Nested Programs in Nurture Programs

[Amanda_Opitz]

Hello,

I'm exploring nested programs in nurture programs and would just like some help/clarity on a few things. 

We'd like to send out a series of blogs, where the member will receive the next blog regardless of interaction. We only have two of the blogs written so far, so I've put those in an initial "Pre-Launch" stream. When the third blog is ready I'd like to activate the program in the second stream called "Launch."

Q1: When someone is added to the engagement program, do they immediately receive the first email (Program: Blog 1), or does it wait for a three-week point from the start date? If it does wait, is there a way to change that so it sends immediately?

Q2: If have the transition rules shown below, how can I ensure someone who just received the Program: Blog 2 email doesn't immediately receive the Program: Blog 3 email?

Sorry if these are obvious questions, I'm just finding the documentation confusing. Thank you for any help!

[Amit_Jain]

We'd like to send out a series of blogs, where the member will receive the next blog regardless of interaction. We only have two of the blogs written so far, so I've put those in an initial "Pre-Launch" stream. When the third blog is ready I'd like to activate the program in the second stream called "Launch."

Is there any specific reason you wanted to have a separate stream for next blog? You can just add the third blog in the same stream and all the folks will receive it in the next cast (even those have been exhausted).

Q1: When someone is added to the engagement program, do they immediately receive the first email (Program: Blog 1), or does it wait for a three-week point from the start date? If it does wait, is there a way to change that so it sends immediately?

In your cadence, you are sending content every 3 weeks on Tue, Wed and Thu. If the first cast happens on Thursday, Marketo will skip two weeks, and send again on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the following week. And then loop again. There is no way to sending the email immediately, but will be send on the scheduled cadence.

Q2: If have the transition rules shown below, how can I ensure someone who just received the Program: Blog 2 email doesn't immediately receive the Program: Blog 3 email?

Sorry if these are obvious questions, I'm just finding the documentation confusing. Thank you for any help!

In this case, you should not be using the transition rule. Since you are sending the email using a smart campaign within a program, wait for 3 weeks in that smart campaign and change the stream form there itself. But again back to my first question, any specific reason you are creating a separate stream for 3rd blog?

Regards,

Amit

[Amanda_Opitz]

Hi Amit,

Thanks for the help! I was starting a new stream because I wasn't sure that the first stream would just pick back up if I dragged in a new program, but now that you've confirmed it will there's no real need for a second stream. 

Something that I'm still not understanding is what does someone do if they're building a campaign where someone should receive the first email right away, and then any following emails on a scheduled cadence. Like a welcome campaign for example, you would want that person to get the email right after they subscribe and then maybe a follow-up email once a week for the following three weeks. 

Also, if it sends every three weeks, what do the days indicate? If I start things on a Thursday won't the next emails just send every three weeks on Thursdays?

Sorry if I'm overcomplicating things, I appreciate your help!

Thanks,

Amanda

[Vladislav_Vagn1]

I have been doing this via a separate trigger smart campaign that basically sends a welcome email and then has another flow step to drop them into the engagement program, at which point they get queued up for the cadence of the program. You can also have a trigger in your program that adds people to the program anytime they receive an X email (I think this method makes it easier to manage in the long term).

I think the cadence of the days just adds some more flexibility. If somebody is added to your program on Tuesday (after the cast) then they should get the next cast on Wednesday. If somebody is added to your program on Wednesday (after the cast) then they should get the next cast on Thursday. Whereas if they miss the Thursday cast, they will have to sit idle for 2 weeks until the next one starts. 

[Amanda_Opitz]

This is a great approach, thank you for sharing Vladislav!

[Tracey_Bartz1]

The days indicate the days of the week that your casts will be sent. In your case you have selected Every 3 weeks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. That means that every person you add to the stream will receive an email on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday every 3 weeks. Example for clarity: let's assume you turn the program on as you currently have it set up with just two pieces of content in the first stream and the first cast is scheduled for today (Tuesday, 12/10/19):

• If you added people to the stream today before the time of the first cast, those people would receive Blog 1 today and Blog 2 tomorrow. 
• If you added people to the stream Thursday morning before the cast time, those people would receive Blog 1 Thursday. They would not receive anything the next two weeks and they would receive Blog 2 on December 31. 
• If you added people to the stream Friday, those people would not receive anything the next two weeks and they would receive Blog 1 on December 31 and Blog 2 on January 1. 

It doesn't sound like this is what you are wanting. 

Instead, it sounds like what you are trying to do is send an email to everyone every 3 weeks. To accomplish this you'll want the cadence to be set to send every 3 weeks on just one day of the week. That means that regardless of when a person enters the stream they would receive one email every three weeks on the day you choose. As Vladislav mentioned, you can add a "send email" flow step to your "add members" smart campaign that would send out an initial welcome email immediately and then add people to the stream where they would fall into the recurring cadence. 

Now if instead you are trying to make it to where a person who enters the stream on Tuesday receives all their emails on Tuesdays and someone who enters the stream on Wednesday receives all their emails on Wednesdays, that's not really what the engagement program is designed to do. To accomplish that you want to use a default program and triggered smart campaigns with wait steps, but default programs do not include the stream features that are available in an engagement program so you'll need to weigh the pros and cons of this approach. 

[Amanda_Opitz]

Thank you for explaining this, it makes so much more sense now. I really appreciate your help!