Journeys App Guide

Overview

The Journeys App enables companies to manage customer engagement at scale. Tailored for specific purposes, such as target audience segment, customer journeys design and interactions automation, Ecrion Journeys function in conjunction with other apps (People, Claims DX, etc.) to create a cohesive customer journey.

Journeys creates digital experience that eliminates friction, engages and delights customers at critical MOTs (Moment of Truth). It uses built-in customer analytics to show the ROI (Return on Investment) and to improve it continuously. Using this app, companies can reduce customer loss, reduce operating costs and improve customer experience for long-term, profitable engagement.

Getting Started

Journeys automates the customer engagement along the customer journey. If you’re ready to take customer journey experience to the next level, follow the instructions in this section to find out more.

Installing the App

Follow the steps below to learn how to install the app.

• Start by accessing your Ecrion Account and go to the Benefits tab.
• Access your cloud organization.
• Click your account name in the top-right corner and select Explore Apps.
• Identify the Journeys app in the Grid Apps Menu and click More > button.
• Select Get It Now >, then fill in the form fields as below:
  • Category: Choose the category where you want to include this App to;
  • Access Rights: Use the drop-down list to configure the App permissions for your existing users or groups.
• Once ready, select Install.

Requesting a Demo

Follow the steps below to learn how to request a demo of the app.

• Log in to your Ecrion Account.
• Access your cloud organization from the Benefits tab.
• Click your account name in the right-corner of the page and access Explore Apps from the sidebar menu.
• Identify the Journeys app in the Grid Apps Menu and click More > button.
• Select the Request Demo button to send a request to the support team.
• You will be redirected to the Ecrion website, where you will be requested to complete a form with some required fields:
  • Provide your first name.
  • Provide your last name.
  • Provide your business email address.
  • Provide your company name.
  • Write some comments regarding the request you are about to send (e.g. reason, purpose).
• Once you're ready, select Request Demo.
• Verify your mail inbox where you will receive further notice regarding the request.

Journeys Interface

This section provides a detailed tour of the most common components that add interactivity to the Journeys Interface. Find below the touchpoints for the users as they navigate throughout the app and learn how to make full use of them.

(A) Navigation Bar - appears at the top of the app screen and it is split into 3 sections - left, center and right.

• In the left side, there is the Organization name, from where you can access the Cloud Organization welcome page and view the installed apps.
• In the center of the navigation bar, there is the Name of the app from where you can redirect, to the Journeys View, whatever page you are visiting at the moment.
• In the right side of the navigation bar, there is the Help Center that offers options for support, access to the Ecrion Documentation, user feedback, etc. Next to the Help Center, there is also the Account Name that enables a list of right sidebar options, such as organization, account, users configurations or exploring the available apps.

(B) Toolbar - displays the main views of the application you are currently working with.

• Journeys - a view with all the existing journeys (journeys and episodes) displayed in detail mode.
• Personas - a view with all the existing personas displayed in a detail mode.

(C) Sidebar - contains the two views for displaying the journeys data. The sidebar has two states: Hidden or Locked. These can be set up by correspondingly clicking on the Shrink ( ) or Expand ( ) buttons. When expanded, you can select from the following listed options:

• All - displays a view with all types of journeys (journeys or episodes).
• Journeys - displays a view with the journeys only.
• Episodes - displays a view with the episodes only.

(D) Page Content - is the dedicated region that you will use to easily navigate through your journeys and find the associated information, such as the name of the journey, its description, if it is enabled or not, the assigned target audience, when the journey was last modified and the number of contacts. Additionally, this area gives you access to some options for filtering and sorting the existing journeys within the page.

Journeys App Basics

Customer Journeys reveal the experiences that your customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. The app creates a narrative starting from the journey purpose and automatically enrolls a customer to a journey based on a specific target audience (persona or list). In this way, different customer stages are allowed to be defined inside a journey. Using a journey map to track the entire customer experience, in real-time, will help you pro-actively monitor your customers and manage them appropriately.

Within the app, you can create two types of customer journeys: journeys or episodes.

• Journeys

  A Journey refers to a long-term narrative that automatically enrolls customers in a scenario based on persona. You may want to insert such a type of journey, if you want to restrict contacts to be included in one journey only. An example could be a journey that presents the experience customers are having, focusing on a single aspect, such as monthly statements special offers.

