Back to Basics: Workflows for Automating Mobile Engagement Campaigns

5 minute read

Upland Admin

Welcome back to our installment of Back to Basics, a blog series in which we discuss mobile engagement for our new customers and those interested in the topic. Previously, we’ve discussed audience segmentation, messaging strategy goals, and the tactics to succeed. In this post, we’ll go over Workflows within the Upland Localytics platform.  

Workflows Basics 

Automation is a marketer’s best friend – making us much more effective in our jobs.  Within Upland Localytics, Workflows is our process for creating automation within a mobile engagement platformAutomation is easy to learn, so for beginners, we’ve set up this post to teach you about Workflows regarding how much time you have to dedicate today.  

If you have 5 minutes: First thing’s first, you must know what Workflows really is. Workflows works through behaviorallytriggered campaigns, sent when a user performs certain actions such as abandoned carts, items viewed, or content opened. Setting up campaigns to be delivered based off your customers’ actions will further personalize their app experience, enhance your relationship with them, and foster customer loyalty. In your first five minutes (ok maybe it’s seven), watch our Introductions to Workflows video that takes you through the basics on what they are, how to utilize them, and how they increase your mobile metrics.  

If you have 1 hour: It’s time to plan your first workflow. You don’t want to create workflows haphazardly and create faulty campaigns that deteriorate your users’ experiences or your messaging strategy. Every campaign should be set up to enhance their mobile experience and provide next-best-action recommendations for your users. Let’s say you want to set up a campaign to focus on abandoned carts. What goes into the messaging strategy to inform the best campaign? 

To determine where to start your personalization messaging for an abandoned cart campaign. Consider these questions: 

  1. What is your current abandoned cart rate and what does that mean in dollars?  
  2. What products or services are most commonly abandoned?  
  3. What types of users are the most common abandoners?  
  4. At what stage in the buying process are carts being abandoned?  

Once you’ve answered these questions, identify the top opportunities to create the best result for your product or brand. Then, strategize the message you’ll want to send to target one or more of those evaluations – send a reminder to finish purchasing abandoned shoes, offer free shipping if users drop off at the end of checkout – you can use this strategy mentality toward any campaign for any goal in your messaging strategy.  

If you have 1 day: It’s time to build your first Workflow(s)! If you have some extra time to fully understand Workflows, you can already start building Workflows in Upland LocalyticsBear in mind, you’ll need to be fully set up for Workflows in your profile, meaning you’ll have set up your App GroupsGlobal Events, and have the correct permissions. Click the links for how-to documentation to get you set up. If you’ve set those up, you’re ready for your first Workflow: 

  1. Go to Marketing in the left pane and select Workflows. 
  2. Select the blue Create New button.  
  3. Enter a clear, descriptive name for the workflow, then select Continue to setup.  
  4. Select an app group that will receive the message from the drop-down list, and then select Confirm Audience. The entry event is the event a user needs to perform in order to qualify for the workflow, based on Global Events.  
  5. Select an entry event from the drop-down list, and then select Create Workflow.  
  6. Confirm entry events: You can add criteria to your entry event after set-up (by clicking the name of the entry event) such as how many times a user can enter the workflow, additional events through AND/OR requirements, and clicking Update. 
  7. Select profile filters: From the top of the Workflow Builder, select + Add Profile Filter and filling in the specific conditions, such as team name, age, and other customer profile criteria etc.  
  8. Once you’ve configured your workflow, you can build it! Once a user qualifies for the workflow based on the above qualifications, you can trigger one of three events: Add Event Listener, Add Wait Timer, and Send a Push Message 
  9. Event listener allows you to put users on a different path based on their interaction (or lack thereof) with your app during a certain period of time. This could be something like users who don’t perform a checkout. Adding the event listener will check to see if the user checks out before messaging them. 
  10. Adding a wait timer allows you to put users in a holding pattern for a defined period. This helps avoid over-messaging. 
  11. Sending a push message allows the message to arrive at the user’s phone.  
  12. Activate your workflow by selecting Draft at the top of Workflow Builder and selecting Yes, I’m Sure. Your workflow is now activated, congratulations!

For even more detailed instructions for setting up your Workflows, visit our Support center guide to building workflows 

Check in next week for the final Back to Basics guide, focused on analytics.  

Reliable products. Real results.

Every day, thousands of companies rely on Upland to get their jobs done simply and effectively. See how brands are putting Upland to work.

View Success Stories