Understand Customer Journeys

Customer Journeys give your team a clear, shared way to guide Accounts or Opportunities through a standardized process. You choose who can take part and map the stages from start to finish. Once a record enters, your team can see where it stands and help it move forward.

How Customer Journeys Work

Each Journey defines the type of record you are guiding and who can take part. It also maps the stages those records move through.

Journey ElementWhat it controls
Object typeWhether the Journey follows Accounts or Opportunities.
SegmentWhich records can take part. Choose a saved Segment, All Accounts, or All Opportunities.
Stage fieldWhere the current stage is stored. Create a managed field or use an existing picklist.
StagesThe steps records move through, in the order you set. The last one is the end stage.
Advance ruleWhat must happen before a record moves to the next stage.
Stage playsEnabled workflows that can start when a record enters the stage. The record must also meet the workflow's eligibility rules.

Understand Eligibility and Membership

Use a Segment to choose which records can take part in a Journey. Matching the Segment makes a record eligible, but it still needs a stage before it appears in the Journey.

  • Add a record to a Journey by setting its stage field to one of the Journey stages. Update the field manually from the record's profile or with a Workflow action.
  • An eligible Account added manually starts in the first stage.
  • Choosing All Accounts or All Opportunities makes every record of that type eligible.
  • Once an Account or Opportunity enters a Journey, it stays in the Journey even if its Segment membership changes.
Matching a Segment does not place a record in a stage. Add the record manually or set its Journey stage before it appears in the Journey.

Understand Stages and Movement

A record moves through stages in the order you define. When it reaches the end stage, its Journey is complete.

Advance RuleHow it works
ManualThe record stays in the stage until someone moves it.
Criteria metThe record advances when its field values meet all or any of the criteria you set.
DurationThe record advances after the amount of time you set for the stage.
EitherThe record advances when it meets the criteria or reaches the time limit, whichever happens first.

A record may not move the moment it meets an advance rule. Unison checks the rule, then moves the record forward.

Journey history shows how long a record spent in each stage. If the record leaves and later enters again, Unison starts a new history entry.

Understand Journey States

A Journey can be Draft, Active, or Archived. Its current state determines whether records can enter and what admins can change.

StatusWhat it means
DraftThe Journey is saved but not active. Admins can change its audience, stage source, and stage structure.
ActiveThe Journey is published and ready for eligible records. Admins can still update stage details, advance rules, settings, and stage plays. They cannot add, remove, or reorder stages.
ArchivedThe Journey is read only. New records cannot enter, records stop moving automatically, and Journey history remains available.
You cannot restore an archived Journey. Its history and each record's current stage value remain in place.

Find Customer Journeys

Use different parts of Unison to build a Journey and follow the records in it.

LocationUse it to
Operations > Customer JourneysCreate, publish, edit, or archive a Journey.
Customer Intelligence > Customer JourneysSee how active Account Journeys are progressing, including stage distribution, completion, revenue, and time in stage.
Account Profile > Strategy > JourneysSee the Account's current Journeys, stage history, time in each stage, and movement controls.
Opportunity ProfileSee the default Opportunity Journey and move the Opportunity through its stages.

FAQs

Does publishing add every record that matches the Segment?

No. Publishing makes the Journey active, but a matching record still needs to be added manually or assigned one of the Journey stages.

When is a Journey complete for a record?

A record completes the Journey when it reaches the end stage.

Can I change the stage order after publishing?

No. Once a Journey is Active, you cannot add, remove, or reorder stages. You can still update stage details, advance rules, settings, and stage plays.

Do Customer Journeys support Opportunities?

Yes. You can create a Journey for Opportunities and see the default Journey on an Opportunity Profile. The Customer Journeys report currently covers Account Journeys.

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