The Contact Event Entry Source

An entry event uses data about customer behavior to put contacts into a journey. Entry events generally require a change in data about the customer that triggers an evaluation of that contact for admission in the journey. The records Journey Builder evaluates for events are stored in a data source, which Journey Builder monitors on a schedule that you set.

For a Welcome Series journey, for example, the action or behavior is typically a customer opting into a marketing campaign. For an Abandoned Cart journey, a contact enters a journey when they leave items in their web shopping cart. Other events include:

• The contact purchases a product.
• A contact signs up for a conference.
• A customer publishes a restaurant review.
• Marketing Cloud Engagement customers using CloudPages or Mobile Studio create profile centers or use the email subscription template to opt users into mobile or email communications.
• A user changes to an object’s data stored in Sales or Service Cloud to place a contact into a journey.
• Using a point of sale system in a retail store or on a website, a customer elects to sign up for promotional emails and coupons.

Date-based events use data stored in Contact Builder. Use a date-based event if you want to send a promotion to your customers to celebrate their birthday or a reminder for an appointment.

If you use a date-based event, make sure that you have the data you need, such as a client’s birthday, in your Contact Builder data model. Consider timing in your journey. You can set the journey start either before or after the date, so think about the best time for your clients to get the information: on the specific date, like for a birthday message? Or a month before a renewal date?

Note In an upcoming release, Contact Data Events aren’t supported. Events and journeys created before this change continues to run without interruption. Use Data Extension or Audiences to admit contacts instead. Some examples of ways entry events place contacts into a journey are:

• Events can be journey-specific or shared between journeys.
• Configure journey-specific events within a journey for use only in that journey.
• Create shared events in Entry Source Administration for use in multiple journeys.

• Select a Reusable Entry Source
  Select a reusable entry source in Journey Builder when the event you want to use was already created in another Marketing Cloud Engagement journey or on the Entry Sources page.
• Create a Journey-Specific Event
  A journey-specific event in Marketing Cloud Engagement Journey Builder is configured within a single journey. Only that journey can use the event.
• Create a Date-Based Event Entry
  Use Date-Based Events in Journey Builder to use a date-based attribute from Contact Builder to determine when contacts enter the journey. Common use cases include birthday and anniversary campaigns. Other typical cases are journeys based on subscription dates or the last time a contact opened or used an app. If a contact doesn’t have a contact record in Marketing Cloud Engagement, they aren’t admitted into the journey.
• Create a Shared Entry Event
  An Entry Event is an action that prompts one or more contacts to enter a journey in Journey Builder. This topic contains information for IT administrators to set up shared entry events for marketer use.
• Events and Data Extensions
  When a journey's entry source is configured in Journey Builder, the data source from which contacts are admitted is usually a data extension.
• Entry Results
  Use this page to understand and gauge the flow of contacts into a journey in Journey Builder. This page also shows the journeys that use this entry source under Journey Usage. View a list of contacts that weren’t accepted and an explanation by clicking View Rejected Contacts.
• Test an Entry Event
  Test your entry event in Journey Builder to ensure that it admits contacts as intended without contacts entering a live journey and receiving messages.
• Prioritization Example: Update Entry Event
  In this decision split prioritization example, Journey Builder updates the entry events for a post-purchase confirmation and follow-up journey.
• View Rejected Contacts
  Follow these steps in Journey Builder to view a list of contacts that weren’t accepted into a journey.
• Fire an Event
  Entry events prompt Journey Builder to evaluate Marketing Cloud Engagement contacts for journey entry. An entry event occurs when records in a journey's entry event data source, often a data extension, are added, updated, or overwritten. Firing an event lets you kick off a journey using an API or an automation created in Automation Studio.