• Episodes

  An Episode refers to a short-term scenario that automatically enrolls customers in a scenario based on lists. You may want to insert such a journey to allow contacts to be included in multiple episodes. An example could be, an episode that presents the experience customers are having, focusing on multiple aspects, such as ways to promote useful content and teach timely topics.

Journeys

This section proposes a good and easy way of navigating through journeys and find the associated information next to them - information such as the name of the journey, its status (enabled or disabled), the assigned target audience, the date when the journey was last modified and the number of contacts enrolled in the corresponding target audience.

Creating New Journey

Follow the steps below to learn how to create a new journey.

• Access the Journeys tab on the toolbar.
• Select the New button from the right-corner of the page.
• Select Journey from the drop-down menu.
• Choose a template as a starting point before customizing as you need, then click Next. Journeys provide two options as a starting point:
  • Blank: Empty template to configure the journey from scratch.
  • Customer Nurture: Template for supporting the process of developing customer relationships at every stage of their interaction with the sales funnel.
• Provide a relevant name for the new journey.
• Provide a description of the journey.
• Choose the destination folder of the journey.
• Once you're ready, click Finish.

Creating New Episode

Follow the steps below to learn how to create a new episode.

• Access the Journeys tab on the toolbar.
• Select the New button from the right-corner of the page.
• Select Episode from the drop-down menu.
• Choose a template as a starting point before customizing as you need, then click Next. Episodes provide two options as a starting point:
  • Blank: Empty template to configure the episode from scratch.
  • Webinar: Template for creating a web-based seminar for your customers.
  • Newsletter: Template for setting up an episode that delivers newsletters to your customers.
• Provide a relevant name for the new episode.
• Provide a description of the episode.
• Choose the destination folder of the episode.
• Once you're ready, click Finish.

Once you created the journey, you can click on it to explore the journey map. You will be redirected to Journey's Preview page, associated to the respective customer journey selected.

Filtering Journeys

Starting from the Journeys page, you can filter the entities listed within.

• To filter the customer journeys information displayed, select from the left sidebar a filter from the list based on which you want to filter the results (e.g. Episodes).

Sorting Journeys

Starting from the Journeys page, you can sort the entities listed within by using the available column-headers, such as Name, Enabled or Last Modified.

• To sort the journey's information displayed, select a column-header (e.g. Name) and the list will sort the results in ascending ( ) or descending ( ) order.
• If multiple sorting criteria are applied, such as Name, Enabled, and Last Modified, the high-priority is received by the last criteria set.

Contextual Journeys Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a journey.

• Access the Journeys tab from the toolbar.
• Select the More Actions ( ) button of a customer journey (journey/episode) from the Page Content.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Open: Use the Open button to open the journey in the Journey Details page, where you can view or edit the Journey/Episode Map or Contacts enrolled.
  • Edit: Use the Edit button to edit the journey in the Journey Editor.
  • Validate: Use the Validate button to ensure that all the dependencies of the customer journey are available.
  • Export: Use the Export button to download a zip archive together with all the assets associated with the journey.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to permanently remove the journey and all its dependencies.
  • Properties: Use the Properties button to edit the journey (modify its name, description or target audience).

Journey Editor

The Journey Editor is an online tool for designing customer experience by visualizing data points from different stages or stakeholders into an integrated map structure.

Journey Details Page

A journey can be seen as the customer lifecycle that comprises a complete company-customer relationship, from start to finish. A preview of your journey map can be seen by accessing the customer journey from the Page Content.

Selecting a journey/episode in the Journeys page will redirect you to the Journey Details page.

(A) Sidebar - contains two views for displaying the journeys data. The sidebar has two states: Hidden or Locked. These can be set up by correspondingly clicking on the Shrink ( ) or Expand ( ) buttons. When expanded, you can select from the following listed options:

• Touchpoints - displays a view with all the touchpoints defined in the journey.
• Dependencies - displays a view with the journey's dependencies and in which touchpoint or milestone the corresponding communication was used.

(B) Journey Map - is the central area of the Journey Details Page that provides a smooth and clear eyesight interface to track your entire customer engagement evolution within your company. It combines two powerful instruments: storytelling (beneath the map) and visualization of the customer journey step-by-step (the map itself).

