Building Journeys

This guide walks through creating a welcome journey from scratch.

Step 1: Create the Journey

Navigate to Journeys
Click New Journey
Enter a name: “Welcome Series - Main List”

Step 2: Configure Triggers

Triggers define when contacts enter the journey.

Trigger Type: List Membership

The most common trigger—enter when joining a list:

Trigger: Contact added to list
List: Main Marketing List

Trigger Type: Custom Field

Enter based on a field value. The operator field is required:

Trigger: Custom field matches
Field: signup_source
Operator: eq
Value: "website"

Valid operators for custom field triggers:

Operator	Meaning
`eq`	Equals
`ne`	Not equals
`in`	Value is in a list
`not_in`	Value is not in a list
`exists`	Field exists on the contact
`contains`	Field contains substring

Multiple Triggers

Triggers are organized using a JourneyTriggerGroup structure that supports nested logic:

TriggerGroup:
  operator: AND          # AND or OR
  conditions:
    - type: list
      list_id: "main_marketing_list"
    - type: custom_field
      field: signup_source
      operator: eq
      value: "website"
  groups:                # Optional nested groups
    - operator: OR
      conditions:
        - type: custom_field
          field: referral_source
          operator: eq
          value: "partner_a"
        - type: custom_field
          field: referral_source
          operator: eq
          value: "partner_b"

Each JourneyTriggerGroup has:

operator: AND or OR — how to combine the conditions and nested groups
conditions: Array of individual trigger conditions
groups: Optional array of nested JourneyTriggerGroup objects for complex logic

Only contacts matching the full trigger group will enter the journey.

Step 3: Add Steps

Click Add Step to add each journey step.

Send Message Step

Deliver a message:

Click Add Step > Send Message
Select a creative or define an inline message
Optionally select an offer binding

Step: Send Message
Creative: "Welcome - 10% Off"
Offer: welcome_discount

You can also define messages inline directly in the step instead of referencing an existing creative:

Step: Send Message
Inline Message:
  body: "Welcome to {{brand_name}}! Use code WELCOME10 for 10% off: {{link1}}"

Inline messages support the same template variables as creatives ({{brand_name}}, {{linkN}}).

Wait Step

Pause before the next step:

Click Add Step > Wait
Set duration and unit

Step: Wait
Duration: 24
Unit: hours

Condition Step

Branch based on behavior:

Click Add Step > Condition
Configure the condition
Define Yes and No branches

Step: Condition
Type: Has Clicked (any)

Yes branch: → Go to step 5
No branch: → Go to step 6

Click conditions count clicks on messages this journey sent during the current enrollment. (Rolling out now — until condition evaluation is enabled for your account, every condition takes the No branch.)

Wait Until Step

Wait until a specific time of day before proceeding:

Click Add Step > Wait Until
Set the target time (HH:MM)

Step: Wait Until
Time: "09:00"

This is different from a regular wait step, which pauses for a duration. wait_until holds the contact until the next occurrence of the specified time (e.g., 9:00 AM).

Set Custom Field Step

Set a custom field value on the contact’s ListContact record:

Click Add Step > Set Custom Field
Specify the field key and value

Step: Set Custom Field
Field: onboarding_stage
Value: "completed_welcome"

Use this to tag contacts as they progress, enabling audience segmentation and trigger conditions in other journeys.

Unsubscribe Step

Unsubscribe the contact from the list:

Click Add Step > Unsubscribe

Step: Unsubscribe

The contact will be unsubscribed from the sending list associated with the journey. Use this at the end of a branch when a contact should no longer receive messages.

Exit Step

End the journey:

Click Add Step > Exit

Step: Exit

Step 4: Connect Steps

Steps flow sequentially by default. Use conditions to create branches.

