3. Creating the Multi-Channel Workflow

After creating the SNAP and RDC, I looked to optimise other processes that were due improvements. This post will cover how I created a template multi-channel workflow and its importance for the CRM team. I will talk about:

• The previous setup of our workflows

• The problems faced with using them

• The approach to creating the multi-channel workflow

• The benefits of using the new workflow

Previous setup: When I Initially worked in CRM, I had to create separate workflows depending on the marketing channel used for our daily campaigns. This was because each customer account had different marketing preferences, which would translate to different opt out fields in our suppression data base. Also, when a new workflow was created it had to go through a quality control check from 2 members of the CRM Data team.

Problems:

Having separate workflows for each channel led to the following issues:

• Too many workflows were being created, despite having the same targeting, so more time was spent on checking workflows instead of working on higher value tasks

• Difficulty in navigating through Adobe Campaign folders as there were so many workflows being created

• Having separate workflows per channel limited our ability to use different channels for the same campaign which was detrimental to both audience reach and performance

• More data was queried simultaneously with causing data lags and frustration with Adobe Campaign users in the length of time taken to execute a campaign

• Crediting was difficult as well as manual intervention was needed to combine lists of different channels of the same promotion together. If this wasn't done the company would lose a lot of money from customers getting multiple promotions due to duplicate accounts being credited

All these problems forced me to look at alternative methods of using Adobe Campaign.

End Objective:

The objective i set myself was to create a multi purpose workflow that can incorporate multiple marketing channels, whilst simultaneously reducing resource requirements.

This objective was successfully completed and below should outline the approach and findings from it.

What is a workflow?

Before I go into how I created the multi purpose workflow, I will briefly explain what a workflow is and how it's used.

A workflow in Adobe campaign is a tool we use to execute marketing campaigns. The structure of one is encompassed in 4 main stages

1. The Source data. We use the company's SCV (Single Customer View) to bring through all the customers from the database into Adobe Campaign.

2. Afterwards, we apply the targeting criteria that is assigned from the commercial stakeholders. This involves data suppressions, customer's activity with a product but most importantly if they're opted in to that specific marketing channel.

3. Crediting would then occur. This is needed to provide customers with a specific offers that are eligible to them.

4. Finally, after these stages were completed, the specific communications would be sent for that specific marketing channel.

These same steps would be applied for each of the following marketing channels as shown below:

Email Flow

Web Message Flow

SMS Flow

From looking at the above, it was clear to see that to optimise our processes, we should be combining stages 1-3 together between source data and crediting. However, there was a specific set up for each channel which made it difficult to combine multiple channels in one workflow.

Approach:

To solve these problems and create a new workflow template, I went through the following stages to reach the end objective.

Stage 1: Brainstorming

First, I listed the unique differences in the set up for each marketing channel and brainstormed ideas of combining this in one workflow and then proceeded onto stage 2.

Stage 2: Investigation into Adobe

After stage 1, I investigated into Adobe Campaign and found alternative ways of filtering the differences of each marketing channel in one workflow.

Stage 3: Workflow Mock up

Afterwards, I created a mock up design of what the multi-channel workflow would look like. An example of this mock up can be seen in the diagram below:

Stage 4: Testing

Once the mock up was created, I then proceeded to testing by manipulating the JavaScript in the back-end configuration of the test workflows to see whether the reporting tools would work for each channel. This process of trial and errors occurred until I eventually created a test workflow with operational campaign reporting tools.

Stage 5: Final Optimisations

Lastly, I made minor optimisations with the set up of the flow to improve performance, as I wanted to make sure the data in Adobe Campaign was queried as efficient as possible. After making these changes, I proceeded to getting the flow approved and utilising it for our daily campaigns.

The final workflow design eventually looked like the mock up below:

Benefits:

Creating this workflow accomplished the following:

• Campaign execution became more efficient as less workflows needed to be built

• Less Data needed to be processed through the workflow stages which improved the performance of Adobe Campaign for other CRM campaigns too

• Accurate cross channel targeting of campaigns which expanded our audience reach and boosted performance

These benefits led to the multi-channel workflow being integrated across all products in CRM, which was a huge win for the CRM Data team.

#MultichannelWorkflow