(C) Contacts Pane - represents the right sidebar of the page, offering easy access and details on every customer assigned to the current journey. The sidebar has two states: Hidden or Locked. These can be set up by correspondingly clicking on the Shrink ( ) or Expand ( ) buttons.

Exploring Journey Map

The Journey Map provides a welcoming and quick way of checking your customer trail, by displaying all the stages within a workflow that a customer needs to follow. Here you are able to depict the interactive path of your customers within the journey they are enrolled with. It also maps out all the different checkpoints you expect your customers to pass through along their journey goals.

Moreover, the narrative, positioned under the journey map, provides an additional support for the map in a more linear way. For example, it can focus on customer's emotional state changes.

In order to customize the journey map, select the Edit button in the top right-hand corner of the page and you will be redirected to the Journey Editor.

Customizing Your Journey

Each journey is structured in a sequence of stages, which usually happen over time. It also shows a sequence of all touchpoints, interactions, and engagements of a customer before that person reaches a journey milestone. For example, the customers pass through stages, activating certain touchpoints based on some predefined event rules.

In this section you will find about each type of the components that add interactivity to a journey map. For more details, select a component from the table below.

Stages	Milestones	Touchpoints	Steps	Triggers

Stages

A journey is structured in a sequence of stages that customers pass over time, activating certain touchpoints based on some predefined event rules. During a time period, a customer connects touchpoints together and expresses a customer journey. This is depicted using a dotted line that unites the touchpoint bullets. The solid lines are drawn by the user and represent his customer journey route prediction. This way, unexpected routes can be detected and analyzed. The horizontal center area represents the main route a user is expected to follow, and the touchpoints positioned outside can lead to alternate routes.

Adding New Stages

Follow the steps below to learn how to create a new stage for the journey.

• Starting from the Journey Editor, slide the horizontal scroll bar till the end of the journey.
• Select Add stage from the bottom bar of the journey's stages.
• Provide a relevant name for the new stage.

Contextual Stage Options

Follow the steps below to learn how to explore the options from the contextual menu of a stage.

• Right click on a stage from the bottom bar of the journey map.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Delete: Use the Delete stage button to remove the current stage from your journey.
  • Rename: Use the Rename stage button to edit the name of the current journey stage.
  • Color: Use the Color button to change the color of the stage according to your preferences.

Milestones

A milestone is a goal that you want a customer to achieve after completing a list of tasks (touchpoints). The end of each meaningful journey is reaching a milestone. For example, a customer completes a form and sends the communication to approval. If the form is denied, the communication is set as denied so the journey ends following an alternative route, other than the expected one.

Adding Milestones

Follow the steps below to learn how to add new milestones to your journey map.

• Starting from the Journey Editor, select Components from the left sidebar.
• Drag and drop the Milestone component from the sidebar into the design surface.
• Provide a relevant name for your milestone.
• Optionally, you can right-click on any touchpoint to convert it to a milestone.
  • Select Make milestone from the contextual menu.

Contextual Milestone Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a milestone.

• Right click on a milestone from the journey map.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Edit: Use the Edit touchpoint button to configure its triggers and steps. For more details, please visit the Editing Touchpoints section.
  • Color: Use the Color picker to change the color of the milestone according to your preferences.
  • Convert to touchpoint: Use the Convert to touchpoint button to convert the milestone to a touchpoint.
  • Rename: Use the Rename button to edit the name of the current journey milestone.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to remove the current milestone from your journey.

Touchpoints

A touchpoint is referring to any interaction that may alter your customer's experience in the time they follow the journey. As points at which a person comes into contact with your company, these are also referred to as moments of truth that have the greatest impact on customer loyalty.

Adding Touchpoints

Follow the steps below to learn how to add new touchpoints to your journey map.

• Access the Journey Editor.
• Double-click on the stage area where you want to add a touchpoint or drag and drop the Touchpoint component from the sidebar into the design surface.
• Provide a relevant name for your touchpoint.

Contextual Touchpoint Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a touchpoint.