Linear Flow

Step 1 (Send) → Step 2 (Wait) → Step 3 (Send) → Step 4 (Exit)

Branching Flow

Step 1 (Send)
    ↓
Step 2 (Wait 2 days)
    ↓
Step 3 (Condition: Clicked?)
   ↓ Yes        ↓ No
Step 4 (Exit)  Step 5 (Send reminder)
                    ↓
               Step 6 (Exit)

Step 5: Review and Activate

Preview

Before activating:

Click Preview
Review the flow visually
Check trigger conditions
Verify creatives are correct

Activate

Click Activate
Journey starts enrolling new matching contacts
Existing contacts are NOT enrolled (only new matches)

Activating a journey is immediate. Make sure everything is configured correctly.

Example: Simple Welcome Series

Let’s build a 3-message welcome:

Create journey

Name: “Simple Welcome Series”

Set trigger

List: Main Marketing List

Step 1: Send welcome

Creative: “Welcome! Here’s 10% off your first order.”

Step 2: Wait 24 hours

Duration: 24 hours

Step 3: Send bestsellers

Creative: “Check out our bestsellers”

Step 4: Wait 3 days

Duration: 3 days

Step 5: Send offer

Creative: “Last chance: 15% off expires today”

Step 6: Exit

End the journey

Activate

Turn on the journey

Editing Active Journeys

You can edit active journeys, but be careful:

Change	Effect
Add step at end	Safe - affects future enrollees
Change creative	Affects enrollees who haven’t reached that step
Change timing	Affects future waits, not in-progress waits
Change trigger	Only affects new enrollments
Delete step	⚠️ May break in-progress enrollments

For major changes, create a new journey version and sunset the old one.

Monitoring Journeys

Enrollment Stats

View in the journey dashboard:

Total enrollments
Active enrollments (in progress)
Completed
Exited early

Step Performance

See metrics per step:

How many reached this step
Conversion to next step
Drop-off rate

Troubleshooting

Contacts not entering

Check:

Is the journey active?
Do contacts match trigger conditions?
Are they already actively enrolled (one active enrollment per journey per list membership)?

Messages not sending

Check:

Is the contact still subscribed?
Is the creative active?
Are there sending list issues?

Stuck in wait step

Wait steps process on schedule. Check:

Is the job server running?
Is next_step_at set correctly?

Next Steps

Conditions

Add branching logic

Wait Steps

Timing best practices

Getting Started

Guides

Account & Team

Integrations

Resources

Step 1: Create the Journey

Step 2: Configure Triggers

Trigger Type: List Membership

Trigger Type: Custom Field

Multiple Triggers

Step 3: Add Steps

Send Message Step

Wait Step

Condition Step

Wait Until Step

Set Custom Field Step

Unsubscribe Step

Exit Step

Step 4: Connect Steps

Linear Flow

Branching Flow

Step 5: Review and Activate

Preview

Activate

Example: Simple Welcome Series

Editing Active Journeys

Monitoring Journeys

Enrollment Stats

Step Performance

Troubleshooting

Next Steps

Conditions

Wait Steps

​Step 1: Create the Journey

​Step 2: Configure Triggers

​Trigger Type: List Membership

​Trigger Type: Custom Field

​Multiple Triggers

​Step 3: Add Steps

​Send Message Step

​Wait Step

​Condition Step

​Wait Until Step

​Set Custom Field Step

​Unsubscribe Step

​Exit Step

​Step 4: Connect Steps

​Linear Flow

​Branching Flow

​Step 5: Review and Activate

​Preview

​Activate

​Example: Simple Welcome Series

​Editing Active Journeys

​Monitoring Journeys

​Enrollment Stats

​Step Performance

​Troubleshooting

​Next Steps

Conditions

Wait Steps

Step 1: Create the Journey

Step 2: Configure Triggers

Trigger Type: List Membership

Trigger Type: Custom Field

Multiple Triggers

Step 3: Add Steps

Send Message Step

Wait Step

Condition Step

Wait Until Step

Set Custom Field Step

Unsubscribe Step

Exit Step

Step 4: Connect Steps

Linear Flow

Branching Flow

Step 5: Review and Activate

Preview

Activate

Example: Simple Welcome Series

Editing Active Journeys

Monitoring Journeys

Enrollment Stats

Step Performance

Troubleshooting

Next Steps