Journey basics: create, start, stop, and reset

Learn the basics of working with Journeys in Tarvent, including how to create a journey, configure settings, start it, stop it, and reset it.

What we'll cover

1. Concepts
2. How to create a journey
3. How to configure journey settings
4. How to start a journey
5. How to stop and reset a journey
6. FAQ
7. Need help?

1 Concepts

What is a journey?
A journey is a visual automation flow made up of entry triggers, action steps, flow steps, goals, and conversions. Contacts enter when a trigger condition is met and then move through the path you define.

Minimum requirements to start
A journey needs at least one entry trigger and one configured action step before it can be started.

Audience scope
Journeys run within an audience. The selected audience controls which contacts, fields, and criteria are available while building.

Note: Journeys use the selected audience for contact data, criteria, and related fields.

2 How to create a journey

Here are the steps:

1. Go to Journeys and click Add.
2. Enter a Name, choose the Audience, and add an optional Description.
3. Choose whether the journey should run once per contact or multiple times, and whether simultaneous runs are allowed.
4. Click Save to open the journey editor.
5. Add at least one entry trigger and one action step.

Pro-tip: Use clear names that describe the journey purpose so reporting and maintenance are easier later.

3 How to configure journey settings

Here are the steps:

1. Open the journey and click Settings in the left panel.
2. Review the run settings, description, and audience-level behavior.
3. Save the changes.

4 How to start a journey

Here are the steps:

1. Confirm the journey has at least one entry trigger and one configured action step.
2. Click Start in the top-right corner.
3. Monitor the journey after launch to confirm contacts are entering as expected.

Warning: The Start button is disabled until the journey has at least one entry trigger and one configured action step.

5 How to stop and reset a journey

Here are the steps:

1. Open the running journey and click Stop.
2. Choose whether to let current contacts finish, stop all contacts immediately, or reset the journey.
3. Confirm your selection.

Warning: Resetting a journey removes current contacts from the journey and clears journey statistics.

6 Journey notes

• The audience is required, and determines the fields available for conditions, email personalization, and more.
• If using an account journey as a template, you cannot change the audience associated with the new journey
• If "Run multiple times per contact" is selected, but "Allow simultaneous runs" is disabled, the contact must complete the journey before it can start the journey again.
• A journey cannot be started until there is at least 1 entry trigger and a configured action step. If you see a red exclamation mark at the top right of your action step, then you will know the step still needs to be configured, and the "Start" button will be disabled.
• The start button will be disabled until all steps are configured and there is at least 1 trigger.
• Once a journey is started, you can add new steps and triggers. The journey will skip unconfigured steps and move the contact to the next configured step.
• A journey that is not running cannot be stopped
• if you let current contacts finish and block new entries, contacts on wait steps will continue to wait and process normally. Your statistics and reporting will remain intact.
• If you stop all contacts immediately, journey contacts will no longer process, even if they are on a wait step. However, your statistics and reporting will remain intact.
• If you reset a journey, it will stop all contacts immediately, and remove all statistics for the journey. This is primarily used when testing a journey and you want to reset the stats before starting it for production.
• Tarvent support will not be able to recover statistics from a reset journey.

7 FAQ

8 Need help?

If you need help with Tarvent Journeys setup, troubleshooting, or strategy, contact support. We are happy to help.