• Right click on a touchpoint from the journey map.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Edit: Use the Edit touchpoint button to configure its triggers and steps. For more details, please visit the Editing Touchpoints section.
  • Color: Use the Color picker to change the color of the touchpoint according to your preferences.
  • Make milestone: Use the Make milestone button to convert to a milestone, if it is an ending touchpoint.
  • Rename: Use the Rename button to edit the name of the current journey touchpoint.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to remove the current touchpoint from your journey.

Editing Touchpoints

Follow the steps below to learn how to edit a touchpoint/milestone from the journey map.

• Right click on a touchpoint/milestone from the journey map and select Edit touchpoint from the contextual menu.
• Select Properties tab from the left sidebar and edit the touchpoint/milestone according to your needs:
  • Name: Provide a new name for your component (touchpoint or milestone).
  • Description: Add a description that will be shown on top of the page, while previewing the component, before accessing the edit mode.
  • Triggered By: Select the Add ( ) button to add a trigger for your touchpoint/milestone. For more details, please visit the Triggers section.
  • Steps: Select the Add ( ) button to add a step for your touchpoint/milestone. For more details, please visit the Steps section.
  • Properties: Select the Add ( ) button to add a property for your touchpoint/milestone. For more details, please visit the Touchpoint Properties section.

Triggers

A trigger or a touchpoint event represents a trigger factor for activating a touchpoint/milestone. Each touchpoint can have multiple events that can trigger a customer transition.

Adding Triggers

Follow the steps below to learn how to configure a trigger for a touchpoint/milestone.

• Starting from the edit mode of a component (touchpoint/milestone), go to Properties tab from the sidebar.
• Select the Add ( ) button next to the Triggered By section.
• Choose a trigger from the contextual menu:
  • Account Updated - activate the touchpoint when the Account criteria is met.
  • Contact Updated - activate the touchpoint when the Contact criteria is met.
  • Correspondence Submitted - activate the touchpoint when the correspondence document is submitted.
  • Document Created - activate the touchpoint when the document is created.
  • Email Read - activate the touchpoint when the email is read.
  • Email Link Clicked - activate the touchpoint when the email link is accessed.
  • Email Opted-Out - activate the touchpoint when a contact opts out from an email.
  • Touchpoint Completed - activate the touchpoint when another touchpoint is completed.
  • Tracked Event - activate the touchpoint when an event that is tracked occurs.
  • Task Completed - activate the touchpoint when a task is successfully completed.
• Once you're ready with all the configurations, select the Save ( ) button on top of the page to apply the changes.

Depending on which type of trigger is selected, the Properties tab from the sidebar will update accordingly (e.g. for a Correspondence Submitted trigger, you have to select a project from a drop-down or create a new one).

Contextual Trigger Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a trigger in its edit mode.

• Right click on a trigger of the touchpoint in edit mode.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Rename: Use the Rename button to edit the name of the current trigger.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to remove the current trigger from your touchpoint.

Steps

When an event is triggered, the system analysis all touchpoints events and finds a match for the contact that triggered it. After the contact transition in the current touchpoint, the steps start to run.

When you try to make a connection between two components (two touchpoints or a touchpoint and a milestone), a dialog will be displayed on the screen, where you can activate triggers based on the steps of the connection start-node. This is an automatic method of binding connections. The same happens when a trigger or a step is inserted in the touchpoint edit mode - a connection line will be drawn based on the previous added triggers/steps.

Adding Steps

Follow the steps below to learn how to configure a step for a touchpoint/milestone.

• Starting from the edit mode of a component (touchpoint/milestone), go to Properties tab from the sidebar.
• Select the Add ( ) button next to the Steps section.
• Choose a step from the contextual menu:
  • Communication - run a specific communication, after the touchpoint is activated.
  • Wait - wait a specified time until process the next iteration (if it has one); this time can be relative (x days/minutes/seconds from now) or absolute (e.g. a specific date: Jan 10 2020 13.00 AM).
  • Advanced Workflow - runs a custom workflow by selecting it from the list of projects or uploading from your local machine.
  • Task - assign a Review Journey task to an engaged customer.
• Once you're ready with all the configurations, select the Save ( ) button from the toolbar to apply the changes.

Depending on which type of step is selected, the Properties tab from the sidebar will update accordingly (e.g. for a Communication step, you have to select a project from a drop-down or create a new one).

