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Admit Contacts Via an API
The API event in Journey Builder connects the journey canvas to an API used to admit contacts into a journey. When the API fires an event, the contacts entering the journey are stored in your chosen Marketing Cloud Engagement data extension. You can set a filter using Marketing Cloud Engagement data attributes to ensure that only intended customers enter the journey.
This event type requires some development work to configure an API. If needed, seek technical help to set up and use an API to put customers into journeys. Here are some items to consider as you work with an IT resource.
- Note where you capture opt-ins and customer data.
- Review the information about your customers, such as demographic data, web browsing data, purchase data, and where it’s stored.
- Determine the data needs, such as customer data used to target or personalize messages or customer interactions that drive your marketing program.
- Determine which customer behaviors you want to act on and how. Consider timing and targeting.
Create a data extension to store contacts fired via an API if you don’t want to use an existing data extension for this purpose.
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Drag API Event onto the canvas. Use the Event Definition
Key to connect this journey to your API.
Warning Don’t include a period in the Event Definition Key. - Click API Event.
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Choose an API event, or click create an event.
Tip Events shown in the API Event Summary were created on the Entry Sources page. - If you create an API event, choose the data extension to populate.
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Click Filter Contacts and create a filter, if necessary.
Tip Use the final step to find the Event Definition Key.
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If contacts meet filter and entry mode criteria, the journey admits the
contacts in response to an API request.
For reference, find the Event Definition Key on the Summary tile on the canvas.
- API Event Entry Source Use Case
A marketer at Northern Trails Outfitters (NTO) works with a developer to set up an API that admits customers into a Marketing Cloud Engagement journey every day. In this example, the marketer and developer work to set up the API Event and API request, and then test sending a single contact into a journey. The API is intended to send a single contact at a time. It admits contacts when they’re ready to enter the journey rather than queuing or batching them.
