Streams and Smart Lists

[Mr_Dee]

Hi,

If a Smart List is used to add recipients to an Engagement Program stream, is the recipients criteria reevaluated at each step of the stream i.e. can someone drop off the stream because they no longer pass the Smart List criteria? 

I think I have read that Subscription status is reviewed at each step, but I wasn't clear if all of the Smart List criteria is.

Assuming that the Smart List criteria is applied at each step, is it best practice to populate a static list and use that to add recipients to the stream?

Thanks in advance. 

[Darshil_Shah1]

We'd need more information on how you've set up your Engagement program. Do you have emails as content in the stream or have Default program as content in the stream (and if so, do you check for eligibility in the send campaigns)?

In general, once people are in an Engagement program stream, they won't get removed from it, transitioned to a different stream, or get their cadence changed to Pause state, even though they don't qualify for the smart list you used originally for adding people to the Engagement program's stream, i.e., once in the stream, members would be sent the unsent content from the top (eligibility conditions aren't checked; of course, Marketo won't send emails out if a person isn't marketable [Unsubscribed/Marketing Suspended/Email Invalid/Email Suspended] or has reached their daily/weekly communication limits). Ideally, you'd need eligibility campaigns that update the members' Cadence to the Pause state once people aren't eligible for the nurturing criteria. You can use the "Change Engagement Program Cadence" flow step and select the > New State as the "Paused" state.

[Mr_Dee]

That makes sense - thank you.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Broadly speaking, Smart List filters, triggers, and constraints are not reevaluated once someone has qualified and entered a Flow. This is true everywhere in Marketo.

However, as Darshil mentions, you might have a setup where the person must re-qualify for the Smart List, including when you use the Member of Smart List filter. In this case, by definition, the filters/triggers are reevaluated.

[Mr_Dee]

Noted - thank you.

[Michael_Florin]

I think this questions raises the importance of having routine control mechanisms in your Engagement Programs. In this very case: A transition Smart Campaigns that moves everybody from any email sending stream into a stream many people call "Bad Exit" - which is just an empty stream. And that Smart Campaign would just reference your entry condition by checking: Is "subscribed still = TRUE and if not: Move them.

And if your EP fires daily at 8am, run this transition daily at 6am.

[Mr_Dee]

Thanks Michael. I get the concept of moving them into an empty stream. What are the implications if this isn't done? Is it mainly about keeping the data set as clean as possible?

[Michael_Florin]

Yes, you could say so. See also some discussion here: https://nation.marketo.com/t5/product-discussions/adding-members-to-an-engagement-stream-without-con...

Main idea is that a stream without content or schedule keeps people in your program - which you want to keep reporting history - without creating exhaustion. So eventually, all members of an engagement program will eventually end up in an empty stream, be that a "Good Exit" or a "Bad Exit".

[Darshil_Shah1]

I like this idea; we usually add people to a completed static list once they exhaust their content from a stream so we can move them to a different engagement program, mailing list, etc. Additionally, we have separate static lists to group people coming out of certain streams/engagement tracks together in case the engagement program is targeting multiple tracks/personas.