Activations vs. Influencing Engagements

Overview

The Engagement object is the heart of the Integrous Analytics system, tracking complex B2B customer journeys.

Each meaningful Lead/Contact interaction creates an Engagement record in Salesforce.

There are two kinds of Engagement records:

Activation Engagements mark the beginning of a new Sales Journey
Influencing Engagements capture additional interactions during an active sales process

Every Engagement stores attribution info, but only Activations store sales progression info.

This distinction is crucial because it enables accurate "lead" counting and ensures opportunities are attributed to recent, relevant interactions.

Activation Engagements

Activation Engagements represent the start of a distinct sales journey and serve as the foundation for cohort-based reporting and conversion rate analysis.

Created when:

A brand-new Lead or Contact enters your system
A dormant Lead or Contact re-engages after completing a previous sales journey

Business impact:

These are what we count as "leads" in reporting, not lead records
Only Activations can connect to opportunities for attribution
Enable accurate conversion rate measurement from marketing campaigns

❗Important: In Integrous Analytics, Activation Engagements represent "leads" in reporting, not Lead records. This provides a more accurate picture because:
They differentiate the most meaningful engagements from interactions of already active Leads/Contacts
They capture multiple sales journeys for the same person, tracking the most relevant attribution for each
They ensure that Opportunity attribution is always recent and relevant
They collapse interactions across both Leads and Contacts into a single reporting framework

Creating ad hoc Lead and Contact reports

When you would traditionally create a Lead or Contact report to analyze attribution or sales progression data, create an Engagement report instead.

Problems with Lead/Contact Reports:

Can’t see multiple interactions for a given Lead/Contact (only show one ‘source’ at a time)
Can’t see multiple sales processes for a given Lead/Contact
Limited ability to connect to resulting opportunities

Benefits of Engagement Reports:

Can include all interactions or filter to just Activations ("leads")
Can include any Lead/Contact fields you need
Connect directly to Opportunities generated and can include information from those Opportunities
Provide accurate conversion analysis

For more info, see the Ad Hoc Lead and Contact Reports article.

Influencing Engagements

Influencing Engagements capture additional meaningful interactions that occur during an active sales journey.

Created when:

A Lead or Contact with an active sales journey (Current Activation without Sales Journey Completion Date) has another interaction
Examples: Follow-up form submissions, additional content downloads, demo requests during active qualification
Activation Parent: All Influencing Engagements include an "Activation Parent" field that links them to their most recent Activation, enabling complete journey analysis.

Business impact:

Included in multi-touch attribution analysis
Help paint the complete picture of prospect engagement

Diagram illustrating lead/contact records and engagement history with activation details.

Activation Criteria

Every new Lead and Contact (not from a Lead conversion) gets an Activation Engagement.

When creating an Engagement record for an existing Lead/Contact, the system determines whether to create it as an Activation or Influencing Engagement based on:

Does the Lead/Contact's Current Activation have a value in Sales Journey Completion Date?

Yes (completed journey) → Next interaction creates an Activation Engagement
No (active journey) → Next interaction creates an Influencing Engagement

For more info, see the Reactivation Eligibility article.

Example Scenario

Initial Engagement: Sarah downloads a whitepaper causing a Lead to be created in Salesforce → The system creates an Activation Engagement (new sales journey begins) for the Lead
Follow-up Activity: Two weeks later, Sarah requests a demo → The system creates an Influencing Engagement (part of same active sales journey)
Sales Progression: A rep qualifies Sarah and creates Opportunity → Sales Progression dates and owners are captured on the Activation
Sales Process Completed: The Opportunity is lost → Sales Journey Completion Date and Outcome get populated
Re-engagement: Six months later, Sarah downloads another whitepaper → The system creates new Activation Engagement (fresh sales journey with new attribution)

This approach ensures the opportunity from Sarah's demo request gets attributed to her recent whitepaper download, not the outdated one from six months ago.

Fields Unique to Activation Engagements

Activation Engagements contain additional fields that Influencing Engagements don't have, since only Activations track sales journey progression:

Sales Journey Details

Stage 1-3 Date: Captures when Lead/Contact reached qualification milestones
Stage 1-3 Owner: Records who owned the record at each stage
Stages 4-6 Date and Owner: Via the Activation’s ‘Primary Opportunity’ if the Activation is the Opportunity’s ‘Attribution Activation’
Sales Journey Completion Date: When the sales process ended
Sales Journey Outcome: How the sales process ended (e.g., "Disqualified Lead", "Won Opportunity", "Lead Dormancy")

Primary Opportunity Details

Primary Opportunity: Links to the first Opportunity the Contact joined after this Activation
Primary Opportunity Activation Type: Shows if this Activation is the ‘Attribution Activation‘ for its Primary Opportunity or just an influence

Activation Classification

Activation Type: Distinguishes between "Original Activation", "Reactivated Lead", "Reactivated Contact", and "Opportunity Creation"
Record Type: Set to "Activation" (vs. "Influencing Engagement")