What is journey history metadata?

These are user-configured custom context fields that are included along with action rows in journey history, very similar to data feed fields for flows. This allows you to log any campaign or contact metadata that you're interested in accessing when querying the journey activity (e.g. contact property values, campaign metadata, product information etc.).

How do I configure metadata?

Metadata fields can be configured for action steps when setting up a journey.

How are the metadata fields shared and queried?

Metadata fields are shared in a json blob within the column metadata (see Table Fields below). Snowflake allows those to be queried using the syntax metadata:<field_name> (see example queries below).

{
    "cities": "Mumbai, Shanghai, Buenos Aires, Accra",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "timezone": "Asia/Tokyo"
}

What happens if a journey history metadata field fails to render or renders empty?

A value that renders as empty is not considered a failure and will show up for that contact with an empty value. If a field fails to render, it will be loaded in the following way: <field_name>: rendering_failed. In both cases, the contact will advance to the next step in the journey.

Can I configure default metadata fields?

Yes. Configure metadata fields under Admin Center > Journey Metadata. Those fields are then automatically added to any new steps that are created and are required fields. They will not apply automatically to pre-existing steps.

Can I use a skip_action in Metadata?

No. Use of a skip_action in the custom context for Journey Metadata does not actually skip the contact in a given action step, as the creation of metadata is independent of the action itself. If your intention is to skip contacts with specific criteria, you should use the skip_action in the action step configuration.