Journey Components: Rules and Combinations

When building a Custom Journey, a series of components of different classes are at disposal to create end-to-end complex journeys. Some combinations of components are not allowed at all in a single Custom Journey and are directly blocked in the journey builder, others are only mentioned upon validating the journey. Also, some components can be combined in the same journey, however a certain order needs to be respected.

To help journey builders in this process, we have created a non exhaustive overview of the more complex journey components that cannot be used in combination with certain other components.

  • A red cross is used to indicate invalid combinations.
    These components can never be used together in a journey.
  • An exclamation mark indicates there are certain conditions when combining these components.
    These conditions are explained below the table.
    Click any to go straight to the corresponding explanation.
    A few examples are: A component can precede but not follow a specific component, components can be used in the same journey but not be directly linked to each other, a component cannot directly precede another component but can be placed elsewhere before the other component,...
Component class Component Validation Data Input Single Batch Recurring Batch Redirect Audience Filter Random Split Wait Wave Sample Control Group AB Test Delivery Optimization
Data
Validation		                      
 
Data		          
Entry
Input		        

Single
Batch		                  

Recurring
Batch 		               
Interaction
Redirect 		                           
Audiences
Audience
Filter 		                     
Select and
optimize
Random
Split 		                   

Wait 		                   

Wave 		           

Sample 		                   

Control
Group 		                     

AB Test 		               

Delivery
Optimization 		                     

 

General rule

Every journey with an interactive path (for example a click in an email) must end in a page or a Redirect to another journey.

 

Data

Validation Component

  • Must be directly preceded by another Validation, Page, Email, Mobile Message, Data or Lookup Component.
  • Must be directly followed by another Validation, Page, Email, Mobile Message, Data, Event Data, or Lookup Component, as well as any of the Social Channels, Custom Channels or SMS. It is possible to add a Random Split or Rule Based Split Component in between.
  • Cannot be directly followed or preceded by a Wave Component, Audience Filter or Wait Component. However, these components can be used elsewhere in the journey.
  • There can be multiple Validation Components in one journey.

 

Data Component

  • Cannot be linked directly after a Single Batch or Recurring Batch Journey Component. An interaction is required between the Batch Component and the Data Component (for example a click in an email).
  • Can be used directly after an Input or Inbound Event Component.
  • Cannot be preceded directly or followed directly by the Wait Component, Wave Component, Sample Component, AB Component, Audience Filter, Control Group Component, Delivery Optimization Component.

 

Entry

Input Component

An Input Component is an entry point to the journey for a single contact (interactive path), hence Audience Filter Components cannot be used in combination with the Input Component.

  • Cannot be used with AB Component.
  • Cannot be used with Sample Component.
  • Cannot be used with Wave Component.
  • Cannot be used with a Wait Component.
  • Cannot be used with a Control Group Component.
  • Cannot be used with an Audience Filter Component.
  • Can be used with other Input Components. However, these Input Components cannot be added sequentially to the journey. You can however have multiple Input Components that are an entry point to different locations in the journey. (For example, a journey with different paths and communications. An Input Component could be linked to each of these different paths, redirecting a contact directly to that path from another journey)
  • When the Input Component is the start of the journey, it cannot be followed by a Single Batch or Recurring Batch Component (or any other entry component). However, when the journey starts with a Single Batch or Recurring Batch Component, Input Components can be used to let contacts enter the journey further down the path (For example, an Input component that goes directly to an Email Component in the journey)
  • Journeys with an Input Component must always end in a page.
  • Can only be followed by Interaction Components (email, mobile message, SMS, Redirect,..) Data Save and Data Lookup Components, Rule based and Random Split Components.

 

Single Batch Component

  • A journey can only have one Single Batch Component.
  • Cannot be combined with a Recurring Batch Component.
  • Cannot be combined with a Wait Component as a re-execution of the journey is required to evaluate the wait and execute the steps beyond.
  • Has an optional start date - when omitted means "activate now".
  • Can be used in combination with an Input Component where the Input Component is not the start component in the journey but merely an entry into the journey further down the journey path.

 

Recurring Batch Component

  • A journey can only have one Recurring Batch Component.
  • Cannot be used together with a Single Batch Journey Component.
  • Can be used in combination with an Input Component where the Input Component is not the start Component in the journey but merely an entry into the journey further down the journey path.
  • Cannot be used with an AB Component.
  • Cannot be used with a Wave Component.
  • Cannot be followed directly by a Page or a Redirect Component (which is different from the Single Batch Component)

 

Interaction

Redirect Component

  • Is always the last component in a journey. It cannot be followed by another component hence Redirect Components do not generate events.
  • When the Redirect points to another journey, this can only be a journey with an Input Component.
  • You can use multiple Redirect Components in a journey.
  • Ensure that the destination journey uses the same audience as the source journey. When sending contacts anonymously, this is not required.

