Use a journey when you want a step-by-step customer flow with a clear trigger, waits, messages, conditions, branches, and handoffs.
A journey is one type of playbook. Not every playbook is a journey.
Some playbooks are more autonomous: for example, Smart Recommender, Order-Update Delight, Return & Exchange Helper, Order Cancellation Assistant, or Instant Answers can read signals, understand intent, and decide what to do in the conversation. Those playbooks may use AI agents or decision logic instead of a fixed route.
When to use a journey
Use a journey when the sequence should be predictable and you want to control the path.
Good journey use cases include:
- Welcoming a new subscriber.
- Running a simple abandoned cart route.
- Sending a post-purchase follow-up.
- Waiting a specific amount of time before a second message.
- Branching based on whether the customer clicked, replied, purchased, or matched a condition.
- Handing off to a person after a specific step.
An abandoned cart can exist in more than one form: Cart Saver route with fixed steps, or an AI playbook that decides more dynamically based on signals and customer context.
Keep reading: Cart Saver route and Abandoned cart: route template vs AI playbook.
When to use another playbook type
Use a more autonomous playbook or AI agent when the experience needs to decide in real time.
Examples include:
- Recommending products from a catalog.
- Answering frequent questions with Instant Answers.
- Guiding order tracking, cancellation, return, or exchange support with the right post-purchase playbook.
- Understanding a customer’s message and choosing the next response.
- Deciding which offer, product, channel, or timing is best for each customer.
- Coordinating with other playbooks so customers are not overloaded.
Keep reading: Playbooks and automation overview.
How journeys work
A journey starts when a customer matches a trigger. That trigger can come from a capture tool, your store integration, a campaign, a custom event, or a conversation.
After the trigger, Hellotext moves the customer through the route you defined. The journey can send a message, wait for a period of time, check a condition, branch, apply a coupon, or route the conversation to a person.
The important difference is that the route is designed by you. Hellotext follows the route and its conditions; it is not the same as an autonomous playbook deciding the full mission on its own.
Start from a journey template
Use a journey template when you want to launch a proven step-by-step flow quickly.
To create one, go to the automation area in Hellotext, choose a journey template, review the trigger and steps, and adjust the copy, timing, channel, conditions, and handoff rules before publishing.
If no template fits what you need, create a custom journey.
Review before publishing
Before you publish, check that:
- The trigger matches the behavior you want to react to.
- The route steps happen in the order you expect.
- Wait times are reasonable for the customer.
- The channel is connected and ready.
- The audience and consent rules are correct.
- Messages sound like your brand.
- Links, coupons, and personalization tags work.
- Any handoff to a human team is clear.
Click Save changes while you work (Save on mobile). Saving a new journey without publishing creates a draft. Saving changes to an active journey does not make it inactive.
When you are ready, click Publish.
To make an active journey inactive, click Make inactive.
Next steps
If your flow needs an AI agent, review how to write a great agent prompt.