Contacts in automation

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How do I see a contact in an automation?

ActiveCampaign provides robust tools to help you track and understand your contacts' interactions within your automations. One of the critical aspects of managing your marketing efforts is comprehending where a contact is in an automation and the path they have taken to get there. This feature is vital for troubleshooting, optimizing your automation processes, and ensuring your contacts enjoy a seamless experience.

With this capability, you can determine what steps your contacts have completed, their completion rates, and how they initially entered your automation, thus allowing you to address any questions or issues effectively.

How to access this feature

To access the Contacts in Automation feature, you need to navigate through the ActiveCampaign interface as follows:

1. Click Contacts on the left menu to open the Contacts Overview page. 2. Use the search field to find the specific contact you want to examine. 3. Click on the contact's name to open their profile record.

Once you are viewed in the profile record, you can gain insights into their automation journey.

Step-by-step instructions

To view a contact's path within your automation, please follow these detailed steps:

1. **Navigate to Contacts Overview**: Click on Contacts on the left menu to access the page that lists all your contacts.

2. **Search for Contact**: Utilize the search field available on the Contacts Overview page to locate the specific contact whose automation journey you wish to analyze.

3. **Open Contact Profile**: After identifying the contact, click on their name. This action will open their profile record.

4. **Select Automation**: Within the profile record, locate the General Details box. Here, click on the name of the automation that the contact is currently in.

5. **Review Automation Modal**: A modal window will open, displaying several crucial pieces of information:

  - The contact's completion status for the automation.
  - The date they last completed the automation (if applicable).
  - A list of dates and times that they entered your automation, including their overall completion rate.

6. **Access Detailed Automation Steps**: Click the View button to be directed to a new page where you can see a comprehensive breakdown of each step the contact has undergone within your automation.

7. **Analyze Automation Path**:

  - At the top, the trigger will indicate how the contact entered the automation.
  - Each step will feature a green checkmark next to it if the contact successfully passed through that step; hovering your mouse over this checkmark will reveal when the contact completed that step.
  - If a contact skipped a step, a red X will appear next to that step; hovering over this X will provide an explanation of why the contact did not complete the step.

Configuration options and settings

While using the Contacts in Automation feature, you will interact with various UI elements and settings. Key configurations include:

- Contacts Overview page: The main dashboard to manage contacts. - Contact Profile Record: Displays information specific to the selected contact. - General Details box: Contains critical information regarding the contact's automations. - View button: Grants access to a detailed view of the contact's automation journey.

These tools facilitate the effective management and analysis of how your contacts engage with your automations.

Best practices and tips

Here are some tips to maximize the effectiveness of the Contacts in Automation feature:

- Regularly review contact paths to identify any points of friction within your automations that might confuse or disengage contacts. - Use the completion status and dates to track performance and adjust your automations as needed. - Employ the insights gained from hover tooltips to refine communication strategies, ensuring that automation steps align with contact behaviors. - Consider segmenting contacts based on their actions within automations to enhance targeting and messaging further.

Common use cases with examples

1. **Troubleshooting Automation Issues**: If a contact reports not receiving an important email, checking their automation path will show you where they might have encountered a problem, allowing you to rectify the issue.

2. **Optimizing Marketing Campaigns**: By reviewing the completion rates of various steps within an automation, you can determine which parts of your campaign are working well and which require optimization.

3. **Personalizing Customer Journeys**: Understanding how different contacts navigate through automations can provide insights into their preferences, enabling you to customize future communications more effectively.

Troubleshooting section

If you encounter issues while using this feature, consider the following troubleshooting steps:

- Ensure that you are logged into your account and have the correct permissions to access contact profiles. - Verify that the contact you are looking for exists in the Contacts Overview page. - If the information does not load in the modal, try refreshing the page or checking your internet connection.

FAQ

Q1: What plans include the Contacts in Automation feature? A1: This feature is available for the following plan types: Starter, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise.

Q2: Can I see how many times a contact has entered an automation? A2: Yes, the modal window will display a list of dates and times when the contact entered the automation.

Q3: How do I know if a contact has completed a step in the automation? A3: A green checkmark next to the automation step indicates successful completion. Hovering over the checkmark will provide the date of completion.

Q4: What does the red "X" signify next to an automation step? A4: A red "X" indicates that the contact skipped that step, and hovering over it will show an explanation.

Q5: Why might a contact's status say they are still in the automation? A5: The contact may still be going through the steps of the automation, or they may have re-entered the automation after completing it.

Q6: Can I modify my automation based on contact behaviors? A6: Absolutely! Use insights gained from analyzing contact paths to inform adjustments to your automation for improved performance.

Q7: What should I do if I can’t find a contact in my automation? A7: Ensure you have searched accurately in the Contacts Overview page, and confirm that the contact exists in your account.

For any additional information about automations, you can look into other features available under Automation. ```