Odyssey – Merging Paths

Odyssey’s Merging Paths functionality enables users to simplify voyages by merging the passengers from multiple branches or paths into another. This eliminates the need for redundant paths when a series of elements is shared between more than one path and helps to remove clutter from the voyage canvas.

A common use case for this functionality is the idea of a “win condition” in a marketing campaign. Marketers might set up an element or multiple elements in a voyage for a passenger to visit after registering for an event or subscribing to a newsletter. These might include a welcome email or a file export of qualified audience members. These elements should be visited by any audience member in the voyage who meets the “win condition” regardless of which element in the voyage prompts their winning action. With merging paths, rather than duplicating these elements, connections can be made from multiple elements within the voyage to the “winning” path.

Using Merging Paths

Using merging paths in your voyage is simple, just connect the paths you’d like to merge to an element.

In the screen shot below, note the highlighted connections. In this voyage, any audience members who opened an email in a series of three emails, will receive the final email.

Multiple paths can merge into a single element of any type except for a Wait element. Instead, the path must be merged into the subsequent element in the series. The only exception is that multiple Email elements can merge into a Wait if they are preceded by the same Split element. A

When using merging paths, it is best to make sure the connection between the merged element and it’s preceding element is long enough that there is space for additional branches. This ensures that your voyage will be easily understandable for other users or stakeholders you might share your voyage with.

Note: elements cannot be connected in such a way so as to return a passenger to a previously visited element.