In previous Journey Builder releases, a Contact could not be in the same version of an Interaction simultaneously. This is an issue for Interactions where you need a Contact to enter the same Interaction more than once, for example in abandoned cart or post-purchase programs.

In this new release, a Contact Entry Mode has been added to the Interaction Canvas that enables you to define whether a Contact can enter an Interaction once (across all Interaction versions), or enter the same Interaction multiple times.

If the option is set to ‘Single Entry’ and a Contact is already in a current version of the Interaction, then the Contact will not be allowed to enter the Interaction version again until they have exited the Interaction. However, if they are not currently in an Interaction version, they will be allowed to enter it (if they meet the Contact Filter Entry Criteria defined in the Interaction Trigger).

If the option is set to ‘Multiple Entries’, when an Event is fired a Contact can enter the current active version of an Interaction (if they meet the Contact Filter Entry Criteria defined in the Interaction Trigger), even if they are already moving through the Interaction.

A new ‘Date-Based’ Trigger option is available in Interaction Triggers that enables date-based Attributes from the Contact model to determine an entry criteria for the Interaction.

A new status mode allows a Trigger to be changed to ‘Test Mode’ so an Interaction Trigger can be tested without admitting Contacts into an Interaction. This is helpful when testing if the Contact Filter Criteria defined in a Trigger has been configured correctly.

To set a Trigger to Test Mode in Journey Builder, select Triggers from the Administration menu and click on the Availability link related to the Trigger you want to test.

Only Triggers that are set to ‘Unavailable’ can be tested. If a Trigger is currently set to ‘Available’, select the Unavailable radio button and click Save, then open the Trigger Status dialog for the Trigger again by selecting Test Mode and click Save. 

Join Activities reunite Contacts from two or more different branches back to a single branch. For example, if a Decision Split Activity is used to send two or more different messaging activities to Contacts, a Join Activity can be used to merge branches back together, so contacts continue to flow toward the same endpoint.

Personalization strings are now supported in emails sent from Journey Builder (in previous releases, emails in a Journey Builder Send Email Activity could not be personalized). The data binding context used for personalization strings is the Event Source Data Extension defined in the Interaction Trigger.

To include an Event Source Data Extension field in an Email use the %%fieldName%% personalization string syntax in the email subject line, preheader or body of the email.

You will need to ensure that an Profile Attribute exists for the Data Extension field before it can be used in an email. To create a new Attribute, select Profile Management from the Subscribers menu in the Marketing Cloud Email app and click the Create button. Add the name of the Data Extension field in the New Attribute Properties dialog and include an optional description, then click OK.

This feature is helpful to be aware of when troubleshooting an Interaction or monitoring the progress of an Interaction. You can view an activity log for Contacts that have entered an Interaction by selecting Contacts from the Administration menu in Journey Builder.

This page displays a complete transaction history of current and previously published Interactions. A search filter enables filtering by Contacts to display the Interactions they entered and exited, and the status of the Contact in Interactions. You can also filter by a column value, for example ‘DidNotMeetEntryCriteria’ to filter all Contacts that did not meet the Contact Filter Criteria defined in the Interaction Trigger.

While this new feature is not mentioned in the release notes and not yet supported in the Interaction Canvas interface, it’s now available through the Fuel REST API and is worth understanding. Wait Periods in an Interaction can now define what time (and time zone) the Wait Period ends and the next Activity in a branch commences.

A typical use case for this feature is that if you want to start a Send Email Activity at a specific time of day (for example, 2pm when the open rate is higher), then you can define this in the WDF Wait Object.

An example JSON payload of a Wait Object in WDF with values for a specifiedTime and timeZoneId is provided below.

Pictures can now be included in MobilePush Notifications for Android devices. This support adds impact to push notifications and can improve action rates.

To enable picture notifications in Android devices, create a new et_big_pic custom key in Journey Builder for Apps SDK Explorer.

This new feature enables an app to display button controls on a mobile device when it receives a push message from MobilePush. For example, a ‘View Offer’ button that links to a mobile-optimized landing page.

Extending the previous release, Interactive Notifications have been added to the Locations feature in MobilePush, enabling Location Exit or Entry messages to include Interactive Notifications based on their defined geofence area.

A Push Service Manager app accessible from the HubExchange menu in Marketing Cloud facilitates the management of Apple Push Notification (APNS) Certificates and Google API keys for MobilePush configurations. In turn, this provides a faster, more secure way to register apps with MobilePush.