Interactive Activity vs Batch Audience
Overview
When building an interaction, there are a few different targeting options available. There is the batch audience, which is a simple and commonly used way to add an audience to your interaction workflow. Another targeting option is the interactive activity, an option that allows you to add an audience and control campaign recurrence in the same part of your workflow. Both of these targeting options can be used in similar campaign workflows, but this topic will cover how using one versus the other can influence your campaigns.
The video below focuses on the interactive activity and highlights the differences between campaigns that use the interactive activity versus the batch audience.
Example 1: A multi-touch campaign using batch audiences
The first example is a multi-touch campaign that uses two batch audiences.
A multi-touch campaign using a recurring trigger, two batch audiences, a delay, and two email offers.
There’s a recurring trigger that sets the campaign to run every day at noon, followed by a batch audience, and the first offer. Then, there’s a delay of three days, a second batch audience, which filters out any records that have opened the first email, and finally the second offer.
This campaign, though set to run at noon every day, will actually only run every three days due to the delay. Because we used the batch audiences, this campaign can only start again once the entire workflow has completed, which takes three days because of the delay.
Additionally, once the three-day delay passes, the records are evaluated to see if they qualify for the next offer. If they don’t qualify, that’s the end of the line for the record; they won’t be reevaluated again in this campaign to see if they qualify.
This type of flow can work well for campaigns with hard deadlines, for example a healthcare enrollment campaign. The first offer can be a reminder, “you have this many days left to enroll”, then after the delay, if they haven’t enrolled, another offer sends with “you now have this many days left to enroll”. You can create additional touches to add as many reminders as you need.
Example 2: A multi-touch campaign using interactive activities
The next example is a multi-touch campaign that uses two interactive activities.
A multi-touch campaign using a manual trigger, two interactive activities, a delay, and two email offers.
There’s a manual trigger, followed by an interactive activity that sets the campaign to run every day at noon, and the first offer. Then, there’s a delay of three days, a second interactive activity set to run every hour, and finally the second offer.
This campaign, unlike the example with the batch audiences, will run every day at noon based on the cadence set in the first interactive activity. The delay here works like a “gate” so that the campaign can continuously run. On day one, the records will flow through this initial part of the campaign and stop at the delay “gate”. Then, the next day at noon, the campaign will run again, and those day two records will be stopped at the “gate”, same with day three. Then, on day four, the day one records will make it through the gate to the next interactive audience. That second interactive audience runs every hour, as mentioned above, in order to qualify records more often so they can receive the second offer as soon as they qualify.
Additionally, records are continuously evaluated after the delay using the scheduler to see if they qualify for the next offer. If they don’t qualify immediately after the three-day delay, the record may still qualify later. The interactive activity ensures that records are continuously being evaluated to see if they qualify.
A use case for this type of flow is a welcome campaign. The record will receive the first welcome offer, and then in three days, if they’ve opened the first offer, they’ll be sent the next offer. But say it takes someone longer than three days to open the offer. An interactive activity campaign is continuously looking for qualification, so that record can be qualified at any time past three days.
Key differences
The following are key differences between interactions that use a batch audience versus an interactive activity:
Circumstance | Batch Audience | Interactive Activity |
|---|---|---|
Which trigger should I use when creating the interaction workflow? | Use trigger types like recurring and scheduled that allow you to set the cadence using a scheduling function. | Use the manual trigger, because the campaign cadence is set using the interactive activity, not the trigger. |
How often can a multi-touch campaign run? | Regardless of the cadence set in the trigger, the interaction will only run again after the entire workflow, including all touchpoints, completes. | The interaction can run continuously based on the cadence set in the initial interactive activity. |
How many times can a record qualify in a multi-touch campaign after a delay? | Records will only have the chance to qualify immediately after the delay. If the record doesn’t qualify at this time, it will be ineligible to qualify again during the campaign. | Records can be continuously checked for qualification through the interactive activity after the delay. |