Our easy-to-use visual builder empowers you to craft personalized messaging journeys, all with no code.

Create Journeys for every situation:

• Onboarding sequences to guide your users to success
• Re-engagement campaigns to get your users back
• Abandoned cart workflows to drive sales and revenue
• Promo, upsells, post-action followups, and more

Requirements

Journeys are currently available to customers on our Professional and Enterprise plans (see pricing).

To utilize Journeys you need to be identifying your users with External User ID. Only users with an External User ID can enter a Journey. This will enable OneSignal to track a user all the way through a Journey, sending messages from across any of the channels you'd like to use. You can see if you are setting these IDs today by checking your All Users page and turning on the External User ID column to see if it is populated.

If you are not setting External User ID today and want to make use of Journeys, there are multiple ways to set these including CSV upload or in our web and mobile SDKs.

The Journeys feature is available today for the full Omni-Channel experience - mobile push, web push, in-app message, email, and SMS.

Journey Settings

Start by naming your Journey something descriptive to find it in the dashboard. Like "Abandoned Cart", "Welcome Campaign", "Inactive User Reach Out", etc.

Entry Rules

This defines how users will enter your Journey and any filters you want to apply to that audience.

User matches the segment criteria

Use this option to target specific segments. When a user enters a segment they will enter the Journey.

Users will not automatically exit a Journey when they exit the segment, instead you need to define an exit rule.

User is inactive for amount of time

Use this option to support re-engagement and reactivation campaigns, targeting users who have not been on your website or app for a specific time period. This setting will take into account the duration that current users may already have been inactive, allowing for more immediate re-engagement activity upon Journey creation.

Segments

Include or exclude the segment(s) of subscriptions that are eligible to enter the Journey.

To enter a Journey a device must have an External User ID defined so the user is identified.

Future additions only

Segments are dynamic and have users entering and exiting them constantly. Check this option if you only want to target every user that enters your selected segments after the Journey is live.

Audience stats

This will give you the current count of subscriptions based on your entrance criteria. This is displayed in the Journey settings and on the Journey canvas. Use this to help understand what type(s) of messages might reach the most people when creating your Journey.

Push includes the count of all web and mobile push subscriptions that are subscribed and can receive push.

Email includes the count of all email subscriptions that are subscribed and can receive email.

SMS includes the count of all SMS subscriptions that are subscribed and can receive SMS.

In-App includes the count of all subscriptions that are reachable via iOS and Android. Note that unlike other channels, in-app messages do not require users to subscribe or opt-in, but they do require the user to have the app open to receive the in-app.

Exit Rules

These settings define if and when a user should automatically exit your Journey. They can re-enter a Journey based on the re-entry rules you define.

Exit when user becomes active in your app/website

Use this option if you want users who visit your website or app to exit immediately. This is useful if your Journey is a re-engagement or reactivation campaign.

Exit when user no longer matches the audience conditions

Use this option if you want users to exit immediately in cases where they no longer match the original target audience segment.

Exit when a user enters a segment

If at any time the user falls into one of the selected Segments, they will immediately exit and not enter any more steps or be sent any more messages.

Tag users when they exit early

This will add a tag to a user when they get to this step. If value is left empty the tag will be removed if it exists. If your app has reached the tag limit, no tag will be applied.

For example, if you want users to enter another Journey when they exit early, you could tag them (exited-journey-1:true) then create a segment for that tag and value, and set the trigger for the next Journey to be when users enter that segment with tag (exited-journey-1:true).

Another good use case is using tags to ensure users are not active in too many Journeys. By tagging users when they start a Journey, finish a Journey, or exit early, you can create segments that exclude these users from other Journeys e.g. at the start of a Journey tag users (in-journey:true), then at the end of the Journey and on exit, remove that tag.

Re-Entry Rules

Defines how often they can repeatedly enter a Journey. Some message sequences you want to send once, like a Black Friday promotion. Some messages you’ll want to send every time a user is eligible to receive, like an abandoned cart campaign every time a user abandons the card, or a reactivation campaign every time they are inactive. This helps you space out the time in between.

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Journey Settings: Scheduling

Scheduling is not currently supported. Once you make your Journey live it is live until you stop or delete it.

Journey Messages

Send a Push Notification

Select the Message Template you would like to send. We strongly encourage creating new templates specifically for your Journey to ensure analytics are accurate and not shared across instances of the template. Also, name the template something recognizable so you can easily find it in the dropdown.

Message scheduling is not currently supported. When a user reaches this step in your Journey they will be sent the message immediately.

Send an In-App Message

First, ensure that you’re set up to support sending In-App Messages.

Once set up, you can add an in-app message node to your Journey by clicking on the (+) and selecting “In-App Message”. This will open up a side panel where you can manage the content and format of your message via drag and drop or HTML editor.

Aside from the content of the message, you also have the option to set trigger conditions for the message as well as a delivery schedule, which defines the duration of time the in-app message will remain active and continue triggering for your users.

Currently for In-App Messages (IAM) to display, the user must have reached the Journey IAM node before a new session. A new session is when the app is out of focus for 30 seconds+ and put back into focus.

Users that enter the IAM node during the current session are not eligible to get the IAM until a new session begins. Users go through Journeys in real time so they may not be eligible for IAMs at the time they reach the IAM node. You set the amount of time the user can create a new session to get the IAM using the "Delivery Schedule" within the IAM node.

Send an Email

First ensure you’ve set up your app to support sending email.

