01 — Discovery and scope
Define business outcomes, lifecycle stages, channels, key audiences, dependencies, owners, timeline and acceptance criteria before configuration starts.
- Primary journeys and campaign inventory
- Stakeholder ownership and approvals
- Required integrations and data sources
- Compliance and consent constraints
02 — Data and identity
Document profile attributes, custom events, identifiers, subscription groups, data freshness and the source system for each field used in activation.
- Event taxonomy and naming
- Identity resolution
- Audience and segmentation rules
- Data contract and error handling
03 — Journey architecture
Build Canvas logic with explicit entry, branch, delay, exit, suppression and fallback behavior. Keep reusable patterns separate from one-off campaign logic.
- Entry and qualification rules
- Branching and priority
- Frequency and suppression
- Personalization fallbacks
04 — Integration and content QA
Validate payloads, API or webhook behavior, dynamic content, Liquid, links, tracking, consent and rendering across relevant devices and email clients.
- Seed-list checks
- API/event payload validation
- Template and link validation
- Accessibility and rendering review
05 — Deliverability and launch
Confirm sending domains, authentication, subscription behavior, suppression and test cohorts before production volume increases.
- SPF/DKIM/DMARC
- Sender reputation controls
- Initial launch cohort
- Monitoring and rollback plan
06 — Handover and optimization
Document ownership, QA evidence, reusable patterns, backlog priorities and monitoring so the program can be operated without depending on hidden knowledge.
- Runbook and governance
- Known issues and technical debt
- Experiment backlog
- Review cadence