Performance
This part of the tool presents you with a dashboard so that you can get a good overview of all of your automation flows, divided up by:
Overview
Total = the total number of people has gone through all of your flows in total
Active = the number of people that are currently in an active flow that you have (e.g. are running right now)
Paused = the number of people that are currently in a paused flow that you have (e.g. they are paused so that you can change in the flow, and then activate it again)
Stopped = the number of people that are currently in a stopped flow that you have (e.g. that they have been active but are now stopped so that they are not running anymore)
Top Automation Flows
The next widget in the dashboard presents you with your top 5 flows, in relation to the flows with the most number of people that have gone through the flows. To the right side, you also see how your flows are growing over time.
Lead Quality
In the flows that you build, you will have the possibility to tag them with different statuses;
Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) and Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). If you in your strategy have these kind of qualifications, you will be able to place these “tags” within the flows (read more under Achievements) and if you do that, the output of this will be presented in this widget.
About: Activities
This part of the tool is the place where you will get a total overview of all your flows, create new ones etc. Looking at the Activities tab, you see the following:
Create new folder = creates a new folder in where you can put your flows into
Create new automation = creates a new automation flow
Search = search for a specific flow
In the Activities view, you see several columns:
Name = the name of the flow/folder
Trend = shows you a +/- trend in your flow, based on if the number of persons in the flow has gone up or down (based on a 30-day-trend basis)
Status = if the flow is Active, Paused or Stopped
Baseline = what baseline that started the flow
Responsible = the user that created the flow/owns the flow
Created = the timestamp when the flow was created
If you want to sort the list of activities, all of the above is able to sort both ascending and descending.
To the very right side of a flow you see an icon (...) If you hoover over that, you will be presented with three new icons:
X = deletes the flow and all the data in it
//// = brings you to the statistics report of the specific flow
Folder = gives you the possibility to move a flow into a specific folder
//// - Statistics report
If you instead hoover to the very right side of a folder, you will see the following icons, that gives you the possibility to re-name the specific folder or delete it. Remember that you can't delete a folder with flows inside of it, then you need to move them out before you delete the folder.
If you want to go into an existing flow, simply press the name of the flow to enter the “canvas” to look at the flow, make changes etc. If you want to create a new flow, press Create new Automation in the upper right corner.
Creating a new Automation flow
When you have pressed Create new Automation, you will enter the Wizard with the following steps:
Step 1
Now you will be asked what kind of flow you want to create, where you could either:Choose Custom, meaning that you start a flow from scratch and can choose any of the available baselines as a starting point.
You could also choose any of the pre-defined flow-templates that we have created for you, meaning that the flow has been set up and you can then choose the correct content etc. that you want to send out.
Now, do your choice and then press Next.
Step 2
If you have chosen Custom you will be taken into the last part of the Wizard, where you will be asked to choose the baseline to start your flow from, where the following is available:
General Baseline
Form = start a flow based on a person who has filled out a specific form
Achievement = start a flow based on an/several achievement(s) that has been fulfilled within an existing flow/flows.
Manual input/API = start a flow based on that you manually put a person into a flow by typing in that person's details (e-mail, name etc). You can also use our Automation-API (link) to start a flow based on an action that happens in another of your systems (CRM, ERP etc).
Apsis Pro (requires you to have APSIS Pro)
Match a Date = start a flow based on that a date (located in the demographic data that you have in your Pro account). Here you will also be asked to choose:
Added subscribers = starts a flow based on that a subscriber is added to a specific list in APSIS Pro.
Received e-mail = starts a flow based on that a subscriber has/has not opened or clicked in a sending sent out from APSIS Pro.
Apsis Lead (requires you to have APSIS Lead)
Filter = starts a flow based on that a visitor on your website has done a specific visit/a specific behavior.
Inactive user = starts a flow based on that a visitor has not used a specific form for X time (most common a login-form).
Clicked in APSIS email = starts a flow based on that a subscriber has clicked in a sending from APSIS Pro and has landed on your website upon that click (requires APSIS Pro).
Once you have chosen your baseline, press the final Next button to be taken into the flow, now it’s time to build the flow itself!
Building your Automation flow
When you have chosen your baseline in the last chapter, it’s now time to build the flow itself. The first node in the flow (green) is the baseline that you chose in the last chapter. To change the settings of that node, press the content of the node or the pen-symbol in the right corner to access the settings of the node. Depending on what baseline you chose to start with, there are different options to choose from.
Once you have edited the settings of the baseline, it’s time to move on in the flow and add more logic. To do this, press the green + below where you will then see the other actions & decisions that you can choose from, which are as follows:
Actions
Send e-mail = sends out an e-mail to a person that entered the flow that could either be sent from APSIS Pro or APSIS Automation:
APSIS Pro = choose an e-mail based on a transactional project you have in Pro
(APSIS Automation = create an e-mail using the Automation e-mail builder) – Not in use!
In the settings you can also make a decision based on how someone has opened/clicked in an email.
Send SMS = create an SMS that gets send out from the flow (requires APSIS Pro, credits and that you have the mobile number inserted correctly in Pro)
Add to list = add the person to an existing list in APSIS Pro (requires APSIS Pro)
Connection = To CRM system. Contact your salesperson for more information.
Webhook = use a Webhook to POST/GET/PUT/DELETE data from within one of your own platforms. More information about the webhook can be found later in this guide.