Select the Message Template you would like to send. We strongly encourage creating new templates specifically for your Journey to ensure analytics are accurate and not shared across instances of the template. Also, name the template something recognizable so you can easily find it in the dropdown.

Message scheduling is not currently supported. When a user reaches this step in your Journey they will be sent the message immediately.

Send an SMS

First ensure you’re set up to support sending SMS.

Next, make sure you’ve created an SMS template with the messaging you’d like to send out from your Journey. You can access this by:

• Clicking on “Messages” at the top of your screen
• Then click on “Templates”
• Finally click “(+) New Template” where you’ll select “New SMS Template”

Then, in your Journey, click on the (+) to add an SMS node. This will open up the side panel where you can select the template you’d like to send out at that specific point in the Journey.
Once users reach that step in the Journey, SMS messages will send out to them immediately.

Journey Actions

Wait

Users move the Journey in real-time. Use the wait action to space out your messages and steps. Define your wait time in minutes, hours, days or weeks. When a user enters these steps they will wait here the defined amount of time before leaving and going to the next step.

For example, if you send a message in the Journey and want to split users based on the interaction with that message, you should set a wait node for how long you want the user to interact with the message before continuing.

Tag User

Use the tag user action to add tags to users. Examples of why you might add a tag include tagging them with the Journey and step they are on in case you want to creates a segment or target this group later.

You can also use tags to make use of in-app messaging in Journeys. Tag users at a particular step in a Journey and then set up an in-app message that targets an audience with that tag.

Yes/No Branch

Use the Yes/No Branch to personalize a users journey based on segment membership or message behavior.

Segment Membership

Branches depending on what segment the user is in. For example, if you tag your users with a plan type (lets say “Free” and “Paid”) then you can create a branch for free users and paid users. The free branch may contain more messaging incentivizing users to upgrade, while the paid branch may introduce more paid features.

Previous Message Behavior

Branch depending on what behavior the user had for other messages in the same Journey. For push those options are “Clicked” and “Delivered”. For email those options are “Delivered”, “Opened” and “Clicked”. For example, if a user did not click a previous notification, maybe you want to get more aggressive and send more messages, or send them a bigger incentive.

Safari does not support Confirmed Delivery so keep this in mind when you create branched messages.

Split Branch

Split branches are used to send randomized portions of your audience down each branch, under the Split Branch step of your Journey. This is a great way to test various things like message content, channel performance at that step of your Journey, or even larger flow structures.

You can add a Split branch by clicking on the (+) when building or editing your Journey, then selecting “Split Branch” under the “Actions” menu. At that point, the right-side settings panel will open, where you can set the proportion of your audience you’d like randomized per branch.

Make sure to utilize tags so you can track which branch your audience members experienced!

NOTE: The way the randomization works is each audience member that reaches that step of the Journey will have the defined percent chance to move down each path. This means that, especially with smaller sample sizes, you may not always see perfectly proportioned groups (for example, with a 50/50 split and a 6-person audience, you may see 4 go down one path and 2 down another); however, this will look much closer with larger sample sizes and again ensures truly randomized groupings per variant in your test.

ABN Tests (Multi-Variant Testing)

You can set up ABN tests by nesting your Split Branches and setting the percentages in accordance with your ideal sample group structure.

For example, if you want to set up a test with 3 variants with equally proportioned, randomized sample groups, then you start by adding a Split Branch set to send 33% of the audience down one path, and 67% down the other. Next, under the 67% branch, you’ll nest another Split Branch, sending 50% of that group down each branch. This will give you approximately a 1/3 breakdown across each of your 3 branches.

Control Groups

See how audience members naturally behave without a touch point by keeping one path free of message nodes.

Choosing a Winner

Once you’ve assessed and concluded that one branch is the highest performing, the split branch node can be edited to send 100% of the audience down that particular path.

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If you'd like to adjust when a customer sees a message, you can drag and drop messages and actions on the canvas while your Journey is in Draft.

Managing Active Journeys

"More Options" Dropdown

• Journey Examples— will open a new browser window to a page that shows examples of pre-built Journeys inside of our documentation
• Delete — will delete a Journey. Once deleted you cannot retrieve it.
• New Journey — will bring you to a new instance of Journey.
• Stop + Archive — stops the Journey and gives it an archive status. These can still be accessed and duplicated.
• Duplicate — creates a copy of that Journey which you can then edit and make live.
• Export as Image — will automatically download a PNG image of your Journey. The image will only capture what is visible on your screen.

"Edit" Button

• Edit - will enter "Edit Mode" allowing you to update your Journey Name, add new steps between existing steps, update details of existing steps, delete message and tag steps. Please note that changes made in edit mode will be made live immediately - as soon as steps are added or changed, audience members will be able to enter into or other experience those changes, as applicable.
  Deleting non-message steps (branches, waits), updating Journey Settings (outside of Journey Name), and pausing live Journeys are not currently supported. To make these changes, you will have to stop and archive the Journey, then duplicate and potentially exclude any previous users who have already received/experienced the Journey.

"View Stat" Button

• View Stat - will enter "Stat Mode" allowing you to view the statistics of the message templates as well as being able to your entry, exit, message and action settings.

Time Window

Select the particular days on which users should be allowed to move forward into the next step of the Journey.

Journey Stats

Warning: Stats are reported at a template level. If you are reusing a template across different Journeys or in combination with Automated Messages the send and open stats will be combining these counts. We recommend creating a new template or duplicating a template for each Journey it is used in to reduce any confusion here.

Stats for each step

Push Stats

In-App Message Stats

Email Stats

SMS Stats