Ladders are made up of various components that control how activist move through them, as well as some rules that guide logic within a ladder. The types of components are rungs, triggers, and steps, of which there are three kinds -- action steps, decision steps, and wait steps.

Rungs

Every ladder must contain at least one rung. Rungs can be thought of as containers of steps that belong together, as well as entry points into a ladder. After entering, an activist moves through from top to bottom. If the ladder is not published, you can click to add a new rung when editing the ladder using the green plus buttons. You can add new rungs below or above existing ones.

Each rung must have at least one trigger, though you can add more than one trigger to a rung. If you add more than one, if the activist triggers any of the criteria they will be added to the ladder at that rung. Triggers can be added or removed from a rung even after a ladder is published.

Triggers

Activists enter ladders via triggers that you can add to each rung. Each rung must have at least one trigger, and each trigger describes the action an activist must take to enter the ladder at that rung.

When you add a rung, you will be prompted to add the first trigger. Choose an option and click save to add it. You can add another trigger to that rung by clicking the "Add Trigger" button next to that rung. You can edit or optionally delete a trigger by clicking the edit icon next to it to bring up the editing window. Make your changes and click save to update the trigger, or click the delete button and confirm to remove it.

If a ladder is not published, if you remove the last trigger in a rung, the entire rung, including all steps following it, will be deleted. You will be warned before you do this.

Triggers can be added or edited after a ladder is published.

You can add notes on each trigger by clicking the notes icon, writing notes, and saving them. These are internal-only but may be useful in explaining to colleagues what each trigger is supposed to be doing.

Once your ladder has been published, if an activist triggers any trigger condition they will enter the ladder at that rung. Triggers only work on conditions that match activists in the future, they are not retroactive. People who are uploaded to your list that meet a certain ladder trigger, e.g. Subscribed to your list, will enter the ladder. If you don't want people in an upload to be triggered into any ladders you've set up, you can check Skip all Ladders during the upload process. If this is checked during the upload process all activists in the upload will not be triggered into any of the ladders.

Because triggers are used to determine where in a ladder an activist enters, you can only have each trigger once in each ladder. For example, you cannot have the "Subscribed" trigger twice in your ladder on different rungs. You'd have to make separate ladders to have different things happen when someone subscribes.

There are 16 different types of triggers you can use:

Received any email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they receive any email from your group. (Not including emails generated by ladders.)
Opened any email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they open any email from your group. (Not including emails generated by ladders.)
Clicked any email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they click a link in any email from your group. (Not including emails generated by ladders.)
Received a specific email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they receive the email you choose from the dropdown list. (You can choose emails that are in draft, so you can set up a ladder before the email is sent and trigger activists to enter the ladder when you send the email.)
Opened a specific email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they open the email you choose from the dropdown list.
Clicked a specific email: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they click a link in the email you choose from the dropdown list.
Received any mobile message (not including ladder messages): An activist will enter the ladder in this rung if they receive a mobile message from your group. This does not include mobile messages generated by ladders.
Clicked any mobile message (not including ladder messages): An activist will enter the ladder in this rung if they click in a mobile message from your group. This does not include mobile messages generated by ladders.
Received a specific mobile message: An activist will enter the ladder in this rung if they receive a mobile message you select from the dropdown list.
Clicked a specific mobile message: An activist will enter the ladder in this rung if they click in a mobile message you select from the dropdown list.
Subscribed to email list: A new activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they subscribe to receive emails from group. This can be a brand new subscriber or a change in their subscription status from unsubscribed (or bouncing, or spam complained) to subscribed. If they are subscribed via an upload, they will be triggered as well. Note that the Ladder must be active. Activists who are already subscribed to the group will not be triggered.
Subscribed to mobile list: A new activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they subscribe to receive mobile messages from group. This can be a brand new subscriber or a change in their subscription status from unsubscribed or bouncing to subscribed. If they are subscribed via an upload, they will be triggered as well. Note that the Ladder must be active. Activists who are already subscribed to the group's mobile list will not be triggered.
Took Any Action: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they take any action sponsored by your group, such as signing a petition. You have the option of including upload-type actions or not. If you do not check that box, uploading an activist will not trigger them entering the ladder. If you do, uploads and similar things (like the person signup helper on the API) will trigger them into the ladder. Activists cannot be triggered retroactively, so they will not be triggered if this action or upload has already taken place.
Took An Action Of A Specific Type: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they take an action of the type specified, such as any time they sign a petition or donate on any fundraiser. The upload type includes the API person signup helper. The fundraising type includes manual donations and uploaded transactions, and you can choose to exclude one time donors or include recurring donation re-occurrences (ie. when the donation recurs for a second or third time). Adding actions via the API will also trigger activists if the API action is of the type specified in the trigger.
Took A Specific Action: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when they take the action you choose in the dropdown menu. You can also check off a box to include only activists who took this action via mobile message with a keyword, rather than signing up via the form online, more here. And you can choose to exclude one time donors or include recurring donation re-occurrences (ie. when the donation recurs for a second or third time) if the action is of the fundraising type. We'll let you know if you select an action that's already the trigger of an existing ladder.
- Note: Manually adding and subscribing an activist will not trigger the activist into the ladder. You must use uploads and check the box to include uploads.
Added tag: An activist will enter the ladder at this rung when this tag is added to their record. The tag can be added via uploads, report results, the activist record, ladders, taking action, the Action Builder integration, the mobile inbox, or over the API. You can select which tag you'd like to trigger this ladder. If the activist already has this tag, they will not be triggered into this ladder. They will only be triggered into this ladder if the tag is newly added.
- Note that, for syndicated tags, the activist will only be triggered into ladders present on the group where the tag was added

