AJO IP Warm-up Troubleshooting: Audience Delays and Smart Retry Strategies

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Adobe Journey Optimizer's (AJO) IP Warm-up Plans feature offers a streamlined approach to building sender reputation, moving beyond complex manual journey configurations. However, a common point of confusion arises when activating runs within these plans: users sometimes encounter the error, 'The run failed as there are no qualified profiles. Select the 'Split runs to a new phase' option to choose a different campaign and audience."
This often stems from a critical, yet frequently overlooked, timing issue related to AJO's batch segmentation processes. 

This guide will clarify the paramount importance of correctly aligning your run activation with your batch segmentation schedule, and how AJO's configurable retry mechanism provides a crucial buffer to ensure your warm-up campaigns execute smoothly and reach their intended audience, even when unforeseen delays occur. 

The Challenge: "No Qualified Profiles" 

When you activate a run within your AJO IP Warm-up Plan, the system creates a new segment specifically for that run. If this segment isn't processed by your orgs daily batch segmentation job before the scheduled warm-up run execution time, AJO will report that there are "no qualified profiles," leading to a failed run and a frustrating delay in your warm-up progress.

AJO's Configurable Retry Mechanism for IP Warm-up Runs

Fortunately, AJO is designed to handle such scenarios with a dedicated retry mechanism for IP Warm-up Plan runs. This mechanism allows for a configurable buffer to account for delays in audience evaluation. 

• Configurable Retry Duration: You can define a specific time window during which the IP warm-up campaign can be executed, even if there are delays in audience evaluation. This is set by clicking the Properties icon next to the plan name and using the Retry run time drop-down list.  
  
• Maximum Duration: The maximum configurable duration for these retries is 240 minutes (4 hours).

• Retry Interval: During this defined time window, retries happen every 30 minutes until the audience evaluation is completed and the run can proceed.
  
  

For example, if you set a warm-up run to send at 9:00 AM and select a "Retry run time" of 120 minutes (2 hours), AJO will attempt to qualify the audience and execute the run between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. If the audience isn't ready at 9:00 AM, the system will keep retrying every 30 minutes until 11:00 AM. If no time window is specified, the run is attempted only at the scheduled send time and will fail if the audience evaluation is not completed. 

This built-in retry logic provides a crucial buffer. If your batch segmentation job is occasionally delayed, AJO will keep trying to qualify the audience for the defined duration, increasing the likelihood that your warm-up run will eventually proceed as intended without manual intervention. 

Practical Implications for Your Warm-up Strategy 

This configurable retry mechanism means you have a degree of flexibility. If you're comfortable with your warm-up emails potentially sending up to 4 hours after their scheduled time on days when segmentation is delayed, you can leverage this feature to maintain your warm-up cadence.

It's a valuable safety net, helping to ensure your IP warm-up process remains consistent even with minor data readiness fluctuations.