Design tab - Scenario building and editing

Build and edit scenarios using the Design tab to create automated customer journeys. This guide walks you through adding nodes, connecting them, and understanding how each component works.

Open the scenario editor by going to Campaigns > Scenarios > Create new. You'll see the Design tab of your new scenario.

Build scenarios with nodes

Every scenario is built from components called nodes. You connect these nodes to create a flow that guides customers through your campaign.

Add nodes to your scenario

• Click on the node you want to add from the sidebar.
• Drag and drop it onto the canvas with your left mouse button.

Edit existing nodes

Double-click any node to open its settings window. Click Save when you're done making changes.

Remove nodes you don't need

• Select the node by clicking it with your left mouse button.
• Click the trash icon, press backspace, or Delete on your keyboard.

Connect nodes to create flow

1. Click on the output connector (right side of the first node).
2. Drag the line to the input connector (left side of the second node).
3. Release your mouse when connected.

Now you've created a flow. Customers will move through this flow from triggers (like On date) to operators (like Condition) and finally to actions (like Email).

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Basic scenario flow

Every meaningful scenario needs at least one trigger, one action, and usually one condition node. You can have multiple flows in a single scenario.

Understand scenario size limits

There's a hard limit for how much data can be stored in one scenario. These recommendations help you stay within limits:

• Don't use more than 100 nodes. Keep the number below 30 to avoid lags.
• Don't use more than 25 email nodes. This includes different language versions. Shorter emails let you use more nodes or translations.
• Maximum scenario size is 7.9 MB.

Tip: If you hit these limits, break your scenario into smaller, simpler ones. You can also move parts of your email into HTML blocks - content there doesn't count toward the size limit.

Navigate the canvas

Move around and select multiple nodes

• Move your view: Click on empty space and drag your mouse.
• Select multiple nodes: Hold Shift and drag to select multiple components.
• Delete selected nodes: Press backspace on your keyboard.
• Zoom: Use your mouse wheel to zoom in or out.

Use touchpad controls

• Move: Slide with 2 fingers.
• Zoom: Pinch with 2 fingers.

Use keyboard shortcuts

• Press 1 to fit the screen
• Press 2 to zoom into the selection
• Press 0 to reset zoom.
• Use the minimap: Click the minimap in the bottom right corner to navigate.

Saving and launch scenarios

• Save your work: Click "Save" in the top right corner. This saves your scenario without launching it.
• Launch your scenario: Click "Start" to begin streaming customers through your flow.

Copy and paste nodes

You can copy nodes and their connections within one scenario or between different scenarios.

1. Select the nodes you want to copy (hold Shift for multiple nodes).
2. Press Cmd/Ctrl + C to copy.
3. Press Cmd/Ctrl + V to paste.

When copying between scenarios for the first time, your browser might ask permission to access the clipboard.

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Important

Copying scenarios between different app versions isn't allowed.

Understand how nodes work

Let's explore each type of node and how it works. Remember to double-click any node to configure its settings.

How nodes are displayed

Node names

Node names show three things:

• Action ID of the node
• Type of the node
• Your custom name for the node

Search for nodes: Use the search feature to find nodes by action ID, type, or name.

Format labels: Use standard markdown formatting like bold, italic, headings (H1-H6), lists, and links

Work with triggers

Trigger limitations

Here's a list of events and nodes with their limitations.

Campaign event statuses

Certain campaign event statuses don't trigger scenarios when used in the "On event" node. Don't use them as triggers in your scenarios. Those statuses include:

• enqueued
• enqueue_failed
• sent
• failed
• suppressed

Importantly, campaign events that do not have a status attribute altogether, such as A/B tests, will also not trigger a scenario.

Other events and nodes

Apart from campaign events, there are other events and nodes that don't trigger scenarios. These include:

• merge
• consent events generated by manual updates in the web UI. Such events have CRM in the source attribute.
• Add event nodes (unless you check "Allow scenario triggering")
• Ad audiencenodes with add_customers and remove_customers operations

On-event trigger limitation

• If you use "event attribute is false," also add event attribute has value.
• This makes the system check if the attribute exists before evaluating it
• Without the has value condition, non-existing properties are treated as false.

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On event triggers

You can't use Jinja in an On-event trigger.

