Multichannel marketing sounds great on paper. Email, SMS, push notifications, maybe even direct mail—all working together to reach your customers wherever they are. But let’s be honest: it’s easy to end up with a tangled mess of tools, too much manual work, and results that don’t match the hype.
If you’re a marketer, CRM manager, or just the “automation person” at your company, you probably want a way to run campaigns across channels without babysitting every step. That’s where workflow automation with Propensity comes in. This guide walks you through the real process—what works, what to skip, and how to avoid making things way more complicated than they need to be.
1. Get Your Data House in Order
Before you even open Propensity: What data is actually useful for your campaigns? Don’t assume “more data = better results.” Start with the basics:
- Contact data: Email, phone, opt-in status for each channel (don’t spam people who haven’t opted in).
- Behavioral triggers: Website visits, purchases, abandoned carts, etc.
- Preferences: Segments like “VIP customers,” “newsletter only,” or “SMS opt-outs.”
Pro tip: If your data is scattered across tools, take a day to centralize it. Propensity can connect to major CRMs and data warehouses, but garbage in = garbage out. Don’t skip this step.
2. Map Out Your Real-World Campaign Journey
Resist the urge to automate everything at once. Instead:
- Sketch your ideal customer journey on paper or a whiteboard.
- Keep it simple: What triggers the campaign? What happens next? What if they don’t respond?
- Decide which channels actually matter for this campaign. If SMS is expensive or your audience hates push notifications, skip them.
Example:
Trigger: User abandons cart
Step 1: Send email reminder
Step 2: If no purchase in 24 hours, send SMS (if opted in)
Step 3: If still no purchase, add to retargeting ad audience
Don’t get fancy for the sake of it. The more branches you add, the harder it’ll be to debug later.
3. Set Up Your Channels in Propensity
Propensity supports a bunch of channels—email, SMS, push, even integrations with ad platforms. Here’s what to do:
- Connect your existing providers: Plug in your email (like SendGrid or Mailgun), SMS (Twilio, etc.), push, and ad accounts.
- Test your connections: Send yourself test messages. Don’t assume it just works out of the box.
- Check opt-in and compliance settings: Laws around SMS and email are strict. Make sure you’re not blasting people who never said yes.
What to ignore:
Don’t stress about “AI-powered personalization” or “next-best-action” stuff if you’re just starting out. Focus on getting the basics working first.
4. Build Your Workflow: Start Simple
Now for the fun part: actually automating your campaign.
- Create a new workflow in Propensity: Use a real campaign as your test case.
- Add your trigger: This could be a user action (like a site visit, signup, or cart abandon), or a scheduled time.
- Drag in your first action: Send an email, SMS, or push. Keep your message short and clear.
- Add a wait step: Give users time to respond. 24 hours is typical, but you know your audience.
- Branch your workflow: If user takes action (like completing a purchase), end the workflow. If not, trigger the next step (maybe a different channel).
- Repeat as needed: Don’t add more than 2-3 steps per workflow at first. You can always expand later.
Pro tip:
Name every step and branch clearly. “Step 2: SMS after no purchase” is a lot easier to debug than “Branch B.”
5. Personalize Without Overcomplicating
Yes, personalization boosts results. But don’t get stuck writing 10 different email variants or pulling in every possible data point.
- Start with basics: Use first names, reference the product they left in their cart, or mention a recent event.
- Use Propensity’s built-in variables for common personalization—test it before sending.
- Skip advanced dynamic content until you’ve dialed in your baseline campaign.
What doesn’t work:
Complicated personalization logic often breaks, especially if your data isn’t perfect. Focus on relevance, not just complexity.
6. Preview, Test, and QA (Don’t Skip This)
This is where a lot of campaigns go sideways.
- Preview every message: Send test emails/SMS/pushes to yourself and a teammate.
- Check links, images, and personalization fields: Blank names or broken links look sloppy.
- Test each workflow path: Make sure both the “they buy” and “they don’t buy” branches work as expected.
- Review compliance: Especially for SMS and email. You don’t want legal headaches.
Honest take:
This is boring but necessary. A single typo or wrong trigger can ruin your whole campaign, or worse, get you blacklisted.
7. Launch and Monitor Closely
When you finally hit go, don’t disappear. The first few days are critical.
- Watch delivery and open rates: If something looks off (spike in bounces, lots of unsubscribes), pause and investigate.
- Check channel performance: Are people actually responding to SMS, or is it just costing money? Adjust as needed.
- Look for errors: Propensity will log failures (like messages that couldn’t be delivered)—actually read these.
What to ignore:
Don’t obsess over vanity metrics (likes, impressions) if they don’t tie back to real results like purchases or signups.
8. Iterate and Scale (But Don’t Rush It)
Once your workflow is running smoothly and getting results:
- Tweak timing and messages: Small changes can make a big difference.
- Add channels or steps: But only if you have a clear reason—more isn’t always better.
- Duplicate what works: Use your successful workflows as templates for new campaigns.
Pro tip:
Document what you did and what worked. It’ll save you (or your team) loads of time next quarter.
What Actually Works (And What to Ignore)
Works: - Keeping workflows simple and easy to debug - Testing every path before launch - Using clear, relevant personalization
Doesn’t: - Over-automating before you know what moves the needle - Chasing every new channel or “AI” feature - Ignoring compliance or opt-in management
Keep It Simple—and Iterate
Multichannel campaigns don’t have to be a nightmare. Focus on getting your basics solid in Propensity, start small, and build out as you see real results. Skip the hype, fix what’s broken, and don’t be afraid to keep things simple—your future self (and your customers) will thank you.