Introduction:
In the dynamic landscape of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, triggering journeys through API calls has become a powerful mechanism for automating customer interactions. This blog post will guide you through the process of using the Journey Builder API Entry Event to initiate journeys, through tools like Postman.
Creating Data Extensions:
The first step is to create a data extension to store the information you want to use in your journey. In the example, a data extension named “Journey API” is created with fields like Subscriber Key, Email, Name, and Other.
Building The Journey:
- Launch Journey Builder and create a new multi-step journey.
- Add an API event as the entry source by dragging and dropping the entry event tile.
- Create a new event definition, specifying the data extension to receive the payload.
- Configure the journey settings, such as re-entry options.
- An “Update Contact” activity is added to the journey to modify the “Other” field for each subscriber as they enter the journey.
Creating a Demo key:
- Navigate to Installed Packages.
- Create a New Package.
- Within the created package, click “Add Component.”
- Choose “API Integration” as the component type.
- Select “Server-to-Server” integration.
- Select relevant scopes like “Interactions – Events” and “Contacts – List and Subscribers – Read.”
- Retrieve the generated Client ID and Client Secret for authentication.
Using Postman to Trigger the Journey:
In the request body include:
- ContactKey: same as the subscriber key.
- EventDefinitionKey: is the event definition ID of the journey entry event.
- Data: Include the data fields and values as per your data extension schema.
Send the Request to execute the API call.
Verification:
Check the journey entry results to confirm that subscribers are entering the journey as expected. Additionally, inspect the data extension to ensure that the desired information is being captured.
Conclusion:
Implementing the Journey Builder API Entry Event in Salesforce Marketing Cloud opens up new possibilities for automating and personalizing customer journeys. Using tools like Postman the flexibility provided by the API empowers marketers to create seamless and engaging customer experiences.