For example, you set up 2 scenarios. You sold your product in the first scenario. In the second scenario with an On event trigger, you want to exclude customers who bought your product with a discount. Set the event discount as false, and the discount has value to exclude these customers.

Reset triggers

Both Now and On date triggers become inactive after use. Use Reset trigger to reactivate them.

You can't specify events using derived attributes (running aggregates, expressions, event segmentations).

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Parallel triggers

If you use multiple triggers in one scenario (like On event and On date), they process in order. The second trigger waits for the first to finish completely. Consider using separate scenarios for parallel triggers.

Actions

Actions execute when customers reach them in the flow. Each action type has a unique action_id. Read more about this in the System events article.

Go to the Evaluation tab and hover over any node to see its ID in the format "#(number)".

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Manual recipients

If you manually choose email recipients, the campaign ignores frequency delivery policies.

Work with operators

Operators control how customers move through your flow.

Available operators

Read more: Flexible Operators in Advanced Features in Scenarios.

Timezones

When your timezone is set to something other than UTC + 0, you may see different results in reports and segmentations compared to your scenario results. This happens because:

• Relative time filters use UTC timezone.
• Absolute time filters use your custom timezone from Settings > User Settings > Timezone.
• Relative filters apply only to scenarios, not your whole project.

If you notice differences between your scenario results and reports or segmentations, check your timezone settings and consider how time filters might be affecting your data.

Customer limit details

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You can only have up to 1,000 distinct groups in a limit node, before it starts failing.

The customer limit allows you to set the maximum number of customers passing through the node. This can be very useful when your scenario leads your customers to a channel with a limited capacity. For example, you might have limited capacity for the number of calls your call center can handle within a day.

The customer limit node creates two outputs: a successful one for the customers within the limit and an unsuccessful one for the customers over the limit. At the moment when a particular customer arrives at the customer limit node in the scenario, it is decided which output they will go to. At first, all customers go to the successful output, but once the threshold is reached, all the rest go to the unsuccessful output. Since then, all customers will fall into the unsuccessful output even for the next campaign runs until the number of customers passing through the node is reset back to zero. You can set a period reset of this number in the Specify customer limit reset period.

You can set the limit by filling in the value of the Limit to # of customers. This value can either be an absolute number or a number referenced by Jinja (references to the following can be used: metrics, reports, report_value_by_key, catalogs). Read more on jinja references.

You can also Allow drill-down group which lets you use Jinja to add multiple limits per node based on the group - a separate limit on each segment of customers using the scenario. You might want to do this if you send out a competition that would be decided on a 'first come, first serve' basis, but where you also want to have a specific number of winners from different segments of customers. You can use the same variables as in webhooks, like customer attributes, trigger event properties, or webhook response. If you want to use the drill-down group as a parameter in the jinja of the limit, the parameter is called limit_group.

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Example of the limit with a limit group

To look into catalog subsidiaries and look for an item that was used as a drill-down group, and reference limit attribute from the catalog item, use:
{{ catalogs.subsidiaries.item_by_id(limit_group).limit }}

Wait node advanced features

Optimal send time

• Sends campaigns when individual customers are most likely to engage.
• Based on past behavior, rounded to the nearest hour.

Learn more about Optimal send time

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Interactive tour

Learn how trigger email and SMS with real-time data and let AI determine which channel to engage customers on.

View tour 23 steps, 4 minutes

Dynamic time

• Use Jinja to set custom wait periods.
• Reference metrics, aggregates, trigger event attributes, or any type of personalization.
• Common use: Spread or throttle the campaign execution over some time period using the random number generator. For example, to spread send within 60 minutes, you can use the{{ range(0,60) | random }}.
• Hours are rounded down (1.8 hours becomes 1 hour). If you want to round up, you can use the Jinja function round (can accept "ceil," "floor," or "common" parameter): Wait {{ ((event.departure_time - time) / 3600) | round("ceil") }} hours.
• Zero or negative values execute immediately.

Silent hours

• Pauses campaigns during times you don't want to disturb customers.
• Set specific times (daily) or silent days (whole days).
• Choose specific timezones for evaluation.
• Global settings available in Project settings > Campaigns > General Campaigns settings. This pre-fills a Silent hour
• wait node when it is selected in a scenario. The setting can be overridden in a specific node if needed.

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Note

Read Scenario best practices to get helpful tips for building effective scenarios.