The Decision node is used to create a branch in your marketing automation program.
Decision nodes act as logical checkpoints in marketing automation workflows, allowing marketers to branch contacts down different paths based on pre-defined conditions.
Within the node, you create a rule or set of rules; all contacts satisfying the rules proceed down the Yes route, and all others down the No route.
This means you can send contacts different content according to their behaviour and data, send them emails over different timescales, and include or exclude them from your program according to who you want to receive your marketing communications.
Decision
Decisions have two major components
Condition
The rule used to determine which branch of the program a contact goes down.Maximum wait time
How long a contact waits at the decision before proceeding down the No route.
Decisions include a Default path, which acts as a catch-all route for contacts not meeting any criteria in other branches, ensuring a smooth workflow.
Condition
Five types of decision condition are available:
Contact has opened an email campaign.
Contact has clicked a link in an email campaign.
Contact has been sent an email campaign.
Contact data field rule.
Present in the selected segment
You can copy an existing segment or create a new one.
Contact is opted into the selected preference.
Behavioural decisions
Three types of simple behavioural rule are available for email campaigns. You can branch the program based on whether the contact has:
Opened a specific campaign
Clicked a link in a specific campaign
Been sent a specific campaign
To create a decision based on SMS campaign behavioural data, use a segment decision.
This can include email campaigns that weren't sent as part of the program, and opens or clicks that occurred before the contact joined the program.
When you select one of these rules, any email campaigns used in the program are shown by default. To choose another campaign, select ALL CAMPAIGNS.
Use the Preview icon next to a selected campaign to check it's the correct one.
Contact data decisions
You can branch a program based on a contact's data, or lack of data, in your contact data fields.
The rules available are the same as in our segment builder.
Learn more in Types of segmentation rules.
Contacts exactly satisfying the rule proceed down the Yes route, and all others down the No route.
For example, if the decision was for:
GENDER is equal to 'Male'
Then all contacts with a GENDER contact data field set to Male go down the Yes program route. Contacts with a GENDER contact data field that's empty, or set to any value other than Male, go down the No program route.
Segment decisions
Use the segment builder to create a new segment, or choose an existing one.
Segment decisions include behavioural rules, contact data field rules, Insight data rules and list membership, marketing preference rules, as well as 'and/or' and 'exclusion' logic. For example, when segmenting contacts for re-engagement, using Order Insight Data can provide more clarity and reliability in distinguishing customers with zero orders versus one or more orders, compared to general fields like 'total_orders.'
For instance, you can use Insight Data to evaluate purchase behavior by configuring the rule to check if a customer made a purchase after joining the program, such as Orders > purchase_date. A common segment rule might be to identify contacts with Total Orders = 0 during a defined timeframe.
Learn more in Create a segment.
For complex branching rules, set your own description in the box at the top of the builder, which is then shown as the summary text in the node on the program canvas.
For example, you might label a decision as Contact is a high-value customer, or Contact has engaged with at least 1 campaign in our welcome series.
Marketing preference decisions
You can branch a program based on a contact's marketing preferences.
The rules available are the same as in our segment builder.
Learn more in Types of segmentation rules.
Contacts exactly satisfying the rule proceed down the Yes route, and all others down the No route.
For example, if the decision was for:
Camping > Tents
Then only contacts who opted into the Tents preference inside the Camping category go down the Yes program route.
Maximum wait time
If a contact meets the criteria for the decision node as soon as they reach it, they move down the Yes branch straight away.
If they don't meet the criteria, they remain at the decision node until either:
They do meet the condition; or
The maximum wait time is reached.
The decision condition is checked at least four times a day, so if the contact comes to meet the criteria after reaching the decision node, then they progress down the Yes branch of the program within six hours. The logic ensures that only records satisfying all parts of the condition qualify to proceed. Non-qualifying records, for example, orders placed within the last 109 days, in the case of an older than 110 days rule are excluded until they meet the specified criteria.
The maximum wait time can take the form of any of the delays allowed in the program builder.
Examples
If the decision is set to Opened 'Happy Birthday' campaign within 5 days, then contacts who have opened the 'Happy Birthday' campaign move down the Yes branch as soon as the program becomes aware that the campaign has been opened.
That could be a few hours after sending the campaign, or it could be a few days later. If, after five days, a contact still hasn't opened the campaign, then they proceed down the No route.
If you have a survey that contains a mapped contact data field, and you set the condition as MAPPEDFIELD is not blank and the maximum wait time as until 1 January 2024 at 00:00, then anyone completing the survey before the beginning of 2024 proceeds down the Yes route as soon as the program is aware that the contact data field is no longer blank.
Anyone who hasn't completed the survey by the beginning of 2024 proceeds down the No route as the calendar rolls around to the new year.
Another example is a welcome email workflow: set up an initial automated welcome email series and insert a Decision node to evaluate purchase conditions after a few emails. Configure paths for contacts with Total Orders = 0 to receive targeted offers, while others proceed with standard follow-ups.
You can also set it so there's no wait time, meaning both branches of the decision execute immediately.