In marketing automation, the ability to strategically pause your nurture campaigns is key to maintaining control over the flow of communication. In Sugar Market, there are several ways to implement pauses, each serving a distinct purpose. Understanding how these pauses work and how to use them effectively can enhance the success of your campaigns. This guide will walk you through the different types of pauses available and provide examples to illustrate their use.
1. Pause Elements
What They Are:
Pause elements are explicitly designed to delay the progress of a contact or lead in a nurture campaign for a specified amount of time. This is a straightforward way to space out communications or wait for a specific event. It’s also important to note that pause elements are always active and will never stop until the nurture is paused or unpublished. The pause timers will also restart should the nurture be edited and republished. This means that anyone who is currently in a pause step when a nurture is edited and republished, resulting in a new version of the nurture, will have their timers reset causing them to start the pause step from the beginning again.
How They Work:
When you add a pause element to your nurture flow, you set the number of days, hours, or even minutes that Sugar Market should wait before moving the contact to the next step. The pause is unconditional, meaning it does not depend on any actions taken by the contact.
Example:
Let’s say you send an introductory email and want to give your leads a couple of days to digest the content before sending a follow-up. You can insert a pause element for 2 days after the initial email. After this pause, the next email or action will be triggered automatically.
2. Conditional Elements
What They Are:
Conditional elements introduce a pause based on specific actions taken (or not taken) by the contact, such as opening an email or clicking a link. The duration of the pause is set by the marketer but can be cut short if the condition is met.
How They Work:
You define the condition (e.g., “email opened”) and the time frame (e.g., 3 days). Sugar Market checks every 4 hours to see if the condition is met. If it is, the contact progresses to the next step immediately; if not, they wait for the entire duration before moving on.
Example:
Consider a scenario where you send a promotional email and want to follow up with those who clicked a link within 3 days. You add a conditional element with a 3-day pause. If a contact clicks the link on day 2, they proceed to the next step immediately. If they don’t, they wait for the full 3 days before moving on.
3. Holiday / Blackout Schedules
What They Are:
Holiday and blackout schedules allow you to pause nurture campaigns during specific dates or times when you don’t want to send communications, such as during holidays or weekends.
How They Work:
You can define blackout periods within your nurture settings. During these times, no emails will be sent, and the campaign effectively pauses. Once the blackout period ends, the campaign resumes.
Example:
Imagine you have a nurture campaign that is supposed to run through the holiday season, but you don’t want to send emails on Christmas Day. You set a blackout period for December 25th. If a contact is due to receive an email on that day, the email is held and sent on the next available day after the blackout ends.
4. Throttle Times
What They Are:
Throttle times allow you to control the flow of emails based on the time of day, ensuring that emails are sent at specific intervals. This helps manage the rate at which emails are delivered without overwhelming the recipients or your system.
How They Work:
By setting a throttle, you can define the hours during which emails should be sent. For example, you may want to send emails only between 9 AM and 5 PM. Sugar Market will ensure that emails are sent within this timeframe, pausing sends outside of it.
Example:
Suppose you want to send a promotional email but only during business hours to maximize engagement. You can set a throttle time to send emails only between 9 AM and 5 PM. If an email is scheduled to be sent at 7 PM, Sugar Market will hold it and send it at 9 AM the following day.
Combining Different Pause Types: Examples
Scenario 1: Conditional Element + Pause Element
You’re running a campaign to nurture leads after they download a whitepaper. You send a thank you email immediately and want to check if they open it. If they open the email within 2 days, you send a follow-up offer. If not, you send a different reminder email after 3 days.
Setup:
- Send the thank you email.
- Add a conditional element with a 2-day wait to see if they open the email.
- If they open the email, immediately send the follow-up offer.
- If they don’t open the email, use a pause element to wait another day (total of 3 days) before sending a reminder email.
Expectation:
Contacts who engage quickly move on to the next step sooner, while others are gently reminded after a short delay.
Scenario 2: Blackout Schedule + Throttle Time
You are launching a campaign during the holiday season and want to avoid sending emails on weekends and public holidays. Additionally, you want to ensure emails are sent only during business hours to maximize engagement.
Setup:
- Define your holiday blackout schedule.
- Set the throttle time to send emails only on Monday through Friday between 9 AM and 5 PM.
- Launch your campaign.
Expectation:
Emails are only sent on weekdays and non-holiday periods, with the delivery controlled to occur within the specified business hours. If an email is due outside of these times, it will be held and sent at the next available opportunity.
Scenario 3: Pause Element + Throttle Time
You’re planning a product launch campaign and want to send a teaser email followed by a series of promotional emails. However, you want to space out the emails and ensure they are sent during peak engagement hours.
Setup:
- Send the teaser email.
- Add a pause element of 2 days after the teaser.
- Set a throttle time to send emails only on Monday through Friday between 10 AM and 4 PM.
- Continue with the rest of the campaign.
Expectation:
The teaser email creates anticipation, followed by a controlled and spaced-out promotional sequence, ensuring that your contacts receive communications during optimal times for engagement.
Conclusion
Understanding and effectively using these pause types in your Sugar Market nurture campaigns can greatly enhance the control and precision of your marketing efforts. Whether you’re spacing out communications, waiting for contact actions, respecting holidays, or controlling email timing, these tools ensure your campaigns run smoothly and effectively, leading to higher engagement and better results.