Splitting your campaign

Overview

This article presents the mechanism of splitting campaigns into branches and then showcases a special type of campaign, Ramp-up, which is built upon this mechanism.

Splitting allows you to have two or more parallel actions within one scenario. It is an option for all manual email campaigns (that is, campaigns beginning with an email action). The population is divided automatically between the branches of the split.

Creation of the campaign

Use the blue button in the top bar to create a new campaign, enter the name and description. In the "Campaign scenario" tab, click on "Select starting channel and population", choose "Email", and add the filter or group containing all contacts you want to use.

Population selection: select inclusion groups with a green "+" and exclusion groups with a red "-"

Splio will now calculate which contacts from the filter(s) will be the recipients of the campaign. It may take some time depending on the number of segments and contacts.

When the calculation is done, click on "Add sequence".

Select "Split campaign" (1, below) and go to "Schedule" (2).

Now, set the date and time of the first launch. Validate.

Configuring the split targeting

Click the square showing the current number of branches to open the configuration panel.

Select the number of branches you want for your campaign. You can use the buttons for 1 to 6 branches (1) or enter the number by hand (2).

Use the slider (3) to select how much of the population should be used in the campaign (you do not have to send to all contacts). The actual number can be found to the right of the slider. This number will be divided equally between branches.

Set sending schedule

If you followed the example so far, Splio shows a scenario with two branches:

You can configure the schedule for each branch separately. Click on the sequence to edit it (sequences are marked by a blue and a maroon rectangle in the image above).

/!\ Remember that the time you set affects all scheduled actions down the line: Splio will reschedule them to keep the intervals between waves of emails.

Finishing touches

This guide dealt with sequences only. To make your campaign viable, add the email actions and save it.

Seed list behaviour 

Please note that if you include yourself (or your colleagues emails) into the seedlist to receive the campaign, the behaviour will be the following: the platform will add users from the seed list into one of the branches at random and you will not be able to choose which design you will receive and to which branch you belong.

Ramp-up campaigns

Ramp-up is a special type of campaign which starts small and then increases in the number of targeted contacts and delivery speed in order to effectively reach the maximum number of recipients.

Ramp-up campaigns are programmed according to a plan which decides how many contacts are going to be targeted and when. The plan is developed separately for each campaign, taking into account not only the client's database but also the client's sending and delivery history, and even other recurring and automatic campaigns which may be taking place at the same time as the ramp-up campaign.

Creating a Ramp-up campaign

Begin by creating a new campaign using the blue shortcut button in the menu. Type a name and a category, then proceed to the "campaign scenario tab".

Click "select starting channel and population" and then choose a manual email campaign.

Add the segment prepared for the ramp-up campaign as the initial population, then validate and wait for Splio to complete the calculation.

Click "add sequence", select the "split targeting" option, and click the "validate" button. Do not forget to select the time for the action in the "schedule" tab.

Click the tile saying "1 branch (Split targeting)" and make sure that only one branch is selected. Enter the number of contacts to be targeted by the first action in the box by the volume slider.

Go to the "submission speed" tab and type the maximum number of emails per hour to be sent during the first action. Validate when ready.

Note that the speed limit you input will be divided by the number of branches saved. For instance, if you configure 4 branches with a 20 000/hour limitation, each action will be limited to 5 000/hour.

Click the "email" action as in the image above, then select the design from the list.

You now have to confirm this campaign scenario twice: once to validate it, and the second time to launch it. The campaign must be in the launched state for you to proceed.

Adding a new branch

You will need to repeat this part of the procedure once for each branch after the first, according to the plan for your ramp-up campaign.

Open the list of campaigns in the Scenario module and click on the edit button for your ramp-up campaign. The button has been marked with a red square in the image above.

Click the tile showing the number of branches (1 in the example above).

Make sure that the number of branches is exactly 1 more than before. Type the amount of contacts to be used in this action in the box by the volume slider. Don't forget to go to the "submission speed" tab to set the maximum number of emails per hour according to the campaign plan. Validate when ready.

Open the sequence for the new action and set the day and hour when the mail sending should begin. Validate and add the design. In most cases you will use the same design for all actions in a ramp-up campaign.

Validate the scenario and launch the campaign to save the new branch.

The campaign will start automatically at the scheduled time.