Playbooks are central to Drift and what we do! They are automated message workflows and campaigns that proactively reach out to site visitors and connect leads to your team. 

The Mission of Drift Playbooks: To qualify all site traffic, route every lead to the right rep, and make it easy for the marketer to demonstrate their success. 

Billing Plan: Playbooks are available starting on the FY22 Drift Premium plan and above.
 

In this two part guide, we'll roadmap out the following:

• Chat Playbook Priority
• Live Chat Playbooks
• Bot Playbooks

In Part two Chat Playbook Guide Part 2

• The Playbook Flow Builder
• A/B Testing your Playbooks
• Testing and Publishing a Bot Playbook
• Bot Settings
• Fastlane Playbooks
• Conversational Landing Pages

Chat Playbook Priority

 

You have the ability to prioritize the order your playbooks are shown to your site visitors. This means that if you have multiple playbooks running that have the same targeting conditions, those that are higher up on the list will fire before others. 

• Order: Any outbound welcome message playbooks, any ABM welcome messages, all other types of playbooks
• We suggest having more specific targeting conditions at the top andmore general targeting conditions at the bottom (upside down funnel)
• Playbook needs to be on to be considered

Live Chat Playbooks

Creating a Live Chat Playbook

1. On the main chat playbook page (app.drift.com/playbooks) click on Create a chat playbook and choose Bot/live chat
2. Select Which pages do you want to have a conversation on? (from Site Coverage, available on Premium and above) (or from Audiences, available on Enterprise)
3. Choose from Live chat (welcome messages) or Announcement (slider, full screen takeover, email capture)
4. Name your playbook

Welcome Message

• Basic chat-styled greeting to engage site visitors 

 

Message

• Create your message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• Choose who it sends from (random, bot, specific teammate)
• CTA type (start conversation, link to a URL, schedule a meeting, no CTA)

 

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = CTA type
• Route conversation (single person, group, conversation routing rules, don’t route)
• Add action (mark as CQL)

Targeting

• Available on paid plans
• Audience (contact segments, account segments (available on Premium & Enterprise), smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics (available on Premium & Enterprise), came from email playbook)
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

 

Review

 

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox (available on Premium and above)
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

 

• You can attribute all new contacts/leads with a specific Campaign from your Salesforce instance
  • Available on Premium and above
  • Please note, Playbook-level campaigns will take precedence over the campaign set in your Salesforce Sync Settings. If a Playbook does not have a campaign set, it will use the default sync settings' campaign.

Welcome Message vs Default Greeting

1. Welcome Message: the Online Welcome Message and the Offline Welcome Message. These are proactive messages that will display to your customers automatically when visitors land on your site
2. Default Greeting: (Settings > App settings > Drift widget > Default greeting) The Default Greeting is a reactive message that appears when the widget is clicked outside of the context of a Playbook. The Default Greeting serves two primary purposes. 
   1. It's perfect for customers who do not want messages to proactively appear to their customers.
   2. The Default Greeting shows to visitors who don't match any of your other playbooks' targeting conditions 

Outbound Welcome Message

 

• Need to have Chrome extension & Gmail

Reps send emails to prospects all the time, BUT getting to talk to those prospects in a personalized manner? Not so often. We've changed the way conventional outbound prospecting works by enabling you to add a link to your email when sent with the Chrome Extension. Once this link has been clicked, your prospects will be greeted with a personalized message on your site.

Message

• Create your message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• Always sends from teammate who sent email

 

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = starts conversation
• Always routes to teammate who sent email
• Add action (mark as CQL)

Targeting

• Available on paid plans
• Audience (contact segments, account segments (available on Premium & Enterprise), smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics (available on Premium & Enterprise), came from email playbook)
  • All plans will have the display condition: Clicked a link to your website from a Drift Sequence, an Outreach Sequence, or an email sent with the Drift Extension.
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

Review

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox (available on Premium and above)
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

 

• You can attribute all new contacts/leads with a specific Campaign from your Salesforce instance.
  • Available on Premium and above
  • Please note, Playbook-level campaigns will take precedence over the campaign set in your Salesforce Sync Settings. If a Playbook does not have a campaign set, it will use the default sync settings' campaign.

ABM Welcome Message

• Available on Premium & Enterprise

If you've spent any time as an outbound sales rep, you know that prospecting accounts can be tedious. Simply tracking the clicks on your emails can be frustrating when all you want to do is reach out to ask if they have any questions, or let them know you're available in case they need anything. This Playbook notifies the Account Owner when a prospect lands on your site. On top of the notification, a personalized message will be sent to the prospect from the Account Owner, which provides a tailored and customized experience.