Steps

Once activists enter a ladder at a specific rung because they triggered that trigger, they will immediately proceed to the following steps, one after another, until they run out of steps and reach an exit, at which point they will exit the ladder. You can have as many steps as you'd like in your rung.

If your ladder is not published, to add a step, move your mouse (or click, if you're on mobile) on the red plus icon between rungs and steps to add a step at that point, then choose one of the three types of steps to add, which are explained below. You will be prompted to choose the parameters of the step type you've chosen. When you're done, click save to add it.

You can edit or (if your ladder is not published) optionally delete a step by clicking the edit icon next to it to bring up the editing window. Make your changes and click save to update the step, or click the delete button and confirm to remove it.

You can add notes on each step by clicking the notes icon, writing notes, and saving them. These are internal-only but may be useful in explaining to colleagues what each step is supposed to be doing.

If a ladder is published you can still edit existing steps. Most step detail edits will apply to everyone in the ladder or everyone who enters the ladder going forward, except for waits -- if an activist is already in a wait when you make an edit they will not receive a new wait time, but will rather proceed with the old one. Any new activist entering the wait will receive the updated wait time.

In certain circumstances, you may need to pause your ladder. For example, if there were a natural disaster, you could pause the ladder so people don't receive your regular set of emails or messages. When a ladder is paused, people will continue through the ladder until they arrive at a wait step. They will stay here until the ladder has been unpaused, regardless of the original wait time.

There are five types of steps:

1. Actions

Action steps perform actions on the activist if they reach that step. Choose the type of action step from the dropdown menu after you add it, then save to add it to your ladder.

There are nine types of action steps:

Send An Email: The Send An Email action sends an email to the activist if they reach that step, assuming they are subscribed to receive emails from your group. (If they are not subscribed, the step will be skipped.) You can choose which page wrapper you want to use, set a subject line, administrative title, from line, reply-to email, optional preview text, and customize the body of the email with the visual editor and personalization clips. See the emails section for more information on how emails work generally. You can test your email by using the testing section at the bottom of the email window when editing your action step.
- Note: You cannot do subject testing or from-line testing in Ladders emails.
Send a mobile message: The Send An Mobile Message action sends a mobile message to the activist if they reach that step, assuming they are subscribed to receive mobile messages from your group. (If they are not subscribed, the step will be skipped.) See the mobile messages section for more information on how emails work generally. You can test your mobile message by using the testing section at the bottom of the window when editing your action step.
Add Tags: You can add one or more tags to an activist when they reach this step by choosing the tags you want to add out of the list.
Remove Tags: You can remove one or more tags from an activist when they reach this step by choosing the tags you want to remove out of the list.
Write to Custom Field: You can assign a custom field value to an activist by choosing this step. You can select which custom field you want to write to, then the value you want to assign to this activist when they reach this step. Leaving the value blank will blank out any existing custom field data for this activist.
Subscribe To Group [email]: You can subscribe the activist to the group when they reach this step. If you are in a network, you can also decide to subscribe activist to one or more child groups (or groups set up for ad-hoc syndication) by choosing them out of the list. You can also resubscribe activists who have previously unsubscribed from that child group by checking off the box below the drop down menu. Activists subscribed this way who entered the ladder via the subscribed, took any action, or took a specific action trigger will bring with them to child groups any tags and custom fields they entered when they took the action that triggered their entry into the ladder. For example, if the trigger that entered the activist into the ladder was "took any action" and they just signed a petition, any tags or custom fields that were added to their record when they signed that petition will carry down to child groups. As usual, data will also flow up from the child group to parent groups.
- Note: Do not resubscribe activists if they did not opt in. Doing so and sending spam can result in your account being deactivated.
Unsubscribe From Group [email]: You can unsubscribe the activist from the group when they reach this step. If you are in a network, you can also decide to unsubscribe activist to one or more child groups (or groups set up for ad-hoc syndication) by choosing them out of the list.
Subscribe to group [mobile]: You can subscribe the activist to the group's mobile list when they reach this step. If you are in a network, you can also decide to subscribe activists to one or more child groups' mobile lists (or groups set up for ad-hoc syndication) by choosing them out of the list. You can also resubscribe activists who have previously unsubscribed from that child group by checking off the box below the drop down menu. Activists subscribed this way who entered the ladder via the subscribed, took any action, or took a specific action trigger will bring with them to child groups any tags and custom fields they entered when they took the action that triggered their entry into the ladder. For example, if the trigger that entered the activist into the ladder was "took any action" and they just signed a petition, any tags or custom fields that were added to their record when they signed that petition will carry down to child groups. As usual, subscription status will also flow up from the child group to parent groups.
- Note: Do not resubscribe activists if they did not opt in. Doing so and sending spam can result in your account being deactivated.
Unsubscribe From Group [mobile]: You can unsubscribe the activist from the group's mobile list when they reach this step. If you are in a network, you can also decide to unsubscribe activist to one or more child groups (or groups set up for ad-hoc syndication) by choosing them out of the list.

2. Decisions

Decision steps evaluate the activist's record against custom parameters you enter and move the activist into the "Yes" or "No" path coming off that decision based on the results of that evaluation. Decision steps require a title that is internal, so you can describe what the decision is supposed to do in plain English, and offer the an interface for you to choose your parameters.

The interface is the same as our interface for building queries, so you can choose any filters you can use for email targeting (such as lives within 10 miles of a certain ZIP code, took 2 actions in the last month, is a donor, etc...), add multiple parameters while also choosing the logical ANDs and ORs that go between them, and include or exclude certain parameters. See the help documents on queries for more information on the options available, as well as the help document on email targeting for the filters you can use.

If you want to build a Decision step based on responses to an Action only field, make sure you've designated the action that field is linked to as the trigger. This is the only way to include action only fields in ladders. Read more on action only fields here.

Note: Some parameters are not available immediately because they are the result of background processes. For example, after a new activist subscribes to your list, their legislative districts aren't immediately available. They will be filled in after a few minutes. This means that we recommend adding a wait before decisions that use these parameters, so time is given to allow that data to be added. Parameters where this is an issue are noted in the query builder interface, in the help question marks. In addition, the Mobile Carrier parameter will only appear if Carrier Lookup has been enabled via the Settings tab. Learn more here.

Enter your title, choose your parameters, and click save to add the decision. You will notice that devisions split your rung into two paths, a "Yes" and "No" path depending on whether the activist matches the parameters in the decision or not. You can add different steps for each path so activist who match certain criteria receive different steps from activists that don't. You can have as many nested decisions as you want, each with a "Yes" and "No" path.

