What to expect when adding contacts to a date based workflow?

[LoisJ]

I'm trying to understand what performance to expect with a date based workflow I'm considering in support of a very simple event. I've set the workflow around the event date with an invitation sent x days in advance, and a few if/then branches sending reminders or confirmations closer to the date depending on response.

My question is, if I manually enrol a contact in the workflow (or they meet the enrolment criteria) after the first email has been sent, do they start the workflow at the beginning (ie: receiving the first email), or just the next scheduled action based on when they're enrolled relative to the event date?

Thanks for any insight!

Lois

[Phil_Vallender · Accepted solution]

Hi @LoisJ

If contacts are enrolled in a date based workflow, actions that were scheduled to happen in the past will not apply to them. They will go straight to the point where the next future action is. 

A word of caution. Unless there is a delay step in place, workflow actions like if/then branches happen immediately. So, if using an if/then branch to check email interaction, make sure there is a delay or it will run before anyone has even had a chance to open the email and the results will all be negative. 

Hope this helps.

[LoisJ]

Thanks Phil,

I've got the if/then filters after the delays 🙂 Interesting that when I was researching this in advance I couldn't find a specific answer in the doco....but now that my workflow is active, and the date of the first activity has passed, I've got an alert in the workflow telling me exactly what I needed to know!

Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Lois

[lverhagen]

Hi Phil,

I was having this same question and you actually gave the reply I was hoping for. However, when I test it with a contact and send the email that this person would get to myself, this previous email (of which the centered date has passed) was still sent to me. 

Example: 7 days before the event we want to send an email with more information, one day before to say 'see you tomorrow', and one day after a 'thank you for coming'. The event is now in 3 days. In this test I still received the 7 days before email. 

Do you happen to know if this is normal? Or maybe it has changed in the past 2 years?

Thank you!