Event reminder email gone wrong - as date of event changes (date tolken was updated)

[Marie_Fougner]

We set up a whole event program flow in Marketo. 

Initially the date of the event was the 12 March, and we had 25 pax register at this point. When we decided to move the date out to the 20 March, we updated the tale token to the 20 March 2020. 

The event reminder smart campaign had the following settings:

Smart list:

When a program status is changes to changes and their new status is 'Registered', 

Flow:

(Wait) They would receive the reminder email 7 days before {{my.Event Date}} at 7:00AM 

Although the date tolken was updated to the 20 March 2020, the 25 that registered before the date change received the email one week too early (reflecting the old date).

People that registered after the date change did not get that incorrect email. 

Why has this happened? It's like the original 25 people are caught in the old stream although on the surface (at least) all assets and program smarts were updated.

Any idea?? Want tho prevent this from happening in the future.

I have deactivated the 'Event Reminder' smart campaign as I don't want them to receive the seond event reminder one day before the wrong date. 

I am assuming I must build a brand new smart campaign to get everyone on the correct timings? Just mindful that the original 25v might still be connected to the old date somehow?

[Phillip_Wild · Accepted solution]

Hi Marie

If someone entered that smart campaign before the change was made, then the Wait step would have been evaluated at that point, which is why it would have been sent out at the incorrect time. If you want to avoid this, you would have to use a single data flow action (grab all members of the smart campaign and then remove them from the smart campaign), and then re-add them so the smart campaign re-evaluates them.

I would think of it this way....

March 2: person is triggered and enters the smart campaign. Wait steps evaluates to send 7 days before March 12 (March 5)

March 3: date token is updated

March 4: another person is triggered and enters the smart campaign. Wait step evaluates to send 7 days before March 20 (March 13).

March 5: email is sent to Person 1

March 13: email is sent to Person 2

Every flow step is evaluated as people come in, so unfortunately it's not going to recalibrate after you update it. In a similar way, if you sent an email using that token, if it was sent on March 2, it would say March 15. If you sent it after the change, on March 4, then it would say March 20. That email you sent on March 2 won't update to reflect the new date - it's evaluated and completed. 

Deactivating the old campaign is unnecessary now the problematic date has passed - anyone with the old date wouldn't flow through twice (unless you explicitly tell them to). So for this one, you might just want to create a batch "cleanup" send where you send the reminder email out to anyone who hasn't already received it, and exclude the ones who already have (since likely the have got an apology email or something).

Hope this makes sense! 

[Nicholas_Manojl · Accepted solution]

I'm probably just reiterating the other post here, but anyone in the wait step would be "stuck", and the wait step wouldn't be re-evaluated for the date change. 

For what it's worth, the assets would have displayed the correct date at time of delivery.

I'm not totally sure of myself which route I'd recommend in future. In theory, I like the way you've set things up, probably moreso than just Run Later feature on the schedule tab. That said, if you anticipate lots of changes to the date generally it might be the better way to go.. so you can just adjust the schedule as needed.