Automation and Engagement: Smart Interaction with Your Users

Automation and engagement features in Metrix help you connect with your users in an intelligent, personalized, and timely manner. These capabilities enable businesses to guide users along their desired path (referred to as the user journey) without the need for constant manual intervention—whether the goal is to increase engagement, retention, or conversion. To successfully implement these features, close collaboration between product/marketing teams (who define the journey strategies) and development teams (who are responsible for the technical implementation of data and communication channels) is essential.

1. Understanding Automation in Metrix

Automation in Metrix goes beyond bulk messaging; it is a strategy for creating targeted communication with each user based on their unique behavior and characteristics.

• Key Objectives of Automation:
  • Sending personalized messages at the right time.
  • Guiding users along the User Journey to achieve business goals.
  • Increasing Conversion Rate and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
  • Reducing manual effort and optimizing marketing operations.

Key Components of Metrix Automation

• Campaigns: These are messages or sets of messages automatically sent to a group of users based on a predefined schedule. For example, a campaign could be a welcome push notification for new users or a special discount announcement.

• User Journeys: The core of Metrix automation lies in User Journeys. A journey is a sequence of automated, personalized actions and interactions that guide users through their lifecycle within your app or website. These journeys consist of several key elements:

  • Triggers: Define the starting point of a journey. Triggers can be activated by specific events (e.g., “new user registration” or “adding a product to the cart”) or changes in user attributes (e.g., “subscription status change”).
  • Conditions: These are criteria that alter the journey’s path for each user. For example, “Has the user made a purchase?” or “Is the user located in Tehran?” Based on these conditions, users are directed to different paths within the journey.
  • Actions: Tasks that Metrix performs for the user during the journey. These actions can include sending push notifications, in-app messages, emails, SMS (via the Metrix panel), or even triggering a webhook to your server for specific purposes.
  • Flow Controls: These elements allow precise management of the journey’s flow. Examples include Delay to send a message after a specified time, A/B Split to test different messages, or Exit for users who meet specific conditions.

• Segmentation in Automation: Segmentation is the process of dividing users into smaller groups based on shared characteristics (User Attributes) or similar behaviors (Events). These groups form the targets for campaigns and journeys. The more precise the segmentation, the more personalized and effective your messages will be.

2. The Developer’s Role in Automation

The development team’s role in activating and optimizing Metrix’s automation processes goes far beyond simply installing the SDK. The data you collect and send to Metrix is the fuel that powers our automation engine.

• Accurate Data Transmission:

  • Events: Precise and complete transmission of key events and their attributes is crucial. Events can be used as triggers or conditions in customer journeys.
    • Example: If you send the product_viewed event with attributes like product_id, category, and price, your marketing team can create a journey that sends a reminder to a user who viewed a specific product but did not purchase it.
    • Developer Note: The richer and more accurate the events and their attributes, the more intelligent and personalized scenarios your marketing team can implement.
  • User Attributes: Ensuring user profiles are up-to-date and accurate with relevant attributes (such as email, phone_number, last_purchase_date, subscription_status) is highly important. These attributes are essential for user segmentation and personalizing message content.
    • Developer Note: Proper management of user identifiers (Custom User ID) throughout the user lifecycle ensures that data is always correctly and consistently linked to each user’s profile.

• Activation and Maintenance of Communication Channels: The development team is responsible for setting up and maintaining communication channels (such as configuring FCM certificates for Android Push) to enable Metrix to send messages to users through them.

  • For technical implementation details of platform communication channels, refer to the “Platform” section in our documentation.

• Using Webhooks for Advanced Integrations: Webhooks serve as an “action” in the customer journey, allowing Metrix to send a request to your server or an external service at a specific point in the journey.

  • Scenario: Imagine a user reaches a point in the customer journey where a custom process needs to be triggered in your system—one that Metrix does not natively support (e.g., creating a new entry in your internal CRM, activating an automated phone call via your VoIP system, or calling a specific API from a third-party service not integrated with Metrix). In such cases, Metrix sends a webhook to your specified URL, and you can receive this request to initiate the desired process.
  • For technical implementation details of webhooks, refer to the “Callback and Webhook” section.

• Displaying In-App/On-Site Messages: The Metrix SDK is responsible for receiving and displaying these types of messages in your application or website. The development team can implement settings related to the display of these messages (e.g., disabling display on specific pages or scheduling their appearance).

  • For technical details, refer to the relevant SDK guide in the “Technical Documentation” section.

3. Best Practices for Developers

To maximize the benefits of Metrix’s automation capabilities, the development team is advised to follow these guidelines:

• Consistent Naming Conventions: Always use a consistent and logical naming method for events and attributes. This helps the marketing team easily understand the data and build more effective journeys.
• Internal Documentation: Thoroughly document the events and attributes you send to Metrix. This documentation should include the exact name of the event/attribute, data type, and a description of their usage.
• Testing and Debugging:
  • Use your development/testing environments to simulate user behavior and test customer journeys.
  • The Onboarding and User Lookup sections in the Metrix panel are powerful tools for verifying successful event transmission and accurate user profile updates.
  • For further debugging guidance, refer to the “FAQ and Troubleshooting” section.
• SDK/API Updates: Always keep your Metrix SDK updated to the latest version to benefit from the newest features, improvements, and optimizations.

4. Common Automation Scenarios (with Emphasis on the Developer’s Role)

Below are some common scenarios that demonstrate how Metrix, in collaboration with the development team, helps your business achieve its goals:

• Scenario 1: New User Welcome Journey

  • Objective: Initial engagement with newly registered users.
  • Trigger: The user_registered event.
  • Actions: Sending a welcome email, a push notification introducing key features, and an in-app message after 2 days if the user has not yet completed their profile information.
  • Developer’s Role: Ensuring the accurate transmission of the user_registered event along with important user attributes (such as email, registration_date) and the correct activation of communication channels (push, email, in-app messaging) in the SDK.

• Scenario 2: Abandoned Cart Reminder

  • Objective: Reduce cart abandonment rate and increase purchase completion.
  • Trigger: The product_added_to_cart event without a subsequent purchase event within a specified period (e.g., 6 hours).
  • Actions: Sending an abandoned cart push notification via Metrix, and if the purchase is not completed after one day, sending an SMS via Metrix with a discount code.
  • Developer’s Role: Accurately sending the product_added_to_cart event with attributes such as cart_value and product_list, and ensuring push and SMS channels are properly activated.

• Scenario 3: Enhancing the VIP User Experience with External Integration (Advanced)

  • Objective: Provide special discounts or dedicated support calls to high-value users who have recently entered the VIP tier.
  • Trigger: A user enters the “VIP Users” Segment (this segment is defined in Metrix based on user live attributes or specific events).
  • Actions:
    1. Webhook Call: Sending a webhook from Metrix to an endpoint on your server. This webhook includes the user_id and other relevant user information (e.g., email, phone_number).
    2. Operations in Your System: Your server receives the webhook and performs the following actions based on the received information:
    • Generate Discount Code: Creates a unique discount code in your sales system and registers it in the user’s database record.
    • Notify Support: Creates a ticket or task in your CRM or support system for “Contacting the VIP user.”
  • Developer’s Role:
    • Ensuring the accurate transmission of events and user attributes required to define the “VIP Users” Segment (e.g., total_purchases_value or number_of_referrals).
    • Implementing and maintaining the webhook endpoint on your server, including receiving, validating, and processing data sent from Metrix.
    • Developing server-side logic for generating discount codes and integrating with the CRM/support system after receiving the webhook.
  • Note: This scenario demonstrates how Metrix can act as a central hub for activating more complex, multi-system processes.