certain interval.
• Bundle expansion: Remove a product and replace it with multiple products within the subscription.
• Change delivery price: Set a permanent or temporary shipping price.
• Delay: Delay the Journey’s action by a set number of hours or days.
• Remove products: Remove one or more products from the subscription.
• Swap product: Swap a product in the subscription for another product.
• Update product price: Override the price of a specific product in the subscription.
• Send notification: Send an email, SMS, or integration event (like to Klaviyo).
• Show trigger-able banner: Display a customized, interactive banner in the Customer Portal.

Splits

Splits allow you to branch the Journey based on conditions, enabling you to test different paths or create more complex workflows. Available splits include:

• Condition: Test different paths based on whether conditions are met, allowing for A/B testing or different actions based on customer behavior.

How Do I Set Up a Journey?

Setting up a Journey is simple with the drag-and-drop builder. Follow these steps:

1. Create a New Journey

   • Navigate to the Journeys section in your Skio dashboard.
   • Click Create new journey.
   • Enter a name and description for your Journey.

2. Add a Trigger

   • Choose a trigger to start the Journey. Options include After order and After a product is added.
   • Optionally, add trigger filters to refine when the Journey should begin.

3. Define Conditions

   • Set up conditions that must be met for the Journey to continue. Conditions can include:
     • Contains a specific product.
     • Subscription value.
     • Shipping interval.
     • Customer tag.
   • Use "and/or" logic to combine multiple conditions.

4. Add Actions

   • Select actions that should occur if the conditions are met. Actions can include:
     • Adding or removing products.
     • Swapping products.
     • Adjusting billing dates or shipping intervals.
     • Triggering banners in the Customer Portal.
     • Sending notifications (email or SMS).
     • Triggering events in Klaviyo.
   • You can stack multiple actions to run in sequence or simultaneously.

5. Use Splits for Branching

   • Add splits to test different paths based on specific conditions. For example, you can create different actions depending on the product contained in the subscription or the total value of the subscription.

6. Save and Activate

   • Once your Journey is configured, click Save to finalize it.
   • If you edit an active Journey, a new version will be created upon saving. This versioning allows you to track changes and compare the performance of different versions over time, as analytics will reset with each new version.

Debugging and Analytics

Journeys include robust tools for monitoring and optimizing your workflows:

• Debug Mode: View detailed logs of the last Journey a subscription went through. This helps in identifying and troubleshooting issues within the Journey.
• Analytics Mode: Track the performance of each node in the Journey, including:
  • Pass rate: The percentage of subscriptions that successfully met the conditions and completed the action.
  • Fail rate: The percentage of subscriptions that did not meet the conditions.
  • Skip rate: The percentage of subscriptions that skipped an action because the required product or condition was not present.

These analytics help you refine your Journeys, ensuring they perform as intended and allowing you to identify any areas for improvement.

FAQs

Can Journeys manage subscriptions throughout their lifecycle, not just after purchase?

Yes, Journeys is designed to manage subscriptions at any stage, including recurring orders and changes made to the subscription over time.

What happens if a subscription meets the criteria for multiple Journeys?

Subscriptions will follow each Journey in order of the priority set on the Journeys page. Priorities can be adjusted to control the sequence in which Journeys are applied.

Can I send promotional SMS messages through Journeys?

No, SMS messages sent through Journeys cannot be promotional. They must be transactional or informational to comply with regulations.

How does versioning work in Journeys?

Each time you save changes to an active Journey, a new version is created. This resets the analytics, allowing you to compare how different versions perform over time.

What is the best way to monitor and troubleshoot my Journeys?

Use Debug Mode to review the exact path a subscription took through the Journey. Analytics Mode provides a high-level view of how each node is performing, showing pass, fail, and skip rates.

How can I integrate Klaviyo with my Journeys?

You can set up actions within Journeys to trigger Klaviyo events, enabling you to leverage Klaviyo's marketing automation tools based on subscription behavior. To do this go to Skio's Integration page under Account and register for the Journey Notification Triggered event for the Klaviyo integration.

When the journey runs and fires the Notification action, the Journey notification triggered event will be sent to Klaviyo with a property called journeyNotificationName which you've configured in the journey Notification node.