Understanding how to create a recipient list

Creating a recipient list that you can reference in a mailing is a multi-step process that involves the following activities.

Identify the database tables and fields in your corporate datamart that contain data that you can use to personalize email messages

Define flowchart cells in Campaign to specify the intended recipients of an email campaign

Map fields in your datamart to the list of individuals that you have selected as recipients for an email campaign

Run a Campaign flowchart that contains an eMessage process.

The result of the recipient selection process is a database table referred to as the Output List Table (OLT) that contains names, addresses, and other recipient-specific data required to personalize the email messages sent as part of the email campaign. This database table serves as the recipient list.

Connecting to recipient data

Creating a list of recipients requires that you map recipient-specific data stored in your corporate marketing databases to personalization fields. Each personalization field is populated by a field in your corporate marketing database. You define personalization fields using an eMessage process in a Campaign flowchart.

You, or other members of your marketing team, add personalization fields to the design of personalized email messages. In an email message, the personalization fields serve as placeholders for recipient data. They establish the connection between your corporate marketing database and the message that you send to your target audience.

Creating the recipient list

You create a recipient list by configuring an eMessage process and then performing a production run of the flowchart that contains it.

Configure a flowchart to select the individuals to whom you want to send personalized email. The output of the flowchart becomes the input to the eMessage process that you use to define and create the recipient list. In turn, the output of the eMessage process is a database table called the Output List Table, or OLT. Running the flowchart populates the table and automatically uploads it to IBM® Unica Hosted Services.

The OLT serves as the recipient list that you reference in a mailing. When you reference a recipient list in an eMessage mailing, the data in the OLT becomes available for use in the eMessage document that is referenced by the same mailing.

Recipient selection workflow

Selecting recipients for a mailing proceeds in the following sequence:

1.	About planning a recipient list

Identify the target audience for your email marketing campaign and the data required to personalize your email messages.

2.	Specifying inputs to recipient lists

Add an eMessage process to a flowchart in Campaign. Select the flowchart output cells that identify the individuals and related information that you want add to the list. These output cells are inputs to the eMessage process.

3.	Defining the OLT for a recipient list

To define a recipient list, you define the rows and columns in the OLT. Rows in the table hold recipient IDs taken from the flowchart cells. Personalization fields and other metadata define the columns. Initially, the OLT is empty. You must run the flowchart to add information to the table.

4.	Populating the OLT

Perform a production run of the flowchart that contains the eMessage process to add recipient IDs and recipient data to the OLT.