Create a multi-step and multi-channel journey
On the Outbound Campaigns page, you will have two options to create an outbound campaigns: Visual Journey Builder for multi-channel and multi-steps using an intuitive drag-and-drop canvas, or Guided Campaign Builder to create a single-channel with step-by-step guidance.
From the Outbound Campaigns page, choose Create Journey.
Enter a journey Name.
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Select a Customer Segment or Customer event to use for this journey. Recipients for the journey will be determined at the journey's scheduled start time using the chosen segment or customer event.
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To connect with a journey, first create a journey flow that supports multi-step experiences triggered by events or audience segments, then select the flow you want to connect to this journey.
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If you haven’t created a journey flow yet, you can choose “create journey flow” and will take you to the flow canvas. Please refer to Journey flow blocks definition for details.
If the selected journey flow has voice channel, you will use the Voice setup option to define the details.
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You can choose Agent assisted voice or automated voice and complete the channel configuration. Please refer to details on Outbound campaigns channel configurations.
Delivery guardrails
You can control how often each recipient is contacted by setting communication limits for the Journey. Simply specify the maximum number of messages a recipient can receive within a defined time frame (e.g., per day, week, or month). If a recipient has already received the maximum number of communications within any of the time frames you set, Connect Customer Outbound Campaigns will automatically skip that recipient and they won’t receive additional messages from the Journey.
Example:
If you set a limit of 4 communications per 2 days and 6 communications per 2 weeks (14 days), any recipient who has already received 4 messages in the last 2 days or 6 messages in the last 14 days will not be contacted again by this Journey.
Connect Customer Outbound Campaigns considers any time a recipient has been contacted, regardless of the recipients interaction with the message, as a communication. For example, a phone call ending in a voicemail is still considered a communication. Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns will adjust the count of communications if it can determine that the message never reached the end user, and will always err on the side of over-counting. In addition to setting communication limits for individual journeys, you can also define Total Communication Limits at the instance level. These limits control how many messages a recipient can receive across all journeys running within your Amazon Connect instance over a specific time frame. If a recipient reaches the specified limit—for example, 10 communications per week—they will be excluded from further messaging across all journeys until the time window resets. This helps ensure that overall message volume stays within acceptable boundaries.
For critical journeys, you have the option to opt out of total communication limits by enabling the Ignore total limits setting. This allows these journeys to bypass the instance-wide limits, ensuring important messages are delivered without being blocked by other ongoing journeys.
Note
The total count of messages across journeys will not necessarily be incremented immediately, but will eventually be accurate. For example, if two journeys target the same user at the same moment in time, the first journey's communication may not be reflected in the total communication count by the time the second campaign checks.
All communications across all journeys in the active state are considered when determining if a recipient has breached their total limits.
Connect Customer Outbound Campaigns measures a day as a rolling 24 hour window from the current moment.
Any communications sent from a journey that ignores total limits will not count toward the instance's total communication limits. These journeys are treated as outside the scope of instance-level limits.
Communication time
You can specify valid times to attempt to contact your users. The Active communication time specifies those valid times, based on the day of the week. Exceptions to communication time, an optional setting, specifies specific days of the year during which you want no communications sent, even if that day happens to fall in an active communication time.
Time zone
In order for the Journey to determine appropriate time to attempt communication with a particular recipient, you need to provide a Time Zone. You may either select a Standard time zone, which will be used for all recipients, or you may specify the Recipient's local time zone. Recipients with no time zone specified are excluded from message deliveries.
Standard time zone: The time zone selected will be used for all recipients. Select this option if you know the time zone of all recipients in your segment or if you want to send all communications in the same time zone.
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Recipient's local time zone: Connect Customer Outbound Campaigns use profile attributes to infer each recipient's time zone. If the time zone cannot be determined, the recipient will be dropped from the Journey. Select this option if it's important to send communications to recipients only during their specific local times.
When you select Recipient's local time zone, you configure the following settings:
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Detect recipient's local time zone — Choose the method used to detect the recipient's time zone. Connect Customer Outbound Campaigns use a profile's Address and/or Phone Number's area code to infer the recipient's time zone.
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Profile attributes to use for time zone detection — Choose the scope of profile attributes used for time zone detection:
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Primary only — Uses only the primary phone number and/or address attributes from the recipient's customer profile to determine the time zone.
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All available — Uses all phone number and/or address attributes from the recipient's customer profile to determine the time zone.
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Active communication time (optional)
The Active communication time represents the times during which Connect Customer Outbound campaigns may send communications for this journey. To add active communication times: Select the channel. Alternatively, select Apply to all channels to apply the active communication times to each channel. Select the day of the week to configure. You can add multiple active communication times for each day, if desired. Select the time frame during which Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns can send communications on the given day.
Exceptions to communication time (optional)
Exceptions to communication time is an optional set of specific calendar days for which you do not want communications sent. If exceptions are included in the Journey, then active communication times must also be specified. To add exceptions to communication time:
Select the channel. Add a Name for the exception. This name is only for informational purposes and does not affect the running of the journey. Select the Date range for the exception.
Schedule journey
Specify when you want your journey to begin:
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Start now: Start the journey right away.
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Start later: Select the specific day and time for the journey to begin.
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Expiry Date and Time: The date and time at which Connect Customer Outbound campaigns should end the journey. An expired journey appears with a Completed status a few moments after expiry time.
The start and end times of a journey are based on your local time zone.
Refresh (optional)
If you want your journey to periodically re-evaluate the segment to find newly eligible profiles and enroll them, select the Refresh checkbox.
When refresh is enabled, the following settings become available:
Refresh frequency: How often the segment is checked for new or updated profiles. Specify a numeric value and select a time unit (hours or days). The minimum refresh frequency is 1 hour. For example, if you schedule your journey to start at 7:00 AM EST and set a refresh frequency of 1 hour, the segment is re-evaluated every hour starting at 7:00 AM EST.
Important
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A recipient may be active only in a journey once at any given time. So if they are still waiting to exit the journey when the next Segment Snapshot is created, and are a member of that Snapshot, they are NOT allowed to enter the journey as a part of the second Snapshot.
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If a recipient is a part of a segment Snapshot and is not currently in the journey, they are allowed to enter, regardless of whether they have previously gone through the journey.
Entry limits: Entry limits control how many times and how often the same profile can enter the journey. By default, profiles can enter the journey unlimited times with no interval restriction. To customize entry limits, select the Customize entry limits checkbox.
The following entry limit fields are available:
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Entry limit: The maximum number of times the same profile can enter the journey. Set to 0 for unlimited entries.
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Entry interval limit: The minimum time that must pass before a profile can enter the journey again. Specify a numeric value and select a time unit (hours or days). Set to 0 for no minimum interval. If the entry interval limit is shorter than the refresh frequency, the refresh frequency takes precedence.
Example: Consider a journey that targets profiles whose subscription expires within 7 days. With a refresh frequency of 1 hour, an entry limit of 3, and an entry interval of 3 hours:
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The segment is re-evaluated every hour.
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Each profile can enter the journey up to 3 times.
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A profile won't enter again for at least 3 hours, even though the journey refreshes hourly.
Review and publish
Take a moment to review your journey before publishing. The Review page displays a summary of all journey settings, including the schedule and refresh configuration.
Important
These settings cannot be changed once your journey has been published.
Once you have reviewed your journey, choose Publish to publish your journey.
