Overview
Blueprints are a method of dividing an Audience into specific segments. Campaigns can access these individual segments to target contacts. This article describes the process of using Blueprints to create more dynamic Campaigns. Records processed through the Blueprint will return information used to alter the Email Content rendered for the customer.
Table of Contents
Campaign Prioritization and Campaign Segmentation
Referencing Labels in Templates
Campaign Prioritization and Campaign Segmentation
There are two similar concepts that combine Campaigns and Blueprints for more advanced functionality.
Campaign Prioritization uses Blueprints to divide an Audience into specific segments. Different Campaigns are used to target individual segments.
Campaign Segmentation uses Blueprints to divide Audiences into specific segments. The Blueprint is used to identify Personalization content within the same Campaign. Each Segment enabled the appropriate content to render in the Campaign contact.
This article defines the process of Campaign Segmentation.
Building a Blueprint
Creating a New Blueprint
To create a new Blueprint, navigate to People > Blueprints. Click Create Blueprint in the top right. This opens up a dialog box with two options.
A Blueprint can be created from scratch. This is done in a very similar manner to creating an Audience. A Blueprint can also be created from an existing Audience. This will use the same conditions and configurations as the selected Audience.
If creating a new SQL query, the Blueprint will open in the SQL tab view. This is where the data is selected from the external datasource.
If creating a new Blueprint with an existing Audience, the Blueprint will open in the Blueprint view.
This is the Blueprint flowchart interface. This interface is used to create decisions on how data is targeted. The interface works as a flowchart.
Adding a Node
To add a new Node in the Blueprint, click the + sign beneath the Starting Population. Nodes are each item added to a Blueprint flowchart. There are two kinds of starting Nodes.
Target Node
The circular logo is a Target Node. A Target Node is a method of creating an IF/ELSE statement. A Target Node creates one conditioned Node and one non-conditioned Node.
Clicking the Target Node button creates two more items on the screen. Configure the options for the Target Node.
The Target Name is a descriptive name of the Node. It is a best practice to name the Node with a title that describes all the conditions within the Node. This way, when all Nodes are built, a user does not have to open each individual Node to understand the functionality.
Under the Segments section, configure the conditions to select customers. The example here will detect if a customer has completed their profile setup. The column within the datasource that holds this information is called “ProfileComplete” and is a bit value. The condition entered here is ProfileComplete = 1.
The Target Node can be as simple as one condition or as complex as needed. A set of conditions within a Node is called a Segment. Name the Segment and the Node before saving.
Two Nodes were created when choosing the Targeted Node option. The Node that is not greyed out is the conditioned Node. This is the node that applies the logic to target records. The Node that is greyed out is the ELSE Node. All records that do not meet the condition will progress down this path.
Give the greyed-out Node an appropriate name.
This is the core idea of a Blueprint. A series of Target Steps that filters records down into desired groups.
Clicking the + sign beneath the Target Node. More options are available than before.
Merge and Filter
The options beneath the Target Step now include Merge and Filter options.
The Merge option allows multiple paths to combine into one.
The Filter option has a more specific use. The Filter is a Node that can group customers based on the Segments of the previous Node. For example, if a Target Node selects records from the East coast states, the Filter node can group those resulting records into different regions. All records where the state is equal to “GA, FL, SC, NC” are considered the Southeast Region. Using the Filter node, results from a Target Node can be divided into more specific groups.
Continue using Target Nodes to filter records to the appropriate target audience. Click the Target Node button multiple times to add more Nodes.
Split
The Split option is a way to divide records based on a percentage allocation. The Split can divide records among many different nodes. When configuring the Split, the chosen percentages must add up to 100%.
Splits are added to Target Nodes to randomly distribute records through multiple paths. Saving the Split configuration will add Nodes to the Blueprint.
Use Refresh to display the number of records that each Node receives.
Moving and Reordering
With the update of Accelerator 21.2.0, new tools to move and reorder Nodes were introduced. These tools, accessible by the menu in the top left of each node, provide options for changing the order of Nodes. This is important because the order that the Nodes are arranged in the order that they are executed.
