Steps are the building blocks of Agillic Flows. They control what type of communications are in a Flow and how recipients will make their way through the Flow.
You can find all the available Steps in the Steps Toolbar. Insert them by simply highlighting an existing Step in a Flow and clicking Add Step. Each newly created Flow will begin with a Root Step as the initial building block. In the video below, the first Step highlighted is the Root Step.
- General Step Settings
- Email and Transactional Email Step Settings
- SMS Step Settings
- Data Step Settings
- Print Step Settings
- Push Message Step Settings
- Wait for Date Step Settings
- Wait for Period Step Settings
- Wait for Activity Step Settings
- Split Step Settings
- Export Step Settings
- Extension Step Settings
- Webhook Step Settings
- Facebook Custom Audience Settings
- Google Customer Match Step Settings
- Adform Audience Step Settings
General Step Settings
How to insert a step
Adding a step is as easy as clicking the desired Step 'type' in the 'Add step' toolbar - see the video below for a closer look.
Loop
The Loop Condition lets you specify which Conditions should be met for the Step to execute. You can also decide how often you want to re-evaluate the Conditions and what should happen if the Conditions are still not met when the Step tries again.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Try again in seconds/minutes/hours/days | When the recipient should be re-evaluated against the conditions |
| Max number of retries | Amount of retries before the Loop fails |
| After max number of retries | Choose from 'Execute step anyway', 'Kick out of the flow', or skip and 'Continue to the next step' for after the Loop has been tried the maximum number of times |
Configuring Loop settings on an Email Step
Conditions
The Conditions Settings control which Conditions should be met for the Step to execute. Unlike the Loop Settings, these Conditions are only evaluated once. If they're not met, the recipient skips over it and moves to the next Step. In case these conditions are used in combination with a loop, they will be evaluated before the loop conditions.
Side Effects
Side Effects help you update Person Data, Global Data, and One-to-Many Data. Once the data field is selected, you have the option to either clear the field or set it to a specific value.
Configuring Side Effect Settings to update the value of 'CUSTOMERTYPE' to be 'Private' for all recipients who complete the Step successfully
Email and Transactional Email Step Settings
Once an email has been created and configured in the Channels module, it can be inserted to a Flow via the Email Step type.
Transactional Emails are inserted via a unique Transactional Email step. This restricts the options in the Select template drop-down menu to only be emails created as Transactional Emails in the Channels module. The Step settings available are the same as for generic Email Steps.
There are also some email-specific settings for Steps.
Enable alternative sending method
When a recipient or batch of recipients enters this Step, a copy of the email is sent to the email address(es) listed instead. The copy is based on an optional Recipient ID entered in the 'Enter ID' field.
When a recipient or batch of recipients enters this Step, you have the option of sending a duplicate email to an external email address, either in addition to or in place of the email sent to the recipient(s).
First consider whether this setting should affect triggered flows, or manual/scheduled executions.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| On trigger | With this enabled, you restrict the Alternative sending method to only apply to Triggered executions |
| On manual or scheduled execution | With this enabled, you restrict the Alternative sending method to only apply to Manual or Scheduled executions |
Next, consider whether the setting should override the normal email step behaviour, or simply compliment it.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Send only to external receiver(s) | Recipients do not receive an email, only the email address(es) listed |
| Send also to external receiver(s) | Recipients receive an email and a single copy is to the email address(es) listed |
Finally, consider the setting should apply to Staging Environment, the Production Environment, or both.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Staging | Executions on Staging are affected by Alternative Sending method |
| Production | Executions on Production are affected by Alternative Sending method |
| On both | Executions on both Staging and Production are affected by Alternative Sending method |
Subject line test
Once the Subject Line test has been enabled and configured in the Email Editor, the remainder is configured on the Email Step itself.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Ratio of recipients in test by percentage | The percentage of the target group that the subject line test should be conducted on |
| Winner selected after (hours/days) | The amount of time after which the winning subject line is selected and remaining recipients receive the winner |
| Winner based on (open/click/both) | The metric which the best performing subject line should be determined by |
Email Step settings
SMS Step Settings
Once an SMS has been created and configured in the Channels module, it can be inserted into a Flow via the SMS Step type.
Again, there are some specific settings for SMS Steps.
Restrict execution period
This setting allows you to set a time for an SMS Step to execute. If a recipient reaches the Step outside the allowed time period, they will remain in that Step until the allowed time period is reached. This allows you to, for example, ensure that text messages are not sent at odd hours but instead are queued up for business hours the following day.
SMS Step settings
Data Step Settings
A Data Step is used for updating the value of one or more data fields. It does this by using Side Effects, which are available to all Step types. A Data Step has no communication properties and functions as a purely data-type step.
In some instances, you may want to create a Flow that solely updates data fields. That's where the Data Step comes in handy!
Print Step Settings
Once a Print file has been created and configured in the Channels module, it can be inserted into a Flow with a Print Step type. If you have a partnership with a printing house, you can configure the Print Step Settings. This means you'd be able to place the generated print files directly on the server of the printing house, allowing easy access to them for printing and distributing the physical documents.
If exporting print files in the PDF format (Settings/Print), the Print Step setting 'Required page count' allows you to only generated print files if they meet the specific page count.
If the requirement is not met, a recipient enters a retry mode with the following message:
Error - Execution failed with message "Had wrong number of pages", next retry in 30 minutes.
