You have the ability to set up simple drip campaigns under the "Drip Campaigns" tab of your Mobile Text Alerts dashboard.

But what if you want a campaign that's more robust? Something more than just messages and delays? Perhaps something with different branches and conditional messaging and A/B tests?

That's where the Workflow Builder can help.

Here's how you can use the Workflow Builder set up a more robust and customized SMS drip campaigns.

1. Add a workflow

First, go to the "Workflows" tab.

Then click “Add Workflow.”

Most of the time, you'll want drip campaigns to be "recurring" rather than just one-time, so select the "recurring" option.

2. Select your trigger

Select the event that you'd like to be the "trigger" that initiates your drip campaign, which will vary depending on the purpose of your campaign.

Your trigger options are:

• When a subscriber sends you a text message: this trigger allows you to designate specific words for your subscribers to text in to your account's phone number. If your subscriber texts in one of these words, they will be automatically added to your drip campaign.

• When a subscriber opts in: this trigger allows you to designate particular opt-in methods (for example, sign-up page or text-to-join keywords). When subscribers opt in to your text message system via one of the designated opt-in methods, they will be automatically added to your drip campaign.

• When a subscriber joins a group: this trigger allows you to designate specific groups on your account. When a subscriber is added to one of those groups, they will be automatically added to your drip campaign.

• Important dates: this trigger allows you to designate a "date" data point for your subscribers (if you have any data points related to date), as well as a particular time. The drip campaign will be automatically triggered for individual subscribers on the date and time specified.

• Using a Zapier action: this trigger allows you to start your drip campaign automatically for subscribers whenever a Zapier action is triggered. (You'll need to set up a zap within Zapier using "Enter Workflow" as an action for Mobile Text Alerts within the zap.)

3. Implement your actions

You'll then be taken to the Workflow Builder canvas.

From here you need to drag "actions" into the canvas as desired.

Your action options are:

• Send a message: sends a simple message

• Send conversational message: sends a message and creates new message branches based on the subscriber's response

  • You can designate the specific responses that you'd like to be the triggers for new branches in your workflow

  • A branch will also be created for if the the subscriber gives no reply within 2 days

• Add to group: adds the subscriber to a specific group or groups

• Remove from group: removes the subscriber from a specific group or groups

• Wait: delays moving the subscriber on to the next step until a specified event happens or until a specified time period passes

  • You can set it to wait until the subscriber sends a message or clicks a link in your most recent message in the drip campaign

  • You can set it to wait for a particular period of time (in minutes, days, or hours)

  • If you select both "For Event" and "Period of Time," you're able to set it to wait for an event OR for a period of time

• Branch: creates two different branches in your workflow based on conditions that you specify

  • You can trigger the different branches based on subscriber attributes, events in the subscriber's journey, or groups the subscriber is or is not a part of

  • Subscribers will then start going down two different paths on the drip campaign

• A/B test: sends a designated percentage of traffic down two separate branches so that you can compare the results

Click the actions within the workflow to make changes to those actions.

You can mix and match these actions in your drip campaign however you'd like.

Here's an example of how a drip campaign could look:

• Step 1: Subscriber enters the campaign when they join a "Paying Customer" group on your campaign.

• Step 2: Subscriber receives a message thanking them for their purchase.

• Step 3: The system waits for 15 days or until the subscriber sends back a message in reply.

• Step 4: The system checks whether or not the subscriber has entered a "Repeat Customer" group on your account.

• Step 5: If the customer has entered a "Repeat Customer" group, they leave the workflow and therefore receive no further messages in the campaign. OR if the customer has not entered a "Repeat Customer" group, they receive a message reminding them of a 20% off discount code from their initial welcome message.

4. Save and start your campaign

When you're done making edits to the campaign, you can save your changes and then click "Start" to make your drip campaign live.

You can view and edit your drip campaign at any time from the "Workflows" tab.