 

Audiences

Audience Filter Component

  • Can be used sequentially in a journey. This means that an Audience Filter Component can be followed by another Audience Filter Component.
  • Can only be directly preceded by a Wait Component, Audience Filter Component, Single Batch Component or Recurring Batch Component.
  • There can only be one incoming event for the Audience Filter Component.
  • Is always followed by another component.
  • Cannot be directly linked to a Validation Component.
  • Can also be put in parallel, each one forming a different branch after the same component event. This allows you to have different paths for different audience segments. For example, after the Start event, multiple Audience Filters Components can be placed, each linked to the OnStart event.
  • The Audience Filter is applied until the first interaction component only.
  • You can use multiple Audience Filter Components in a journey.

 

Select and Optimize

Random Split Component

  • Cannot be used in combination with the AB Component.
  • Cannot be used in combination with Wave Component.
  • Cannot be used with Sample Component.
  • When using the Random Split Component in combination with the Input Component , every version after the Split must end in a page/redirect.
  • Multiple Random Split Components can be combined in a Single Journey.
  • Can be combined with any Entry or Event Entry Component: Input, Single Batch, Recurring Batch, Inbound Event, Retargeting Event, Abandoned Cart Event.

 

Wait Component

  • Can only be positioned after an interaction component (Email, SMS, Mobile push). It can never be placed after an Entry Component. An action on these interaction components can be used to trigger the Wait Component.
  • Multiple interaction components can precede the Wait Component but they have to be of the same type (for example only Email Components).
  • All incoming events on the Wait Component must be of the same type (for example 'on send').
  • Should be directly followed by a interaction component of the 'bulk' type. This means that after the Wait Component, an Email, SMS or Mobile Message Component needs to be added. A Random or Rule Based Split Component, or Audience Filter Component may be introduced between the Wait and the bulk content.
  • Cannot be directly linked to a Validation Component.
  • The delay defined in the Wait Component can not be smaller than the recurrence of the journey execution. It is recommended to have a delay that is a multiple of the execution.
  • The delay of the Wait Component can not be zero.
  • Can only be used with a Recurring Batch Component
  • You can use multiple Wait Components in a journey.

 

Wave Component

  • Cannot be used in combination with Random Split Component.
  • Cannot be used in combination with AB Test Component.
  • Cannot be used in combination with Delivery Optimization Component.
  • Cannot be used in combination with a %-based Sample Component
  • Cannot be directly linked to a Validation Component.
  • Is always directly followed by any of these Interaction Components : SMS, Mobile Message, Email, Custom Channel, Social Channel).
  • Can only be used with a Single Batch Component.
  • The minimum time interval between two waves must be at least 5 minutes.
  • You can use multiple Wave Components in a journey.

 

Sample Component

  • Can only be used after a Single Batch or Recurring Batch Component. It cannot be used with an Input Component.
  • Must be followed (not directly) by an 'outbound' Interaction Component (Email, SMS, Mobile Message, Custom Channel, Social Channel).
  • Cannot be combined with a Wave Component when a percentage is used to define the Sample records.
  • Cannot be used with a Random Split Component.
  • You can use multiple Sample Components in a journey.

 

Control Groups

  • Cannot be used in combination with AB Test Component.
  • Cannot be used in a Cadence plan.
  • Cannot be used with an Input Component.

 

AB Test

  • Cannot be used with Control Groups.
  • Cannot be used with Random Split Component (however it does work with Rule Based Split).
  • Cannot be used with SMS, only with Email and Mobile Message.
  • Cannot be used with the Wave Component.
  • Deduplication is not supported on messages used in AB Test journeys.
  • Only one type of channel at a time is supported in an AB Test journey.
  • Cannot be used with Recurring Batch or Input Component.
  • Can only be directly followed by an Email or Mobile Message Component.
  • Can only be used once in a journey

 

Delivery Optimization

  • Cannot be used with Input Component.
  • Cannot be used with Wave Component.
  • Must be followed (not directly) by an Email Component. Other channels are not available for Send-Time Optimization.
  • For Custom Journeys using the Recurring Batch Component, the following extra conditions apply:
    • The journey must be scheduled for daily execution.
    • The fallback STO time must be between the start of the journey and the end of the day. If not, validation messages are returned and the journey start time needs to be adapted accordingly.