Print Step settings
Push Message Step Settings
Once a Push Message has been created and configured in the Channels module, you can use a Push message Step to include it in a Flow. The Push message Step is covered under the general Step settings.
Wait for Date Step Settings
As well as Steps enabling outbound communication, there are also a number of Logic Steps. The Wait for Date Step is precisely one of these. This allows recipients to enter a Flow but then queue up at a Wait for Date Step until the date specified arrives.
A Wait for Date Step configured to let recipients queue up until 10.00 am, 1st May 2020
Wait for Period Step Settings
The Wait for Period Step allows you to queue recipients at this Step for a given time period. This makes it a more dynamic and automated choice than the static Wait for Date Step. For example, this allows you to specify that seven days must pass between two emails, without having to manually account for when the first email was sent.
A Wait for Period Step configured to let recipients wait seven days upon entering the step
Wait for Activity Step Settings
A Wait for Activity Step allows you to queue recipients until a certain action is taken. For example, we might send a birthday email containing a link to claim a special birthday savings coupon but only wish to send the email containing the actual coupon if the link is clicked. This could be configured as in the screenshot below.
A Wait for Activity step configured to only let recipients pass if the even 'coupon' is triggered after having received the initial birthday email
Split Step Settings
The Split Step allows you to create branches within your Flow. In the example below, we're sending a promotional email and then allowing our recipients two days to open it. Depending on whether they open it within this time frame or not, they will be sent down one of the two branches.
You are not limited to having just two branches following a Split Step. In fact, you may have just one. In this case, recipients who do not meet the Conditions for the first branch will simply exit the Flow as no alternative branch exists.
Split Steps come with one additional setting, the Continuous split evaluation. Unlike the Continuous target group evaluation found under the Flow settings, enabling Continuous split evaluation will only take effect on the Steps below the Split Step. In longer, more elaborate flows, this makes sure that recipients continue to meet the Conditions which led them down a given branch as they progress further into the Flow.
A Split Step with two branches where recipients who opened the email 'promo' will be sent down the first branch and the remainder to the second branch
Export Step Settings
You may use an Export Step if you want to Export data to analyse outside of Agillic. It allows you to export a list of recipients and their data, depending on which data fields you specify in your Export Template. By the time you use an Export Step in a Flow, you will have already configured an Export Template and Export Profile in the Data module.
The following settings are available if the Export Step is not immediately following the Root Step. If a flow consists solely of an Export Step, all who pass through are immediately exported.
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Include (x) recipients per exported files |
Each file will contain recipients up to the amount (x). Additional files will be created as this number is exceeded. Example 1005 Recipients enter the flow, this setting is (1000). This results in two files, one containing 1000, and a second file containing 5 recipients. |
| Export ever (x) minutes/hours/days/weeks | Control the rate at which the next export file is generated |
| Recipients will not continue in the flow before the export is completed | yes/no |
Export step settings
Extension Step Settings
If you have run into a situation which can't be solved with built-in functionality, an Extension Step is often the way to go. They help you to integrate custom Javascript code into a Flow, allowing you to set up communication to external systems or modify data in an otherwise inaccessible way.
An Extension Step can be coded to allow settings configured directly on the Step to change the behaviour of the code. For example, we could design an Extension Step to automatically clear the data in a certain Person Data field. The developer might design the Extension to allow the configurator to manually input the desired Person Data field names directly in the Step settings.
If your Extension Step has been designed to accept input via the interface, configure this by clicking the Extension panel. Then, click the plus icon.
Read more about creating 'Extension' steps
| UI Copy | Explanation |
| Retries | The number of re-attempts if an error is encountered while trying to execute the Extension Step |
| Time between retry (seconds), between 0-100 | The timespan between each retry |
| Exit recipients if extension fails | yes/no |
Extension Step settings
Webhook Step Settings
Webhooks are used to send raw data from Agillic to an external system while using the Agillic Flows and Steps structure that's familiar to you. Webhooks assure that systems are synchronised. Updates to data happening in Agillic, such as email permissions, can be sent directly to your customer management system via a Webhook Step.
The webhook settings panel allows you to configure the amount and time span between each retry if an error occurs.
Webhook Step settings
Facebook Custom Audience Step Settings
The Facebook Custom Audience step allows you to add, subtract and replace recipients from Custom Audiences defined in your associated Facebook Account. Simply select either 'Add to audience', 'Remove from audience' or 'Replace' to define the action taken for recipients passing through the step.
Note: The 'Replace' Step cannot have any steps before or after. The only exception is if other Facebook Steps with 'Replace' are added before or after this step.
Facebook Custom Audience Step Settings
Google Customer Match Step Settings
The Google Customer Match Step allows you to add, remove, or update a Customer List defined in your Google Customer Match account, recipients from your Agillic instance. In addition, you optionally have the choice of selecting a Campaign, Ad group, and the option to exclude the recipients from the selected Campaign/Ad group, if defined.
Note: Please be aware that only 'Customer Lists' created via the Agillic Connector can be added to/removed from.
Furthermore, a Customer List does not accept the special character "+" in the name.
Google Customer Match Step Settings
Adform Audience Step Settings
The Adform Audience step allows you to add or remove recipients from an Adform Audience. Only matching recipients will be added/removed.
Adford Audience Step Settings