Message

• Create your message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• Always sends from account owner (Visitors > Accounts)
• CTA type (start conversation, link to a URL, schedule a meeting, no CTA)

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = CTA type
• Always routes to account owner
• Add action (mark as CQL)

 

Targeting

• Audience (contact segments, account segments, smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
  • Use-case is to create an account segment based on account owner so each account owner has personalized message
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics, came from email playbook)
  • Need to use the condition target account is true 
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

 

Review

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox 
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

 

• You can attribute all new contacts/leads with a specific Campaign from your Salesforce instance
  • Available on Premium and above
  • Please note, Playbook-level campaigns will take precedence over the campaign set in your Salesforce Sync Settings. If a Playbook does not have a campaign set, it will use the default sync settings' campaign.

Slider Message

• Available on paid plans

The slider message is a pop-over Playbook that serves as a useful resource when trying to direct site visitors to a specific page on your site! Like all Playbooks, the slider message will pop up on its own and can be targeted to specific users for onboarding tips, sales promotions, and everything in between.



 

Message

• Create headline (initial message that site visitor will see)
• Create your targeted message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• CTA type (start conversation, link to a URL, schedule a meeting, no CTA)
• CTA copy (button)
• Choose who it sends from (specific teammate)

 

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = CTA type
• Route conversation (single person, group, conversation routing rules, don’t route)
• Add action (mark as CQL)

 

Targeting

• Audience (contact segments, account segments (available on Premium & Enterprise), smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics (available on Premium & Enterprise), came from email playbook)
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

 

Review

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox (available on Premium and above)
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

 

Full Screen Takeover

• Available on paid plans

The full screen takeover Playbook is a great way to grab the attention of your site visitors. When users land on your site they are greeted with a full screen message that requires them to click out of it before it disappears. This kind of messaging is used often for web stores with special offers and discounts. 

Message

• Create headline
• Create your takeover message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• CTA type (start conversation, link to a URL, schedule a meeting, no CTA)
• CTA copy (button)
• Choose who it sends from (specific teammate)

 

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = CTA type
• Route conversation (single person, group, conversation routing rules, don’t route)
• Add action (mark as CQL)

 

Targeting

• Audience (contact segments, account segments (available on Premium & Enterprise), smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics (available on Premium & Enterprise), came from email playbook)
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

Review

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox (available on Premium and above)
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

Email Capture Message

 

This Playbook is a great option if you're looking to capture the email addresses of your site visitors. These look very similar to Welcome Messages, but with a specific focus on capturing email addresses!

Message

• Create sign up headline
• Create your sign up message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link
• Choose who it sends from (specific teammate)

• Create thank you headline
• Create your thank you message copy
  • Format text, insert hyperlinks, insert pictures/GIFs, add personalization tokens (values from a site visitor’s contact record), add calendar link

Goals

• Set the lead stage (label as to where someone is in the sales cycle)
  • Use default values or type to create a custom lead stage
• What criteria should trigger this goal = submitted email
• Add action (mark as CQL)

Targeting

• Audience (contact segments, account segments (available on Premium & Enterprise), smart filters (sales engaged, recent conversation)
• Display (AND/OR conditions based on URL, website behavior, geolocation, Drift, firmographics (available on Premium & Enterprise), came from email playbook)
• Frequency (every page load, until they interact once per session (30 min), until they interact then hide)
  • Interaction is dismissal or engagement

 

Review

• Turn playbook on/off
• Choose target inbox (available on Premium and above)
  • All conversations started from this playbook will go into target inbox

Bot Playbooks 

• Available on Premium and above
  • Startup Plan (discounted Premium for VSB)

With bot playbooks you can

• target specific types of site visitors or prospects
• qualify leads automatically
• connect leads to a human or have them book a meetings to shorten your sales cycle

This type of playbook gives your team the most flexibility to ask qualifying questions that your customers can respond to freely or through button responses (designed by you). Additionally, you can send automatic bot responses based on whether or not a user is qualified by your standards.

Creating a bot playbook

 

1. 1. On the main chat playbook page (app.drift.com/playbooks) click on Create a chat playbook and choose Bot/live chat

• Which pages do you want to have a conversation on? (from Onboarding/Site Coverage)

1. Choose from Bots (homepage, pricing page, skip the form, retargeting, ABM: first visit (available for Premium & Enterprise), paid traffic converter, build a bot from scratch)
2. Name your playbook

Targeting 

A key part of using Drift is sending the right messaging to the right people. People who land on a certain page, or belong to a company of a certain size, or who spend a specific amount of time on your site are all great ways to send personalized and unique messaging to customers. 

