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Getting Started with Journeys
Getting Started with Journeys

Learn the fundamentals of Journeys, a way to track and visualize students completing sequential interactions.

Eric Range avatar
Written by Eric Range
Updated over 3 months ago

Overview

Our students interact with us in countless ways, and our business processes often span multiple modules within Element451. Journeys are designed to track and visualize people completing sequential interactions, allowing you to monitor and manage custom enrollment funnels, track inquiries, follow admitted students as they progress toward enrollment, and much more. The possibilities with Journeys are endless.

Benefits of Using a Journey

  • Track more than just funnel stages

  • Visibility of what processes are working and where students are getting stuck

  • Quick insight on conversion rates

Example Use Cases

  • Honors college invite

  • Financial aid and scholarships

  • Enrollment tracker

  • Program completion tracker

  • Matriculation requirements

  • Student search

Accessing Journeys

Navigate to Data + Automations > Journeys > All Journeys.

Components of a Journey

The three components of a Journey are Initial Journey Triggers, Steps, and Exit Triggers. We'll explain each below.


Journey Triggers

Journey Trigger(s) are activities that automatically enroll a person in a Journey.

  • You can configure one or multiple triggers.

  • If multiple triggers, the Journey will begin if any one of the conditions is met.

  • Triggers are configured using various activities that happen in Element451. Click below to view a complete list of trigger options.

List of Journey Triggers

  • Applications

    • Application Completed

    • Application Paid

    • Application Started

    • Application Submitted

  • Appointments

    • Appointment Attended

    • Appointment Canceled

    • Appointment No Show

    • Appointment Scheduled

    • Appointment Updated

  • Conversations

    • Conversation Started

  • Decisions

    • Decision Checklist Completed

    • Decision Checklist Item Updated

    • Decision Released

    • Decision Stage Changed

    • Decision Status Changed

  • Documents

    • Document Uploaded

  • Event

    • Event Signup

  • Forms

    • Form Submitted

  • Labels

    • User Label Added

    • User Label Removed

  • Users

    • Joined Segment

    • Left Segment

    • User Territory Changed

You can also manually enroll contacts individually or via a segment. Click here to learn more about this process.


Steps

Once a contact is enrolled in a Journey, the steps are the individual activities that must be completed for that contact to progress through the Journey.

Each step can have optional conditions and actions, both of which are optional.

  • Conditions can be configured for a wide array of activities, including account creation, submitting an application, updates to application decisions, email interactions, event registrations, page views, and more.

  • Actions can be configured to execute at the completion of a step.

Generally, Journey steps must be completed in order (for an exception, see Step Groups below). A Journey only monitors the next step for each user.

For example, consider a Journey that includes the following steps: Received Open House Email > Clicked on the Link in Email > Registered for Open House. If the user receives the email and registers for the event directly on the website without clicking the link in the email, the Journey will not move forward because the middle step was not completed.

Therefore, it’s important to identify the most critical metrics for your tracking and consider using Step Groups to ensure flexibility in the process.

