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
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
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
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
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.