Targeting

Website

• • URL – When the visitor is on the URL selected in this targeting step, display the campaign. There are a few ways to target by URL, some of which are “is/is not any of," and "includes / does not include."
  • URL Path – This is the /path that displays after the core URL (app.drift.com/settings)
  • URL Host – This is the subdomain or core domain of the URL (app.drift.com/settings)
  • URL Query Param – This is any query parameter within a URL
    • For URL Query Parameter targeting, we validate the conditions to ensure they're in the correct format, which is key=value
• Does your URL match? (see if your targeting conditions are set up correctly)

Drift

• Drift Online- Target based on whether your Drift account is online or offline.
• Outbound Session- Target based on whether or not the session is Outbound.
• Outbound Rep- Target based on the prospect's Outbound Sales Rep.
• Targeted Account- Target determining on whether or not the account is a direct target.
• Team Status - Target whether or not one or more of your teams is online/offline (Enterprise only)
• Contact Segment - target or exclude one or more of your contact segments

Marketo

• Available on Premium & Enterprise
• Marketo List - target one of more of your imported Marketo Lists 

Demographic

• Country - target by country
• US State - target by states in the United States
• Canadian Province - target by Canadian Province, ex. Ontario
• IP Address - target by a set of IP addresses
• Zip Code - target based on global zip codes

Visitor Behavior

• Referrer – This is the URL that refers the website to the page they're on now (google.com)
• Number of Site Visits – The number of times a user has visited your site (sessions, not page views).
• Number of days since last visit – When the visitor last visited any page a specific number of days ago, display the campaign.
• Device – If the visitor’s browser matches the criteria set, they’ll see the campaign. The options here are mobile, desktop, or tablet
• Seconds on Page – After somebody has been on the page for a certain number of seconds, you can have a message display. This will delay the message from popping up for the allotted time.
• Seconds on site (in seconds) – Similar to "Time on page" but measured from the start of the visitor's session and independent of the amount of time that is spent on any given page.
• Scroll percentage – After a visitor scrolls X percent of a page, you can have your message display.
• On Exit Intent – This triggers when a user's cursor leaves the window on the top half of the screen, usually indicating they intend to change browser tabs or close this tab/window.
• Cookie – Hide or display your widget or Playbook to users who have or don't have a specific cookie attached to them!
  • Used in A/B testing
  • For cookie targeting, we validate the conditions to ensure they're in the correct format, which is key=value.

Geolocation

• US State (location) – Choose to target or exclude specific states in the United States
• Country (location) – Choose to target or exclude specific countries for a campaign or chat
• IP Address - Target visitors based off of their IP address

Drift Intel

• Available for Premium & Enterprise
• Company Name
• Company Revenue
• Company Industry
• Company # employees
• Company Headquarter State
• Company Headquarter Country
• Company Headquarter Postal Code

Please keep in mind, any targeting with Drift Intel is contingent on it being able to identify the visitor's IP in their database! If there isn't a match, any other Playbook display conditions will not apply.

6Sense

• Available on Premium & Enterprise
• 6Sense Segment

 

Advanced Settings

• You’ll see this option on older accounts without basic targeting
• Visitors with recent conversation history
• Sales Engaged (via email or booked meetings)
• Identified by your website (JS & unique identifier)

Frequency

• • Choose how often a site visitor should see this playbook

• On every page load
  • This will fire the Playbook every time the page is refreshed or reloaded
    • Until they interact, once per session (30 minutes)
      • This means that the playbook will deliver every time there is 30 minutes of inactivity or if the user opens a new browser, even if they interact with it
      • This is the default option and we recommend this frequency as a best practice.
• Until they interact, then hide it
  • This means that if the user interacts with your playbook (e.g. they dismiss or click on the greeting) then it will disappear and not fire for that contact again

• Interaction is considered dismissal or engagement
  • If a site visitor comes onto the page where your Playbook is running and does not interact with it, then it will always continue to show every time. Once there is interaction, then your frequency settings will kick in.

 

What percentage of targeted visitors should see this playbook?

• Available on Premium and above 
• Choose 100% or a custom percentage

Audience Estimator

 

• Playbooks Audience Estimator just needs to show a potential estimate of playbook reach
• Shows data from the previous week, Sunday to Saturday

Driftlinks

• • Driftlinks are hashed identifiers that inform Drift which bot Playbook to fire. If you append them to any URL on your site, your Playbook will fire. 
    • Use-cases: launching a bot playbook when a site visitor clicks a button or link on your site
    • For an example, go to drift.com and click the Get a demo button or click on the widget icon in your test account 

• Set your Driftlink (unique identifier for each bot playbook)

• Only fire when Driftlink is present (Targeting tab is greyed out because targeting conditions are not taken into consideration when using a Driftlink)

• Advanced (interaction ID can also be used to fire a playbook without targeting conditions)

• Playbook needs to be ON and unique (within your account) for the Driftlink to work
• Firing a playbook with a Driftlink or interaction ID will automatically open the chat window 
• Make sure there is a # before the DriftLink's name
• If you've built your Driftlink into a button, avoid the page refreshing on every click by removing the trailing slash within the URL

For more detailed info on Driftlinks, Launching a Bot with a DriftLink .