The options across the top of the Node, expanded and collapsed by the menu button, perform the following actions:
- Move to a New Level is an option that allows a Node to be moved into a different hierarchy level. Using this feature will put the targeted node after any active nodes but before any of the grey, default nodes. Use the other ordering tools to make sure the Node is evaluated in the correct place.
- Add Neighbor Node is an option that creates a new Node to the right of the selected Node.
- Shift Left shuffles the Node one position to the left, if available.
- Shift Right shuffles the Node one position to the right, if available.
Labels
Labels are critical to Campaign Segmentation. Labels are assigned to records as they process through the Blueprint. Labels assigned to a record are available within the Template.
Create a Label by selecting the Starting Population at the top of the Blueprint.
Labels only require a name. All Labels are string data types and default to an empty value. To populate the label, click on a Node.
Assigning a Label to a Target Node is a two-step process. First, assign the Label to a Node by selecting a Target Node and expanding the dropdown below the Node Name. This enables the Label to be used within the Node Segments.
Click Assign Label and choose the Label from the dropdown.
There are two methods of populating a Label. The Append option will add data to any existing value a record has for this Label. The Overwrite option will delete any value out of the Label and assign a new value.
The second step is to expand the Segment section of the Node and populate the Label with an appropriate value.
Within the Segment, click the Apply Label button. Within the Key field, choose the Label from the dropdown. Use the Value field to assign a value to the Label.
All Labels are treated as string values. There is no limit to how many Labels can be used within a Blueprint. Throughout the Blueprint, a record can receive multiple Labels.
Preview Blueprints
Use the Preview button and click on Preview Blueprint to confirm that data is processing correctly. The Label results are found in the last columns for each record.
How Blueprints Execute
Blueprints follow Waterfall Logic. Nodes are evaluated in the order they appear, from left to right. This means that the organization of Nodes is important. If a record meets the conditions for a Node, it will attempt to continue to any Child Nodes. If a record meets the conditions for a Node and there are no Child Nodes, then the record is done processing. Here is an example:
The starting population for this Blueprint is 12.7k records. The first set of Target Nodes detects if records have completed their profile or not. All records that are marked as not having a complete profile are filtered to the right node. Those records are done being processed as there is no other node beneath the greyed out node.
Records that are marked as having a complete profile are filtered to the left node. In the above example, there are 6.3k records that are marked with complete profiles.
These records continue through the flowchart. The process the following Target Nodes in order from left to right. Any records that meet the Welcome Email Target Node will stop processing logic and can be accessed through the Welcome Email Target Node.
Any records that do not meet the criteria of the Welcome Email Target Node will continue to the next Node. This process will repeat until the record matches a Node’s conditions and has no further Nodes to process.
When using a Campaign to contact records from a Blueprint, all Nodes can be targeted.
Save the Blueprint.
Using Campaigns
After configuring a Blueprint, Campaigns are used to target records and contact them. Open Campaigns by navigating to Campaigns > Marketing.
Create a new Campaign. When selecting an Audience, choose the Blueprint.
To select which records to contact from the Blueprint, select Filter Blueprint on the Campaign Overview screen.
Clicking this button opens the Blueprint.
Each Node of the Blueprint has a checkbox in the top left. Select the Node of records to target. The records selected by that Node and all child Nodes will be targeted by the Campaign. If selecting the “If Profile Complete” Node, all records that pass through that Node are targeted by the Campaign. The child Nodes themselves do not need to be checked if a parent Node is checked.
Multiple Campaigns can access the Blueprint. They can target the same Nodes or different Nodes.
Referencing Labels in Templates
Labels are accessible through FreeMarker. The most popular use of Labels is to reference them within IF statements. The purpose of Campaign Segmentation is to use one Campaign to return Labels that control what is displayed within a Template.
Select a Row to view the Row Properties.
Open a Display Condition to configure the FreeMarker logic.
Labels are referenced in the same way as datasource fields. The format is: ${Recipient.FieldName}. If using a Label within a Display condition, the format is: <#if ${Recipient.FieldName} = ‘value’}.
Labels can be used anywhere that FreeMarker is supported.
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