1. Open TD Console.
2. Navigate to Audience Studio.
3. Navigate to a journey and open it.
4. Select a stage.
5. In the left panel, select Activations and drag it to the journey builder.

Alternately, select the plus sign at the end of the stage rule and select an event.

Although the new event displays at the end of the stage rule, you can always drag it to a different position in the rule.

Enter Activation Details

Marketers might need to contact their data engineer to identify the correct activation.


1. Enter an activation name.
2. (Optional) Enter an activation description.
3. Select an authentication.
4. Complete the fields that display after you select an authentication.
5. Select Create.

(Optional) Customize Output

Select Output Mapping to use Column Mapping or String Builder.

  • Column Mapping: Column mapping allows you to rename specific columns for the external target. When the default option, Export All Columns is selected, all columns from the segment will be activated. If you unselect this option, only the newly mapped columns are activated.

  • String Builder: This allows you to remove an activation of a column that doesn't exist in the Master Segment. See how to use string builder.

Schedule Your Activation

Activations require that the associated parent segment is set to run on a daily schedule. Otherwise, the profiles associated with the parent segment will fail to activate.

Journeys have a daily activation schedule. The activation runs when the selected time and time zone occurs.

Select Create to complete your activation.

How Activations Work with Wait Steps

To learn more about wait steps, review Creating a Wait Step.



  • JOURNEY 1X: The profile receives an email on Day 1 and a text on Day 2. If you want the profile to receive an email on Day 1 and a text on Day 3, you must create a Wait Step of 2 days.
  • JOURNEY NEW CLIENT: The profile also receives communications from JOURNEY NEW CLIENT. The profile receives a text message on Day 1, no communication on Day 2, and receives an email on Day 3.
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