You can edit parameters later or delete the step by clicking the edit icon. If you delete a decision step we will ask you which path's steps you'd like to keep, the "Yes" steps or the "No" steps. Whichever path you do not choose will be deleted.

After you've saved a Decision step, it will stick to the top of the screen as you scroll through the steps that follow it until you reach a new decision step.

If you're working on a large or complex ladder, you can click Copy Steps in the bottom left to copy certain Decision steps and its follow up action, wait, or randomizer steps from one part of a ladder and paste them at the end point of a different branch in the ladder. More on copying ladder steps here.

3. Wait for Time

Wait steps pause an activist in the rung for a certain amount of time. To have people wait for a specific amount of time select Wait for Time. Choose the type of wait step from the dropdown menu after you add it, then save to add it to your ladder.

If you edit a wait in a published ladder and an activist is already in a wait when you make an edit they will not receive a new wait time, but will rather proceed with the old one. Any new activist entering the wait will receive the updated wait time.

There are three types of wait steps:

Wait For a Period of Time: Activists will wait for the number of days or hours you enter, then proceed on to the next steps. This is useful to allow you to space out messages your activists receive over the course of a period of time.
Wait Until A Specific Date & Time: Activists will wait until the specific date and time you specify (using the Eastern timezone), then proceed on to the next steps. This is useful to build campaign plans, so you can automatically send activists the next message in a coordinated campaign on a specific day.
- Note: If someone reaches this type of wait step and the date and time you specified has already passed, they will continue to proceed through the ladder without any wait.
Wait Until The Next Period: Activists will wait until the next period you specify. You can have them wait until the next weekday (so if they enter the wait on Saturday they will proceed to the following steps on the next Monday), wait until the next days of the week you choose (if you choose Tuesday and Thursday, if they enter they will wait until the next Tuesday or Thursday, whichever comes first), wait until the next day of the month you choose (if you choose the 1st of the month, they'll wait until the next month's 1st day), or wait until the next specific date each year (if you choose January 1, they'll wait until the next January 1). You also choose a time for them to wait until when the chosen day comes up. This is useful to build ladders that process steps at regular intervals, such as sending a specific email to all new signers every Wednesday at 10am. The system is smart enough to understand that February doesn't have a 30th day, for example -- instead the activist will wait until the end of February.
Wait until Date in Custom field: Activists will wait until the date you've uploaded into a custom field of your choice. On this date, activists will continue through to the next step in the ladder. This is useful if you want to send activists a birthday message. Date is stores as yyyy/mm/dd or mm/dd. Year is not required, but if none is provided we will assume the next possible date. Blank or invalid dates (wrong format or the date has passed) will cause the activist to exit the ladder.

At the top of the wait step you'll see the option to Skip this Wait. This will allow new activists to skip this wait step and move on to the next part of the ladder. Existing activists will remain in the wait step for as long as you've set. This is helpful when editing a ladder so current activists aren't immediately bumped to the next step.

4. Wait for Reply

If you're using Mobile Messaging, you can collect data and perform surveys, saving responses in Action Network. If you want people to reply to your message and response to questions you ask via Mobile Message, select Wait for Reply.

There are two reply options:

Wait for Mobile Response and Store: Activists will enter this step and the system will wait for a certain number of hours for them to send back in a response via SMS. If a response is received that does not fit one of the HELP/AIDE or STOP/ARRET keywords (explained here) then their response will be stored in the custom field that you choose. You can also create a new custom field on this step by clicking the green plus button. Below this, you can add valid response options. If people reply with an invalid response that does not match your rules, you can add a message at the bottom that will be sent back to the activist asking them to try again, and they will stay in the wait step. You can also add validation to these fields using regular expressions. After this step, we will split activists up depending on whether or not they responded with a valid response in time. If they responded, they'll continue down the ladder in the yes response path. If they did not respond, they'll continue down the ladder in the no response path, where you can have them exit or you can add additional steps for them.
Wait for Address Via Mobile Response, Find Polling Place, & Store: If you have mobile messages enabled for your group, you can use a ladder wait period that will connect to iWillVote (for more on partnerships, click here). This ladder wait period will wait for someone to respond with their full address (in the US). Then, using the address, it will use the iWillVote API to return someone's polling location, early vote location, and drop off location. These locations, including the location name, hours, and location address, are stored in your chosen custom fields and you can use clips to insert them into an email or mobile message. See the example ladder here. The iWillVote API will only return information for certain elections at certain times. Make sure your use case is covered here. The address that activists respond with will update the address on the activist’s core field.
- Note: We will automatically validate the address they provide. You have the option to include an auto-response message that can be sent if someone replies with an invalid response. This will give them another chance to send in a valid response. Activists who respond with an invalid response stay in the wait step. After this, we will automatically split your audience based on whether or not they responded with a valid response in time. If they responded, they'll continue down the ladder in the yes response path. If they did not respond, they'll continue down the ladder in the no response path, where you can have them exit or you can add additional steps for them.

