Build journey

Use Build Journey to create the actual journey flow after you finish Setup, Entry Rules, and Audience. After completing this step, you will be able to read the build canvas, add and edit steps, understand the journey status area, and decide when a specific send step should bypass the Engagement Window.

Build canvas

The Build screen is the visual workspace for the journey. This is where you arrange the sequence of actions, review how each step connects, and shape the user path from entry to exit.

Use this screen when you want to:

• add a new step

• edit an existing step

• review the current flow before launch

• understand where a send, delay, branch, or update happens

The Journey Flow area shows the full structure of the journey as a connected path. Each step appears in sequence, so you can see what happens first, what happens next, and where the flow branches or continues.

This view helps you confirm that the journey logic matches the real user experience. It is especially useful when the journey contains several delays, decision points, or channel actions.

For example, a journey may begin with an entry trigger, continue to a delay step, then send a push notification, and later split into different paths based on user behavior. The flow view helps you read that sequence without opening every step first.

Add step

Use Add Step at the bottom of the journey flow when you want to expand the journey.

Each new step adds a new action, condition, or transition to the journey. The exact step types depend on the journey components available in your workspace.

For example, after a user enters the journey, you may add:

• a Delay step to wait before sending a message

• a send step such as Send Mobile Push

• a branch step to route users by behavior or profile

Add steps in the same order users experience them. This makes the flow easier to review and troubleshoot later.

Step container

Each step appears inside a step container on the build canvas. Select the container to open that step and configure its settings.

The step container shows where the step sits in the overall flow. Opening it lets you define the behavior of that step, such as the message content, timing rule, event condition, or follow-up action.

For example, if the selected step is a send step, you may configure the delivery settings and content. If the selected step is a condition or branch step, you may define the logic that decides which path the user follows next.

Journey name and status

At the top of the screen, the journey header shows the current journey name, its status, and the last saved time. Use this area as a quick confirmation that you are editing the correct journey and that you understand its current lifecycle state.

Typical statuses can include:

• Draft

• Stopped

• Active

For example, if you open a journey expecting to make pre-launch changes but the header shows Active, review the journey carefully before changing live behavior.

Ignore engagement window

Use Ignore Engagement Window when one specific message must be sent immediately, even if the journey is currently outside the allowed Engagement Window.

This option is available on these supported send steps:

• Send Mobile Push

• Send Email

• Send SMS

Use this only when the timing of that individual message matters more than the normal delivery window.

To enable it, open a supported send step, find Ignore Engagement Window, enable it, and save the journey.

When this option is enabled, only that step bypasses the Engagement Window. The rest of the journey still follows the normal Engagement Window behavior.

How it behaves

When Ignore Engagement Window is off, a message triggered outside the allowed hours follows the normal journey rule for Engagement Window handling.

When Ignore Engagement Window is on, that supported send step sends immediately, even outside the allowed hours.

For example, if the Engagement Window is 08:00–22:00 and the send step is triggered at 23:30:

• with Ignore Engagement Window enabled, the message is sent at 23:30

• without it enabled, the message waits for the next active Engagement Window

When to use it

Use this option for time-sensitive messages that lose value if they are delayed.

For example, an abandoned cart reminder may still work well when delivered the next morning. A price-drop alert at 02:00 may lose relevance if it waits until 08:00. In that case, bypassing the Engagement Window on that single step may produce the intended behavior.

Example scenario

An e-commerce journey uses an Engagement Window between 08:00 and 22:00.

If a user abandons their cart at 23:30, the standard reminder can wait until the next active window.

If the same journey later detects a price drop at 02:00, delaying that alert until 08:00 may reduce urgency or make the content outdated.

For that send step, enable Ignore Engagement Window so the price-drop message is sent immediately.

Engagement window options

The journey includes two related settings that affect off-hours behavior, but they do different things.

Option	Where you set it	What it does
Ignore messages sent outside Engagement Window	Entry Rules	Discards messages triggered outside the allowed time range
Ignore Engagement Window	Specific supported send steps in Build	Sends that step immediately, even outside the allowed time range

This difference is important because one option prevents delivery, while the other forces immediate delivery for a specific step.

Custom parameters for journey messages

You can define key-value custom parameters for Send In-App, Send Widget, and Send Mobile Push steps in Journey Builder.

Custom parameters allow you to pass additional data with the message payload. The application can use these parameters to decide how or where the message should be handled, such as displaying an in-app message on a specific screen or passing a custom deeplink parameter with a push notification.

When the journey step is triggered, the parameters are delivered to the Netmera SDK inside the prms object.

How to use custom parameters

1. In Journey Builder, open a Send In-App, Send Widget, or Send Mobile Push step.

2. Go to the Custom Parameters section.

3. Enter a key and value pair.

4. Add additional parameters if needed.

5. Save the step.

Empty keys and duplicate keys are not allowed.

When to use custom parameters

Use custom parameters when the application needs extra context about how to handle a journey message.

Common use cases include:

• Opening a specific screen after a push notification is clicked

• Passing a deeplink or content ID with a mobile push

• Displaying an in-app message only in a specific app context

• Sending campaign-specific metadata to the application layer

• Controlling where a widget appears in the app, such as on the home screen, product detail page, or recommendation area

What happens next

After you finish Build, review the flow one more time and then continue to Launch to save the journey as a draft or activate it.