Branch Node Upgrade

Branch node logic has been upgraded to send contacts to the first matching filter, rather than multiple matching filters.

We’re simplifying the logic of how Branch nodes work in the loop builder. Previously, a contact’s journey would split into parallel paths after a Branch node. We realized customers really just wanted “if-else” logic where only a single path gets selected.

How does the new branch node work?

• Audience Filters are evaluated from left to right.
• The contact’s journey proceeds after the first matching Audience Filter is found.
• All remaining filters after the first match are skipped.
• You can create a default path by setting the right-most audience filter node to include your whole audience (i.e. not setting a filter) so that any contact will match. In this way, if none of the earlier filters match, the contact would go down this “default” branch.

What are the main differences from the old branch node?

• A contact proceeds to the first matching filter only, instead of all matching filters.

Deprecated branch node logic

The previous logic would send contacts who matched multiple filters down multiple parallel branches.

This logic is still supported in branch nodes that haven’t been upgraded yet.

New branch node logic

The new logic for new branch nodes means that contacts will only follow the first branch they match.

The new logic is the default in new branches added to loops.

Migrating loops to the new branch logic

You can upgrade your current loops to use the new branch node logic by clicking the “Upgrade Branch Node” button in the Branch head node’s options panel.

At some point, we will switch all loops to use the new branch node, but we will monitor the system and reach out to customers first. Most customers use the branch node to send a contact to a single path, not multiple paths, so most customers won’t notice the difference. We will monitor the system to identify any loops that seem to be intentionally using branch nodes to split a contact journey into multiple paths.

If you’d like, we can work with you to migrate your loop to work with the new Branch node logic. In some cases, this simply means joining two branches into a single path because the Branch node wasn’t used to split the journey anyways. In other cases, we would create a duplicate loop for each part of the branch. Just let us know if you’d like help doing that, or if you want to make the changes yourself.