Lifecycle tool, mockup

1. Journeys, what exists and what is stopped

Journeys

7 defined, 3 live, 1 paused pause resumedrain

Journey	Name	State	Audience	In flight	Gate
winback-2026	Dormant win-back	paused	150	0	blocked, domain unauthenticated
reconversion	Reconversion	live	live query	unknown	ok
nurture-product	Product nurture	live	22 lists	unknown	ok
welcome-sms	Welcome SMS	live	list 68	unknown	ok
dist-receipt	Distributor receipt	built	on upload	0	ok
sms-drip-2-4	SMS drip 2 to 4	built	non-converters	0	held
c13-tradeshow	Trade show re-engage	draft	not defined	0	no audience

2. One journey, node by node

winback-2026

paused, 150 in audience, 0 in flight pause resumedrain

entryentry

gate1_pilot, 150 people, limit 150, reentry never

audience + volume

touch-1messagewinback-2026.touch-1

blocks/winback/touch-1

GATE: suppression, consent, frequency

wait-5dwait

5 days

did-they-opendecision

opened touch-1 within 5d, yes or no

touch-2amessagewinback-2026.touch-2a

blocks/winback/touch-2a

GATE: re-checked, not inherited

touch-2bmessagewinback-2026.touch-2b

blocks/winback/touch-2b

GATE: re-checked, not inherited

doneexit

The gate runs before EVERY message. Not once at entry. Somebody can unsubscribe between step two and step three, so an eligibility answer from five days ago is a guess about today. Njui raised this and the vendors agree: Braze rechecks the cap at the actual send.

Launch preflight, re-run on every refresh

Check	Now	Read
Audience pinned	pass	150 rows
Suppression fresh	pass	18,390, read now
Consent opt-in	pass	per person
Frequency	pass	promo 30d, 3 in 30
Domain authenticated	fail	no SPF, no DKIM
Domain warm	fail	no history
Stranded check	missing	sensor built, needs DSN

3. Audiences, computed in the warehouse

Audiences

5 defined pause resumedrain

Audience	Size	Computed	Used by	Note
aud.winback.gate1-pilot	150	02:30 today	winback-2026	pinned
aud.winback.gate1-rest	1,648	02:30 today	wave 2	not released
aud.winback.gate2	no size	never	nothing	no SQL exists
aud.reconversion.returning	live query	on trigger	reconversion	90d rule
aud.nurture.by-product	7 to 38 each	unknown	nurture-product	22 lists

Segments are computed in the warehouse, nightly, and the tools consume them. Not defined in Brevo, not defined twice. Two definitions of dormant that disagree is the documented failure, and we already have three rival eligibility functions.

4. Compose, what is being built

Messages

2 approved, 2 draft, 1 not started pause resumedrain

Message	Stage	Blocks	Needs	If absent	Variants
msg.winback.touch-1	approved	plain	2 attrs	abort	1
msg.winback.touch-2a	approved	plain	1 attr	abort	1
msg.cart.abandoned	draft	7 blocks	3 attrs	omit	6
msg.ambassador.invite	draft	6 blocks	2 attrs	refuse	2
msg.seasonal.roundup	not started	list shape	unknown	omit	unknown

Variants is the column that earns this screen. An attribute-driven message is a different body per person, so the defect that ships is in the variant nobody rendered. Six defects passed every automated check on Labor Day and were caught by eye.

Naming, which is load-bearing rather than tidy

Three measured reasons this is not housekeeping. Brevo rewrites utm_campaign from the campaign name, so the name is the analytics key. Braze block names are permanent and cannot be reused even after archiving. An untagged message is permanently unattributable.

Naming

applies to every client

Thing	Pattern	Example	Why
Journey	`<program>-<year>`	`winback-2026`	Lowercase, no spaces. It becomes the Brevo campaign name, and Brevo rewrites utm_campaign from that name verbatim, so the name IS the analytics key.
Node	`<journey>.<node>`	`winback-2026.touch-1`	Also the send tag. An untagged message is permanently unattributable, and Brevo reports per campaign, so without this nobody can say which STEP earned an open.
Audience	`aud.<program>.<cut>`	`aud.winback.gate1-pilot`	Sorts together, and the prefix says what it is when it appears in a list beside 22 Brevo lists nobody named carefully.
Message	`msg.<program>.<role>`	`msg.cart.abandoned`	Role, not draft state. A name chosen as a label becomes permanent: Braze will not let a block name be reused even after archiving.
Block	`<role>`	`masthead, item_row, cta`	Semantic role only. Never a visual description, because 'blue-box' survives the day somebody makes it green.
Brevo list	`<program>.<segment>`	`nurture.boat-lifts`	The 22 nurture lists are a trigger mechanism, not 22 contents, and their names should say that.