List of Steps

  • Account

    • Created Account

    • Logged In

    • Has Been Merged

  • Application

    • Completed Application

    • Paid Application

    • Paid Deposit

    • Started Application

    • Submitted Application

    • Supplemental Form Submitted

  • Appointment

    • Scheduled Appointment

    • Canceled Appointment

    • Attended Appointment

    • Did Not Attend Appointment

    • Updated Appointment

  • Course

    • Completed Course

    • Dropped Course

    • Enrolled Course

    • Updated Course

  • Custom

    • Custom Activity

  • Decision

    • Decision Checklist Completed

    • Updated Decision Assignment

    • Updated Decision Checklist Item

    • Updated Decision Criteria

    • Updated Decision Stage

    • Updated Decision Status

    • Released Decision

  • Email

    • Bounced Email

    • Clicked Link in Email

    • Opened Email

    • Received Email

    • Unsubscribed From Email

  • Event

    • Canceled Event Registration

    • Event Marked Attended

    • Registered For Event

  • Form

    • Paid Form

    • Submitted Form

  • Info Request

    • Received Recommendation

    • Requested Recommendation

  • Journey

    • Completed Journey

    • Enrolled In Journey

  • Page

    • Clicked Link on Page

    • Viewed Page

  • Phone Call

    • Completed Phone Call

    • Did Not Answer Phone Call

    • Failed Phone Call

    • Busy Phone Call

    • Canceled Phone Call

  • SMS

    • Clicked Link in SMS

    • Failed SMS

    • Received SMS

    • Undelivered SMS

  • Survey

    • Completed Survey

  • Task

    • Task Completed

  • Whatsapp

    • Failed Whatsapp

    • Received Whatsapp

    • Undelivered Whatsapp


Step Groups

Step Groups allow you to bundle multiple steps to be evaluated together. A Step Group can be configured in two ways:

  • All (Any Order): All activities in this group must be completed, but they can be done in any order. Once all activities are completed, the group will be considered complete, and the Journey will look toward the next step.

  • Any: If any single step in this group is completed, the group will be considered complete, and the Journey will move on to the next step.

Creating a Step Group

To create a group, select two or more steps and click Create New Group.


Exit Triggers

Exit Triggers are activity conditions that, when met, update a contact’s status to “exited” within a Journey, preventing them from continuing further. This helps maintain accurate analytics by reflecting only those who are still eligible to complete the Journey.

For example, in a Journey that tracks an admitted student’s progress from decision release → deposit → attendance at orientation, if you have an exit trigger such as updated decision status = withdrawn, and a student withdraws their application after the decision is released, their status will be updated to “exited.” This ensures the Journey only includes students who are still progressing, providing a clear and accurate view of overall progress.

List of Exit Triggers

  • Account

    • Created Account

    • Logged In

    • Has Been Merged

  • Application

    • Completed Application

    • Paid Application

    • Paid Deposit

    • Started Application

    • Submitted Application

    • Supplemental Form Submitted

  • Appointment

    • Scheduled Appointment

    • Canceled Appointment

    • Attended Appointment

    • Did Not Attend Appointment

    • Updated Appointment

  • Course

    • Completed Course

    • Dropped Course

    • Enrolled Course

    • Updated Course

  • Custom

    • Custom Activity

  • Decision

    • Decision Checklist Completed

    • Updated Decision Assignment

    • Updated Decision Checklist Item

    • Updated Decision Criteria

    • Updated Decision Stage

    • Updated Decision Status

    • Released Decision

  • Email

    • Bounced Email

    • Clicked Link in Email

    • Opened Email

    • Received Email

    • Unsubscribed From Email

  • Event

    • Canceled Event Registration

    • Event Marked Attended

    • Registered For Event

  • Form

    • Paid Form

    • Submitted Form

  • Info Request

    • Received Recommendation

    • Requested Recommendation

  • Journey

    • Completed Journey

    • Enrolled In Journey

  • Page

    • Clicked Link on Page

    • Viewed Page

  • Phone Call

    • Completed Phone Call

    • Did Not Answer Phone Call

    • Failed Phone Call

    • Busy Phone Call

    • Canceled Phone Call

  • SMS

    • Clicked Link in SMS

    • Failed SMS

    • Received SMS

    • Undelivered SMS

  • Survey

    • Completed Survey

  • Task

    • Task Completed

  • Whatsapp

    • Failed Whatsapp

    • Received Whatsapp

    • Undelivered Whatsapp


Creating or Editing a Journey

Now that you've reviewed the basics of a Journey, you can create or edit one. Click below to explore our article on creating and managing Journeys.


Managing Journey Enrollees

On a Journey’s page, you can review which contacts have been enrolled in the Journey via the established triggers and view details about their progress. Additionally, you can manually add individual contacts or segments of contacts to the Journey.


Journey Analytics

Utilize Journey Analytics to gain valuable insights into the performance and progress of your Journeys.


Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can Journey steps be skipped?

A: No, steps cannot be skipped. Steps must be completed in sequential order. To avoid enrollees from getting "stuck," consider using Exit Triggers.


The Journeys Module is only available with the Element Ignite and Engage packages.

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