I have a campaign that sends subscribers emails based on a field date, all related to their renewal date. Sometimes I have to update a subscription to a different date, so I change drop the contact into a starter sequence manually which updates the date field then proceeds to sequences that use that very field for timings.
Down the line in a different sequence, the contact is already in the campaign. I noticed that if I don’t manually remove them from that sequence, the sequence will not restart when then reach it naturally. Let me show you exactly what I have:
You can see that they sign up (the purchase goal) and start a series of three sequences. The first applies some tags and populates the date field which is used to time the following sequence actions. The second “Welcome emails” sequence runs for only 1 week. The third sequence runs for a full year, sending “auto-renew” alert emails a month and a week before an auto-charge, based on that date field.
Here’s the problem. If I change a sub manually and then drop the contact into the “manual drop in” sequence, they won’t restart the third sequence when they get to it a week later. For example, I had a contact upgrade his subscription, in which I offered to remove the renewal date from September 2020 to April 2021. The contact was already in the third sequence, set to send some emails in September 2020 according to the custom date field at the time they entered the sequence. But when I dropped them into the first sequence last month, the third sequence didn’t update when the contact got there a week later. All the actions were still set to September 2020 as if the date field was not updated.
So, I’m hoping there’s a global setting that lets me say “restart a sequence if a contact enters it a second time” vs “do not restart sequences when contacts enter them a second time”. That would be the easiest option for me, as I cannot imagine a scenario where I wouldn’t want a sequence to restart.
Alternatively, I understand that I can use a tag goal that will pull the contact out of the sequence, then send them into re-enter it, but that’s just another thing to remember, so not ideal.
It’s a matter of convenience. Tag goals work well enough and I use them in many areas, but it’s all automated. The issue is if I have to remember what tags do what. If I forget or am not sure, I have to find the tag in the tags page, click through, and then read the description. Compared that to creating campaigns with “manual drop in” sequences. I only have to remember the campaign and just make sure to use descriptive names for the sequences.
I was just thinking that I can create “manual drop in” sequences that apply the tag. I guess that would work. More tags, more sequences, more complicated campaign builds … You do what you gotta do, I guess.
Are you suggesting there is no global variable that restarts sequences when they are entered a second time while already in there?
You can’t put someone in a campaign sequence that they are already in. You need to pull them out, then restart them in the sequence.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by a ‘manual drop in’ sequence.
I would recommend that you create an Internal Form with checkboxes for “Start” and “Restart”
When the checkbox is checked, it will apply the necessary tag.
That way, when you need to restart someone in the sequence, you simply check the ‘restart’ box and it will trigger the tag that will pull them out of the existing sequence and restart the campaign.
By “manual drop in” I mean a sequence I design within a campaign to have a place to manually drop a contact into that campaign with the Add to Sequence function.
I’ve never looked at internal forms, but they look like they might be useful to me. I’ll check them out. For now, I’m depending on tag goals and dropping them in using that function. I’m reworking that campaign right now, I’ll send you an image when done.
I manually add contacts to the “Manual start” sequence at the right if they need to be manually added to this campaign. That applies a tag that first removes them from all the other sequences in the “Sequence Exit Tags” then tosses them right back in at the beginning “Tag applied” start goal at the left. The internal forms is interesting. You’re saying I just create a check box that does what that sequence does. That’s probably a little more dummy proof, but at the same time it’s easy to accidentally click a checkbox. I have many other processes going that revolve around what this few things are doing, so a “human readable” form might be helpful. Thank you for sharing that.
