Conditional Split
Ira avatar
Written by Ira
Updated over a week ago

With Omnisend's split automations, you have the ability to create different automation paths based on customer responses within the automation itself.

In the article below, we explain how to use this powerful feature to deliver unique experiences for your consumers based on their behavior and engagement.

Contents

Setting-up Conditional Split

To add a split to the automation, you only need to drag and drop the Split block to one of the automation nodes.

After you add a Split to the workflow, you can also move your message to any of the Split condition branches. Therefore, getting even more powerful and dynamic content into your flows.

Set the rule in the Split block settings

In the Split block settings, you can choose the rule that needs to be checked in the block. The rule can be set to one of the following criteria:

  • Trigger events that are represented by the properties based on the selected trigger;

  • Contact properties that are represented by the Profile data, Tags, and Segments;

  • Message behavior that is defined by the contact interaction with the previous message in the flow

If the rule in the Split block is met, contact goes through the Yes path; otherwise - through the No path.

If you are hesitant about which filter to choose, always pay attention to the last word of the string, such as "raw," "line," "product," or "collection." The properties or characteristics listed under that word will belong to the items or endpoints. In the screenshot below, you can see that the Title property belongs to the last word in the string, which is Collections, i.e. you will select Collection Title.

What is even more exciting is that you can add different rules to a Single split and combine them with either AND or OR operator. Up to 5 rules can be added to a single Split.

πŸ’¬ Check our blog article for more ideas on Split block usage.

Trigger events

In this category, you can see all of the Trigger filters, similar to those you could pick in the Trigger settings. If you wish to streamline your customers to different paths, you can use the Trigger filter as a Rule in your Split block settings.

For example, you may want to trigger different Order Confirmation messages depending on the Collection to which the purchased product belongs.

Just like the trigger rule settings, the Event specified in the Split Condition will check the order against its initial status. Therefore, it is not possible to Split your automation according to the Order tag, etc - unless the order had that tag/status when triggering the workflow.

Contact Properties

You can see the list of default properties, tags, and Segments in the contacts properties menu. For example, in the screenshot presented below, we check whether the customer is from Germany. In case they are, a message in the German language is sent. Otherwise, we'll send it in English.

If you need to split the flow into three branches, you can add another condition that will be checked after the customer goes to the No path.

For more information on the Segment-based split, jump to this section.

Message behavior

This type of Split condition lets you check how the customer interacted with the messages you have in the flow.

πŸ’‘ It would be best to add a delay before checking the Split condition based on the message behavior, so the email recipients would have enough time to open or click through the links in the message.

Note! Unsubscribe and Preference Center links clicks do not count toward click count. So, if a recipient has clicked either of these links, he won't go to the 'YES' path, when you're using split block to check if the customer has clicked any link in the email/SMS.

πŸ’¬ For more ideas and inspiration, check our Blog article.

Opened Email

After you select Opened Email rule in the Split block settings, the drop-down menu will show you a list of the email messages that were added to your workflow prior to the Split condition. With this type of Split rule, you can send different messages to the customers that opened the email or simply discontinue the sequence.

⚠ Conditional split by opens will be impacted by the iOS 15 update and will become ineffective soon. More info here.

Clicked Email

If you go with this rule, you will need to select the email message from the list first and then define the type of the link:

  • is any or an absolute parameter that doesn't require you to specify the type of the link;

  • is predefined, or one of the links you've used in the selected message. All of the links added to the email message will be shown in the drop-down menu.

  • is generated, or the link is unique for each of your customers. To make sure you disregard the piece of the link that is particular for each of your customers, you may use starts with or contains operators.

Clicked SMS

The filter for the SMS clicks is very similar to the one for the Email channel. Here, you also need to choose the message containing the link and the link itself. Since you wouldn't add as many links to the SMS message, as you would to the Email, the selection of the operators is reduced to the standard criteria.

In the Split block, you need to enter the original link that you've added to the SMS message content. As you can see in the screenshot, we enter the link to the website in the content of the message: https://basic-piece.com. Later, this link is changed by Omnisend to osend1.com/l/XXXXX format. In the Split condition block settings, we should use the original link we've entered, not the one generated by Omnisend.

When it comes to the automatically generated link, for example, the Abandoned cart one, you should also use the original link in the Split condition settings. The Abandoned Cart link is unique for each of your customers but should have a standard part that can be used with the contains operator.

Segment-based split

Building a Segment adds a little overhead to the system, therefore delaying the condition check. For example, when the customer places the order in your store, we process this event in the following way:

  1. the event is passed to the system;

  2. automation is triggered;

  3. the customer is added to the segment.

If we need to trigger the Order Confirmation automation only for those customers that place the first order and use that condition as an Audience filter or as a Split condition, the customer may not trigger the flow, as he won't enter this Segment right away. The solution is simple; you need to add a short delay of 1-2 minutes before the Split block.

Example: send a different Order Confirmation email to the customers that place their first order in your store.

To solve this problem without any delays, we will use the opposite rule in the Segment settings.

When the automation is triggered, customers placing their first order won't be added to the Segment and will go to No branch, while the repetitive customer will satisfy this condition and go to Yes branch.

FAQ

Will I see my Abandoned check-out link in the list of predefined links for the Split based on the message behavior? No, links carrying the information personalized for each of your customers are not added to the predefined links menu. Instead, you can set the condition to generated link -> contains -> "checkouts".

Will it adjust automatically if I change the links in the message after selecting it in the Split block settings? No, it won't. If you are choosing the link from the predefined links menu, make sure you enter the same link to the Split block settings.

What is the limit of split blocks? You can use up to 20 split blocks in one workflow.

Have any additional questions? Talk to us at [email protected].

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