Contextual Step Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a step in its edit mode.

• Right click on a step of the touchpoint in edit mode.
• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select the following options, according to your needs:
  • Rename: Use the Rename button to edit the name of the current step.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to remove the current step from your touchpoint.

Touchpoint Properties

The properties that can be configured for a touchpoint/milestone represent parameters that can be tagged in the editing mode of a component. The available parameters can be added from the left sidebar under the Properties tab and act as a filter to the journey stages.

Adding Properties

Follow the steps below to learn how to configure a property for a touchpoint/milestone.

• Starting from the edit mode of a component (touchpoint/milestone), go to Properties tab from the sidebar.
• Select the Add ( ) button next to the Properties section.
• Choose a property from the contextual menu:
  • Name - apply a Name tag to the touchpoint that facilitates sorting & searching in the Name column.
  • Add Tag - add a parameter as a tag to the touchpoint.
• Enable the Is Final option
• Once you're ready with all the configurations, select the Save ( ) button on top of the page to apply the changes.

Journey Analytics

Accessing Analytics

Follow the steps below to learn how to access the analytics of a journey.

• Starting from the Journeys Details page, select the More Actions ( ) button from the right-corner of the page.
• Select Analytics from the drop-down menu.
• You will be redirected to Communications app, where there will be displayed all the communications that have been used in the journey.

Target Audience

In this section, you are able to create and manage the target audience for a journey by using personas. A target audience is the demographic of people most likely to be interested in your products or services. It consists of a particular segment at which a product is aimed. For example, if you own a toy store, your target audience is parents, grandparents and anyone else with children in their lives.

Personas

Defining personas means to be able to segment your customers effectively. Next, you can proceed with designing your customer journeys to tailor each of the persona's needs.

This view allows you easily navigate through your existing personas and find the associated information, such as the name of the persona, its description, the associated journey and the number of contacts within.

For more details, regarding the creation of a new persona, view of the assigned contacts or access to persona's properties, please visit the appropriate sections within this guide. To continue, select one of the options below.

Creating New Persona
Viewing Contacts
Access Persona's Properties

Creating New Persona

Follow the steps below to learn how to add a new persona.

• Starting from the Personas view, select the New button from the right-corner of the page.
• Provide the required fields with the appropriate values.
  • Provide a name for the new persona.
  • Provide a description of the persona;
  • Add a filter from the Add drop-down list and create a condition statement that a contact must satisfy before being assigned to this persona. You can add rules based on various type of fields, such as Sales, General, Demographic, Billing Contact information, Accounts or List membership.
  • Additionally, select the Group ( ) button at the left side of conditions to indent certain statements of your rules.
• Once you're ready, click Create.

Viewing Contacts

Follow the steps below to learn how to view the contacts within a persona.

• Access the Personas page by selecting Personas from the toolbar.
• Identify the persona for which you want to access its contacts and select it from the list.
• A view with all the contacts associated to that persona will be displayed in the page.

Sorting Contacts

Starting from the Contacts page, you can sort the entities listed within by using the available column-headers, such as Name, Account, Email or Contact Owner.

• To sort the contacts information displayed, select a column-header (e.g. Name) and the list will sort the results in ascending ( ) or descending ( ) order.
• If multiple sorting criteria are applied, such as Name, Account, and Contact Owner, the high-priority is received by the last criteria set.

Contextual Personas Options

Follow the steps below to explore the options from the contextual menu of a persona.

• Access the Personas page by selecting Personas from the toolbar.
• Identify a persona for which you want to access its contextual menu and select the More Actions ( ) button corresponding to it.

• From the contextual menu displayed, you can select from the following options:

  • Open: Use the Open button to access the list of contacts. All contacts assigned to this Persona will be displayed in a list, from where you can easily make further configurations.
  • Delete: Use the Delete button to remove the persona along with all the contacts assigned to it. Before permanently remove the persona, you will be required to confirm the deletion.

  Note

  Deleting a Persona will not delete the journey. Instead, it will unroll all Contacts in that Persona from that journey.

  • Properties: Use the Properties button to edit properties of a Persona. From the Edit dialog you can:
    • Rename the current persona.
    • Update the persona's description.
    • Modify the existing rules that define a persona.