Welcome to the Pathway Builder guide! Pathway Builder is your go-to tool for creating seamless communication journeys with your supporters, whether that’s through SMS, email, or Facebook Messenger. This guide will walk you through the process of setting up these journeys so you can automate communications and keep your supporters engaged throughout your campaign.
Let’s get started!
Getting Started
Before we dive into creating pathways, you'll need to make sure you've set up a campaign for your communications to attach to.
We are in the process of creating a guide to support you in setting up a Campaign. Keep your eyes peeled!
Once your campaign is ready, follow these steps:
Go to the Campaigns page and locate the campaign you just created.
Click the Edit button at the top right-hand corner of your screen.
Select the Journey tab – this is where your pathways live.
At the top of the page, you’ll see a tab for the Pathway Builder - click this!
Click New Pathway and give it a title that describes the journey you're creating for your supporters.
Setting Up Your Pathway
Now that you’ve got the basics covered, let’s build your first pathway!
Start by selecting the Source. This determines who will enter your pathway.
When you click on the Source box, you’ll see options to add conditions. These can include or exclude certain supporters from your pathway.
For example, if you select the ‘form submitted’ condition, any supporter who submits the form will enter the pathway.
2. Once you’ve chosen your condition, click Enable Trigger and enter any additional details.
Note: You can exclude certain supporters by using the Exclude tab. This will override any “include” conditions, ensuring that specific supporters don’t enter the pathway.
3. Next, click the + symbol to add your next journey point. Here are the options available:
Delay: Adds a delay between a supporter entering your pathway and the communication being sent. For example, setting a delay of 30 minutes means communications will only be sent 30 minutes after entry.
Condition: Split your pathway based on supporter behaviour, such as the fundraising platform they’re using or their registration date.
Quick Action: Insert a specific task that happens instantly when a supporter enters the pathway.
Your options here are to:
Add or remove a tag
Add or remove from a specific pathway
Note: Adding tags are a useful way for you to identify which journeys your audience have been on and a great way for you to segment your communications.
You can find out more by reading through our guide on how to use tags!
Split: Test different strategies by sending supporters down different pathways (A/B testing).
Email: Send personalised emails to your supporters.
SMS: Send a text message. Learn more about setting up SMS here.
Fundraiser Message: Send messages via Facebook Messenger. These can be managed within your Stewardship Centre.
We are in the process of creating a guide to support you utilising SMS communications and the Stewardship Centre. Keep your eyes peeled!
You can customise your pathway to be as detailed or as simple as you want, depending on the type of communication journey you’d like to create!
Editing Your Pathway
To edit, pause your pathway first by selecting the Pause option. Then, click on the element you’d like to change.
Note: While the pathway is paused, supporters entering through the source won’t receive any communications, so try to limit pauses to short periods of time. Don’t forget to republish the pathway after making your edits – otherwise, it won’t be live!
Troubleshooting
You can inspect your communications at any time by turning on the Inspect toggle. This will give you insights into how many people have received, opened, or clicked on each message.
You are also able to click on each figure and see a full list of email recipients!
And there you have it – a full walkthrough of how to use the Pathway Builder to create engaging and automated communication journeys for your supporters. Whether you’re keeping it simple or building complex strategies, Pathway Builder gives you the flexibility to manage all your supporter touch-points in one place.
As you build out your pathways, don’t hesitate to experiment and find what works best for your supporters. Happy building!