Build your first journey: from welcome to win-back

Every business already has journeys in its head. "When someone books, confirm it. A day before, remind them. A week after, ask how it went." A journey in Hey Tomo is that same idea, drawn on a canvas so it runs on its own for every customer, every time. This guide builds your first one.

What a journey is

Think of a journey as a path a customer walks. It starts when they do something, like sign up or place an order. Along the path there are messages, pauses and forks. Each customer moves along it at their own pace, so a person who signs up on Monday and one who signs up on Friday each get the right message on the right day.

You can build journeys yourself, or ask Tomo to draft one for you and then change what you like. Either way, you see every step before anything goes out.

The five parts of every journey

Almost every journey is made of five kinds of blocks:

1. TriggerWhat starts the journey. "Signed up", "Placed first order", "Booked an appointment" or "Has not visited in 45 days".
2. WaitA pause. "Wait 1 day", or "wait until 10 am the next morning". Waits stop you from sending everything at once.
3. MessageWhat you send, and on which channel: WhatsApp, SMS, email, push or an in-app message.
4. CheckA fork in the path. "Did they order?" "Did they open the app?" Yes goes one way, no goes another.
5. EndWhere the customer leaves. Every path needs one, so nobody gets stuck or messaged forever.

Example: a welcome journey

Say you run a small D2C tea brand. People sign up on your website for a first-order discount code. Here is a simple welcome journey:

1. Trigger: Signed upThe journey starts the moment the sign-up form is sent.
2. Message: WelcomeThank them, share the code and tell them what to expect from you.
3. Wait 2 daysGive them time to look around.
4. Check: Placed an order?If yes, move them to an end called "Converted". If no, carry on.
5. Message: A gentle nudgeShow your two best sellers and remind them the code is still waiting.
6. Wait 3 days, then check againStill no order? Send one last, short note. Then end the journey. Three messages is plenty.

Notice what is not here: no daily messages, no message at midnight, nothing to people who did not agree to hear from you. Hey Tomo checks consent before each message and again at send, and keeps quiet hours for marketing and reminders.

Give it a goal

Before you switch a journey on, decide what success looks like. For the welcome journey, the goal is "places a first order within 7 days". For a reminder journey, it is "shows up for the appointment". For a win-back journey, it is "buys again".

Write the goal down when you build the journey. It keeps the messages focused, and it tells you later whether the journey is earning its place. A journey without a goal tends to grow messages until customers tire of it.

Test it first: test mode sends nothing

Turn on test mode and walk a pretend customer through the journey. In test mode Hey Tomo sends nothing at all, to anyone. You see each step the customer would reach, which message they would get and which way each check would go.

Go live and measure

When the test looks right, switch the journey on. Then give it time. A week or two of real customers tells you far more than the first day.

In Analyze, look at three things:

• How many entered the journey, and how many reached each step.
• How many reached the goal. For our tea brand, how many placed a first order.
• Whether the journey made the difference. Some people would have ordered anyway. Comparing with customers who did not get the messages shows the real lift.

If a step loses a lot of people, change one thing at a time: the wording, the wait or the channel. Then watch again.

Common first-journey mistakes

Most first journeys go wrong in the same few ways. Watch for these:

• Too many messages. It is tempting to add "just one more". Each extra message is another chance for a customer to stop hearing from you. Start with two or three.
• No exit for people who already did the thing. If a customer orders after the first message, the check should take them out. Nobody likes a discount reminder for something they bought yesterday.
• The same words on every channel. A WhatsApp message can be warm and short. An email can carry pictures and more detail. Write for the channel.
• Building it all at once. Get one journey running well before you start the next. You will learn more from one live journey than from five drafts.

What to build next

Once the welcome journey runs well, the next three are usually:

• Reminders for appointments, renewals or pickups. See cut no-shows with reminders.
• Thank you and review ask a few days after an order.
• Win-back for customers who have gone quiet. The Win-Back e-book has twelve to copy.

You can also start from a ready journey in our journey templates and change it to fit your business.