Best practices on Engagement program/ Nurtures

[aditya_Sharma]

I would require some help on the below points.

1 If an engagement program has only one stream and leads have exhausted all of the content:
a. If an email is added on top of the stream, will the leads receive all of the other content again?

b. If the email is added at the bottom, will the exhausted leads get the email?

2 When adding a new email to activated programs, what things to keep in mind?

3 When adding new leads to activated programs, what things to keep in mind?

4 If an engagement program has three streams and new content is added to the 2nd stream, would it affect anything?

5 When to pause the nurture program?

6 When could we remove leads from the nurture?

7 Which reporting metrics are important to keep?

[Darshil_Shah1 · Accepted solution]

1. Adding Email to a Single Stream Engagement Program:

• No, leads won't receive existing content again. Adding an email on top only affects new leads entering the program. Exhausted leads won't be retriggered, and the new email becomes the first touchpoint for new leads.
• Yes, exhausted members with normal cadence will receive the new content added to the stream (given that they're emailable and haven't reached their communication limits).

2. Adding Emails to Activated Programs:

• Add content to the right stream and in the correct position. The order of content matters a lot in engagement programs. Marketo sends the first unsent content to each member in the respective engagement program stream. If you add new content offer(s) at the wrong position, people will be sent the content in the incorrect order.
• Engagement metrics: Monitor engagement metrics like open rates and click-through rates after adding the new email to assess its impact.
• Program goals: Ensure the new email aligns with the program's overall goals and target audience.

3. Adding Leads to Activated Programs:

• Segmentation: Ensure new people meet the program's criteria and target audience. Have a nurture eligibility smart list, and use that as a filter in the campaign(s) that add people to the engagement program. You can also use this smart list as a criterion to unpause/pause people already in the engagement programs. Adding irrelevant leads can affect engagement metrics.
• Entry point: Decide whether new leads should start at the beginning of the program or enter based on specific triggers or actions.

4. Adding Content to a Stream in a Multi-Stream Program:

• Impact on other streams: Adding content to one stream won't directly affect other streams unless they share triggers or dependencies.
• Target audience: Ensure the new content aligns with the specific stream's target audience and contributes to its objectives strategically.
• Overall program flow: Consider how the new content fits into the program's overall narrative and user journey across all streams.

5. Pausing Nurture Programs:

• Holiday break/temporarily suspend program: Pause during the times people would likely not engage with the content, e.g., during Christmas/New Year holidays.
• Low engagement: Consider pausing if engagement metrics significantly drop, indicating an issue with the content or targeting.
• Campaign changes: Pause if making significant changes to the program's goals, audience, or content to avoid sending outdated or irrelevant information.

6. Removing Leads from Nurture:

• Unsubscribes: Automatically remove leads who unsubscribe to avoid sending unwanted emails.
• Inactive leads: Remove leads who haven't shown engagement for a predetermined period to improve program efficiency.
• Change in qualification: Remove leads who no longer meet the program's target audience criteria. You can create a campaign to manage the cadence of members - Pause if they don't satisfy the nurture eligibility and Un-pause (i.e., change cadence to Normal) when they again satisfy/meet the nurture criteria. You would need to create nurture operation campaigns to manage this

7. Important Reporting Metrics:

• Open rates: Track email open rates to assess content relevance and audience interest.
• Click-through rates: Monitor click-through rates to see if recipients engage with call-to-actions.
• Conversion rates: Track conversions (e.g., downloads, form submissions) to measure program effectiveness in achieving goals.
  • Opens and Clicks could be inflated due to MPP, email scanners, and bot activities, so it's important to not rely on just those metrics and also take into consideration other metrics such as conversation rates for gauging the performance.
• Engagement score: Utilize Marketo's engagement score to identify leads progressing through the program and engaging with content.
• Unsubscribes and bounces: Monitor unsubscribe and bounce rates to identify potential issues with content, targeting, or deliverability.

Tailor your approach based on your specific program goals, content, and audience. I hope you find this helpful. Please let us know if you have questions. Lastly, there are plenty of insightful threads, blogs, and articles on Engagement programs in the Marketing Nation community!

[aditya_Sharma]

 @Darshil_Shah1 Thanks for the inputs; they were helpful for me. I truly appreciate your contribution and insight

[uditmathur · Accepted solution]

Hi aditya_Sharma,

1 If an engagement program has only one stream and leads have exhausted all of the content:
a. If an email is added on top of the stream, will the leads receive all of the other content again? - NO, Leads those who have exhausted will only receive the new content added to the stream. Nurture program is designed with logic to keep track of the content delivered, so if a content is already delivered to a lead it will not be delivered again to same email id.

b. If the email is added at the bottom, will the exhausted leads get the email? - Exhausted leads will receive the new content added to stream in the next cast irrespective of the position it is added to. For e.g. if you have 6 content in your stream & you add a new content at position 4, all the exhausted leads will still receive content in the next cast. 

2 When adding a new email to activated programs, what things to keep in mind? Nurture programs are best utilized when you keep your content updated & relevant to your target customers. Thus the most important point will be to keep the content relevant to that stream & avoid content duplication.  

3 When adding new leads to activated programs, what things to keep in mind?  Add the leads to the stream relevant to their position in the sales cycle & gradually transit them to upper streams based on their interaction with your content.

4 If an engagement program has three streams and new content is added to the 2nd stream, would it affect anything? Technically NO, this will only impact the leads in 2nd stream & the content will be delivered only to leads in 2nd stream as per the position you added the content to.

5 When to pause the nurture program? I presume you mean pause for a specific lead, its best to pause a nurture program for a lead when it reaches your program success or in case of an inactive lead how has not interacted with your content at all during a certain period of time (say for 6months). 

6 When could we remove leads from the nurture? - Once they have reached program success (registered for an event or webinar, bought your product or subscription).

7 Which reporting metrics are important to keep? Engagement Score, Stream performance report.

This link will also help

https://nation.marketo.com/t5/product-discussions/nurture-program-best-practices/td-p/314639

https://www.slideshare.net/jdavidhill/lead-nurturing-with-marketo

[aditya_Sharma]

@uditmathur Thanks for the inputs; they were helpful for me. I truly appreciate your contribution and insight