Note: This feature is only available to clients using Campaign Execution 2.0

Why Day 0 Matters

The first moments after key customer actions, such as registration or completing KYC, are often the most critical for driving conversion. Intent is high, attention is focused, and timely engagement can significantly impact outcomes.

Day 0 Streams let you respond immediately to these moments and guide customers through their first interactions using real-time, behavior-based messaging. While often used for onboarding, Day 0 Streams can be applied to any scenario where engaging customers quickly, based on their actions, improves results.

What Is a Day 0 Stream?

"Day 0" refers to the day of registration. Trigger-based entry allows any customer who activates the trigger to enter the Stream, including newly registered customers and those already beyond day 0. This enables journeys that can start immediately at registration or at any key moment later in the customer lifecycle.

With Day 0 Streams, you can:

Enter customers into a Stream instantly when a trigger occurs
Send follow-ups based on customer actions (or inaction) within minutes or hours
Continue seamlessly into day 1 and beyond, where journeys can include segmentation and scheduled campaigns

When Should You Use Day 0 Streams?

Use Day 0 Streams when early engagement after a specific event is critical to conversion or activation.

Common scenarios include:

Immediately after registration (onboarding and welcome journeys)
After completing KYC or verification
Following a first purchase or deposit
After triggering a key behavioral milestone
Any use case where acting quickly improves outcomes

Example Use Cases

Simple Day 0 → Day 1 Welcome Flow

A customer registers and immediately enters a Stream.

They receive an instant welcome message
The Stream waits until the designated hour on the following day
On day 1, the journey continues with scheduled campaigns and segmentation

This creates a seamless handoff from real-time onboarding to ongoing lifecycle engagement—without managing multiple campaigns or workflows.

Conversion-Based Branching

A customer registers and receives an immediate welcome message. The Stream then waits up to 2 hours for a purchase event:

If a purchase occurs → send next-step guidance or product recommendations
If no purchase occurs → send a reminder or incentive

Both paths continue into day 1 follow-ups within the same journey.

Rapid Deposit Follow-Ups

A customer registers and does not deposit within 15 minutes. They enter a Day 0 Stream that includes:

An immediately triggered message
Follow-ups after 30, 45, and 60 minutes
Each step waits for a deposit event and branches accordingly

Once the deposit happens, or after the sequence completes, the journey continues with scheduled day 1 communication.

How to Build a Day 0 Stream

Follow these steps to create a journey that starts in real-time and continues into later lifecycle stages.

Step 1 — Set Entry Method to Trigger-Based

When creating the Stream:

Select Entry Criteria
Choose All customers who activate the entry trigger

This enables real-time entry into the Stream when a trigger occurs. When choosing this option, segmentation rules cannot be added at entry—customers will enter and receive day 0 campaigns based only on the trigger event.

Step 2 — Define the Entry Trigger

In the Stream canvas:

Add a Trigger Split as the first step
Select the event that will act as your entry trigger

For example:

Registration
KYC completion
First deposit or purchase
Any custom behavioral event

All customers who activate this trigger will enter the Stream, including newly registered customers and existing customers. To control which customers enter, apply filters on the event attributes when defining the trigger.

Step 3 — Add the First Triggered Campaign

Attach a triggered campaign to the relevant path from the trigger split. This lets you engage customers immediately and deliver a message while intent is at its highest.

Step 4 — Add Day 0 Follow-Ups Using Real-Time Logic (optional)

Use Wait for Event Splits followed by triggered campaigns to wait for a customer action and branch based on whether it occurs within a defined timeframe—from minutes to hours or longer.

Simply select the event and define the wait timeframe. Optimove automatically configures the Yes/No branching paths for you—no manual setup of the event flow required.

Tip: Wait periods can overflow into the next day and will work just the same. For example, if a customer registers at 11:50 PM and does not deposit, they will receive the follow-up reminder after 20 minutes—at 00:10 AM the following day.

Step 5 — Transition to Day 1 and Beyond

Use Wait Until Day to advance the journey. From this point, you can:

Add segmentation
Use scheduled campaigns
Continue with longer-term lifecycle messaging

Step 6 — Set Your Stream Objective and KPI

In Stream Settings, set the objective to KPI Based and select the KPI that reflects the key action you want to drive. For a welcome or deposit journey, this is typically Number of Deposits.

This ensures your stream is measured against a meaningful outcome from the first interaction onward, giving you a clear view of how the full journey performs.

Limitations and Considerations

Please note: Keep the following in mind when building Day 0 Streams.

Availability — Day 0 Streams are available only to clients using Campaign Execution 2.0
Target group on day 0 — All campaigns on day 0 (before the first Wait Until Day) use the All Customers Target Group
No segmentation on day 0 — Segmentation criteria, segment splits, and exit criteria are not available on day 0; they become available from day 1 onward
Experimentation limitations — Day 0 Streams support only a single test treatment per campaign
Control group configuration — If using a control group, the control percentage is defined at the All Customers Target Group level under Triggered Campaign settings
Stream structure requirement — The stream must start with a triggered campaignS
Personalization limitations — Personalization in day 0 campaigns is based only on attributes available in the trigger event. Follow-up campaigns after a Wait for Event Split may not include all personalization data. Configure templates with fallback values to handle any missing data

Key Takeaway

Day 0 Streams enable you to engage customers the moment it matters most—driving faster activation, earlier conversion, and a stronger foundation for long-term retention.

They provide:

Immediate entry based on real-time triggers
Fast, behavior-based follow-ups
A single continuous journey from day 0 onward
Continuous measurement across the full journey, starting from the first interaction