Using a Program within an Engagement Program - Communication Limit Question?

[Jessica_Biblis]

I love that engagement programs respect communication limits. When using just an email, it is pretty clear that if the communication limit is met, that email will be sent at the next cast (assuming communication limit is not maxed at that point).

What I'm not clear on is what happens when someone who is at their communication limit enters a program (also set to respect communication limits) within the engagement stream. I think it is safe to assume that they will not be sent the email, but then when the time comes for the next cast, will they move on to the next content piece or will they be sent the email in the program that they were not sent in the prior cast?

[Josh_Hill13]

there are some threads on this topic.

Also, Comms Limits in this situation only work if other sends are NOT within 1-2 hours. Marketo needs time to understand that other sends occurred.

[Dan_Stevens_]

That's what I thought too Josh.  But I couldn't find a specific thread that addressed this exact scenario.  I started to create a response to Jessica:

Jessica, when using child programs in your EPs (which we always do), and someone has reached their comms limit for the current cast, they won't be sent anything and will qualify for that same program/email during the next cast and not move onto the next program/email.  This is because the lead is yet to become of member of that program as a result of the comms limit being reached.  Program membership is how Marketo dictates whether or not a lead would qualify for a program during the next cast.

... and then I wasn't 100% certain that this expected behavior would actually happen.  I think it needs to be tested.

[Jessica_Biblis]

Thanks, Dan. I tried finding the answer in other threads, but came up fruitless as well. Your explanation is very helpful and gives me a better understanding of how programs work nestled in EPs. I'll test it out to see what happens!

Since you have lots of experience with programs in EPs, I'd love to know your thoughts on using a program as a wait step vs pausing the cadence. Pros or cons to either approach or just a matter of personal preference? I also assume I'd need a program for each wait step.

My stream is set up with a weekly cadence, to send every wednesday:

- Email content

- Wait Program

- Email Content

- Wait Program

- Wait Program

- Email Content

Alternatively, I was thinking about doing something like....

- Email content (email is delivered trigger, pause cadence, wait 13 days, switch back to normal cadence)

- Email content (email is delivered trigger, pause cadence, wait 20 days, switch back to normal cadence)

- Email content

[Jessica_Biblis · Accepted solution]

After some testing -- when using a program within the engagement program, if a lead has reached its communication limit, the lead will not be sent the email, and on the next cast, that email will be skipped and the lead will get the next piece of content. Which is a bummer for me

[Dan_Stevens_]

Definitely a bummer - and not what I would expect. Thanks for testing and sharing your results. Frank Passantino​ - FYI. I know you were close to this - specifically in getting EPs to work as expected in a variety of scenarios.

[Veronica_Holme4]

Hi - just curious - when using nested programs like this it is really the smart campaign within the nested program that is in control of the conditions of the send. Have you tried changing the smart campaign settings to ignore communication limits? Does that produce a different result? I have not tested this personally, just throwing out a hypothetical if what you are trying to do is have this email ignore the comms limits.

[Dan_Stevens_]

The objective here isn't to ignore the the communication limit, but to respect the communication limit and not have those people skip content when they don't qualify for a specific cast (and allow them to qualify for that same content during the next cast, when they may be within those communication limits).

[Veronica_Holme4]

Ahh, I see. Sorry, misunderstood

By any chance are the leads being given a status of some kind in the nested program even if they hit their communication limit and aren't sent the email? There's a thing about programs in engagement streams that means that if they receive a status in the nested program they're considered to have received that "cast" and it won't repeat. People sometimes use this to prevent users receiving content multiple times if they've been through a program somewhere else in Marketo that is then also used in an engagement stream.

[Dan_Stevens_]

I think that's what's happening here.  Since the lead qualifies for the smart campaign of the program during the cast, there's some sort of hidden "membership" marker - even though it doesn't show up within the program.  And then the person is blocked from receiving the email due to them hitting the comms limit.