By Shannan Hearne, Summit Technologies Marketing Specialist
Journey Builder is a tool that enables marketers to create personalized customer journeys by triggering specific actions based on customer behavior. An entry source in Journey Builder is the starting point for a customer journey, where customers enter the journey from. Each journey must have an entry source, which can be a sendable data extension, a Journey Builder Audience, or an entry event.
It's important to note that when a journey is activated, it uses a snapshot of the entry source data extension, so if you make any changes to the data extension after activation, those changes will not be detected by the running journey. To include new fields or make changes to the entry source data extension, you will need to create a new version of the journey.
An entry event is the action that prompts one or more contacts to enter a journey. Entry events are recorded in a data source, which Journey Builder monitors on a schedule that you set. Entry events can be specific to a journey or reusable across multiple journeys.
You can configure Journey Builder to begin a journey based on any event configured in your Marketing Cloud instance. You can edit or review the configuration of an entry source before activating a journey, but you cannot edit an active entry source. To make changes, you will need to create another version of the journey.
When selecting a sendable data extension as an entry source, it's recommended to include fields needed for personalization or dynamic content, to use a single entry source data extension created using a query if the data for the journey is stored in multiple data extensions, and to pre-filter the audience data extension to speed up processing. Additionally, using synchronized data extensions to populate an entry source data extension in journeys that use Sales Cloud or Service Cloud data and Marketing Cloud data is also a good practice.
Summit Technologies is your Salesforce implementation partner and our discovery process ensures we build a Salesforce solution for your business that incorporates everything you need, customized for your business model, and nothing that you don’t need.
Summit Technologies is a Columbus, Ohio based Salesforce Consulting Partner consisting of a talented and creative team of Salesforce certified Consultants, Developers, Analysts and Project Managers. We specialize in building innovative solutions for our clients within the Salesforce family of products including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, CPQ, Experience Cloud, Nonprofit Cloud, Education Cloud, Pardot, Field Services and Salesforce Communities. Summit Technologies strategic services solutions bring custom Salesforce technology to work for your business.