Looping campaigns in Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is a request that I see pop up at least once a month – it’s one of those things that isn’t exactly straightforward, but may be less complicated than you think.

Before we dig into this I should say that if you are just looking for the basics of how to build a simple campaign, then you probably want to check out my Campaign Builder 101 blog post.

When would you want a campaign to loop?

From time-to-time you may recognize that you need a campaign process to repeat itself, and in those situations it makes a lot of sense for that campaign to loop (looping just means that when the contact reaches the “end” they are automatically restarted).

Some of the most common use cases for this are scenarios where you have reminders for repeating calls or events that happen at the same interval each week, each month, or each year.

For example, let’s say you have a repeating call that always happens on the second Wednesday of the month. And the morning of that call you have an email go out 6 hours in advance, and then a 15-minute sms reminder. It’d look something like this:

You could build that process out each month, but if you know it’s going to be the same structure then it makes a lot of sense to set it up as a loop.

Another situation where looping campaigns might be valuable is when you want to issue a quarterly survey to your subscribers, or to your members – you don’t necessarily need to do this manually, but if you know that once a quarter you want to send them an invite to take the survey then you could build this process out so that it loops four times a year (once each quarter).

Technically speaking, how do I do it?

We know Goals as the “triggers” of campaigns; and largely they serve to start and stop automation.

So to loop a campaign we need to use the exact same goal at the end, and also at the beginning. That way, when the goal is completed it stops the campaign and also restarts the campaign.

The whole reason that this works ties back to a very specific intricacy in how the campaign builder processes these events, and it’s perhaps the most important part of this blog post:

When a goal is achieved, it performs the “stop” functions before it performs the “start” functions.

Now, the lag is imperceptable to humans, so it appears they’re happening simultaneously but it’s important to know that the contact is drawn out of the campaign before they’re readded; if it happened in the opposite order then the loop would immediately stop and we wouldn’t be able to depend on this methodology.

Can I have another example?

Sure, check out the example at 4:09 in the video above – it’s a perpetual resource loop to stay in touch with my referral partners and make sure they have easy access to their links and the resources I’ve created for them.

Do I have to use Tag goals?

Tag goals are by far the most common goal method used to build loops, but technically you could use any goal method that can be configured to be simultaneously achieved.

Another example might be using purchase goals – and if X amount of time elapses between purchases you could create a task to call that contact, or trigger automated outreach from their point of contact.

Here’s an example of what that campaign might look like:

I think the take-away from all this is that looping is possible, and it’s not just a novelty.

It’s a legitimate campaign builder tactic that can save you time and help maximize the mileage you get out of your Keap automations.

If you found this valuable leave a comment below – or, if you’ve got your own scenario where looping saves the day, share that.

Looping Campaigns without using Goals

Infusionsoft released a new sequence widget that permits users to add and remove contacts from campaign sequences without requiring that they achieve a goal – and Kevin Mogavero recorded this short tutorial on how you can use it to create a looping campaign structure without the use of tags (or purchase goals, etc).

Extra Campaign Builder tactics and training…for free?

If you like tactics like this, then you’re gonna love Campaign Builder Finishing School.

It’s a quick video series covering a selection of tactics you can use to level up your existing Keap campaigns.