Assign = assign a person in the flow with a Relation (prospect, customer etc), Owner (a user in APSIS Lead) or an Achievement.
Start a flow = start the person in another flow that you have created.
Send notification = sends an internal notification to one or several email addresses (a user or a person responsible) with the information about what person X has done.
Remove from list = removes the person from a specific list in APSIS Pro
Update Subscriber = adds a value into a demographic data field of your choice in APSIS Pro
Decisions
Timer = specify how long the flow should wait before moving a person in the flow on to the next node
Randomizer = split the flow up in 2,3 or 4 different rows to send different kind of content, send the person to different sales reps etc.
Multiple inputs = if you want to move a person from one side of the flow to the other, this node makes it possible for you to channel up to 4 outcomes into the same node, and then the flow will continue one way.
Alarm Clock = if you want to decide what time the flow is going to continue, add this node. If you enter a specific time, the flow will wait until that time has been fulfilled, and then move on. For example, if you want to send all e-mails at 8AM (Swedish timezone applies).
Exist in List = do a check towards APSIS Pro to see if the person exists on a specific list and then based on yes/no take the decision to move on or do different things with the person (requires APSIS Pro).
Time Frame = a more advanced version of the Alarm Clock where you can select between what specific times the flow should run, and you can also select on what weekdays the flow should run.
Achievements
Quick-select an achievement that you have already created and want to use
The flow you build can consist of an unlimited number of “nodes” after each other, and it’s also up to you to decide when a flow should end. All the nodes except for the starting baseline (green) can be moved around in the canvas so that you can get an easy and manageable overview of the flow itself.
When you have built the flow and feel like you are ready to go, press the Play-symbol in the top menu and the flow is then activated. If you later on wish to do changes to the flow, specific nodes etc. you can press the Pause symbol in the top menu. If you do this, the flow will be paused and no new people can enter the flow, they will be instead be “stuck” in the baseline. Once you have done your changes to the nodes and press play again, all the people stuck in the baseline will move on into the flow at once.
If you want to stop the flow, meaning that all people in the flow will be stopped including the people in the flow, regardless of where they are in the flow. Statistics will still be in the flow but if you choose to activate a stopped flow again, it will start from a “blank page”.
Statistics
If you want to see statistics on a specific flow, there are three ways to get this.
Statistics on a node-level = on each node in the flow there is a small statistics-symbol in the top left corner. If you press this, you will see the following:
Started = how many people that have started in this specific node
Completed = how many people that have completed this specific node and have moved on to the next
Active = how many people that are still active in this specific node
Cancelled = how many people that have either bounced (wrong e-mail) or chosen to opt-out
Opens = how many people that have opened this specific e-mail (only applicable on Send Email node)
Click = how many people that have clicked in this specific e-mail (only applicable on Send Email node)
When you click on either of these numbers, you will be presented with a list of all the people that fulfilled the logic you looked into, and you can from there also export these in Excel.
Live statistics on a flow level = by pressing the statistics-button in the top menu (to the right of the stop-button) you will get a flow-overview on how many people (and %) that are located where in the flow. This gives you a quick and easy overview of the flow so that you for example can see how many leads you have sent out to sales, where people drop of in the flow etc.
Statistics report on flow level = by pressing the Report tab in the top menu of the flow, you will be presented with a graphic report on how the flow has been doing over time. Here you can change the date range that you want to look at, which will make the it possible to see the correct statistics that you want to see.
Flow Settings
Here you can name the flow.
Choose who is responsible for the flow.
Choose how many times the flow can start for a person.
The checkbox gives you the possibility to stop a person from entering a flow if that person is active in another flow.
Further down in these settings there is also an event log that shows who has done any changes in the flow.
Override
Used to stop processing a person if the relationship to that person changes from for example Prospect to Customer.
Settings
The third item in the left menu is settings, where you can do the following:
Connect to your APSIS Pro-account(s) using the REST-API (you will have to have this activated on your PRO-account)
Once this has been connected you will get two new options:
Revoke = removes the connection to the specific PRO-accountSettings = brings you to a settings dialogue where you will map your demographic data in MA to your demographic data in PRO to make sure that the information maps towards the right place in PRO.
Connect to your APSIS Lead account (requires APSIS Lead)
Once this has been connected you will get two new options:
Revoke = removes the connection from the Lead-account
How to use Webhook
In APSIS Marketing Automation (MA), one of the Actions that you can use is called Webhook, a HTTP callback functionality to one of your own systems that can be used inside of your automation flow to control the next step(s) for a person that have entered the flow.
To use this, add the Webhook under Actions in the flow where you want it to be located and then press the node to see the settings of the node. In here you will find the following settings:
URLHere you need to specify the URL for your system that APSIS MA should speak with in order to make the callback.
Parameter data (optional)
If you want to add additional parameter data into the callback, you can enter them in this section.
MethodThe webhook is built up by using the following possible callback methods
POST = MA pushes the data into your system
GET = MA receives the information from your system
PUT = MA updates existing data in your system
DELETE = MA deletes the data from your system
Decisions
Based on the answer (callback) that we get back from your system (for example True or False if you use the GET method), you can now decide what will happen in the next step. If you use a POST/GET/DELETE, you can often leave this setting in default mode Nothing.
To make it a bit easier to understand, an example of a Webhook could be as follows:Double check if person A has had any support errands with us the last 3 months (callback to URL with GET as the method).
If they have (response equals True), send them email A and if they have not (response does not equal True), send them email B.