5. Randomizers

Like decisions, randomizer steps put activists into one of two paths, the left or right path. However, randomizer steps do so at random, allowing you to test different email content and ladder paths.

When you make a randomizer step you can choose the weight that should be given to each path. You can decide to split activists 50% / 50% (or evenly half and half) between the two paths. The weight can be edited after the ladder is published, allowing you to adjust your weighting over time. You can use this to set up more than two paths to test, and to pick a winning path once you've run your test, moving all activists down that path and ignoring the others.

For example, if you had three you wanted to test, you'd set up a randomizer step that split activists 66% / 33%, then on the 66% path, have another randomizer step to split 50% / 50%, getting you an even three way split. When you're ready to choose a winning path and end your test, just edit your ladder and set the slider to 100% / 0% to send activists down the winning path every time.

If you delete a randomizer step we will ask you which path's steps you'd like to keep, the "Left" steps or the "No" steps. Whichever path you do not choose will be deleted.

Exits

Exits are automatically added at the end of each path in your rung. Once an activist runs out of steps they will automatically exit the ladder at that point.

Rules

Some overall rules govern ladders and how activists move through them. Understanding these rules will help you construct ladders that move activists in the way you want them to move.

Activists can only be in a ladder once

If an activist is not in a ladder and they trigger a condition for entering the ladder, they will enter at the rung which they triggered, even if they've previously been through the ladder and exited.

If an activist is already in a ladder (say, waiting at a wait step) and they trigger a condition for entering the ladder again, they will not re-enter the ladder, however...

Activists can move down to another rung (but not up)

If an activist triggers a condition for a rung that's below the rung they are currently at, they will be moved out from their current step and enter the ladder at that rung, and proceed with the steps from there.

This "pull down" mechanism can help clarify your ladder logic and avoid replication of steps. For example, let's say you wanted to trigger an activist to enter a ladder when they receive a specific email kicking off your campaign. That email asks them to sign a petition. Three days later, if they haven't signed the petition yet they'll be sent an email asking them again to sign and if they have they'll be sent an email asking them to make a call to an elected official. If someone signs the petition after they receive the email asking them to sign again, they should also get the call email.

You could accomplish this with decisions, but you'd have to repeat yourself. You'd set up a rung with a trigger that adds activists to the ladder when they receive the kickoff email for the campaign, then a wait step waiting 3 days, then a decision which asks whether the activist has signed the petition. In the yes path you'd then have the call email, and in the no path you'd have the petition sign email. You'd also have another wait in the no path, another decision (Did they sign the petition after we sent this followup email?) and if yes, the call email again.

Instead, you can use rungs to simplify this logic. You'd have one rung up top with the trigger being received the campaign kickoff email, then a wait step of 3 days, then the can you please sign this petition email, then another wait of 3 days. Then you add a second rung below with the trigger being signed the petition, then a wait of 3 days, then the call email. This way, if at any point while an activist is waiting in the first rung they decide to sign the petition, either because they responded to the initial kickoff email or the second followup email they'll automatically be pulled down to the second rung, enter there, and after a wait get the call email.

By thinking about your rungs and triggers carefully, you can make elegant and simple logic for moving your activists in ways you want, without overly complicating them with nesting decisions and repeated steps.