Overview of using Optimize

The following steps outline how to use Optimize to determine the overall optimal communication strategy across campaigns.

1.	(Optional) If you would like to optimize across values in categories you define, create an Optimize template table in the Campaign system table database.

For example, if you have loyalty points for your customers, you might want to include a loyalty point column in your Optimize template table

2.	Create an Optimize session containing the rules and constraints to apply.

You can create a single Optimize session to handle all campaigns you want to optimize. Or, you can create separate Optimize sessions to handle different types of campaigns, such as campaigns for different communication channels, or campaigns for different lines of businesses. The broader the scope of a single Optimize session, the more opportunity you have to truly optimize across your business. By specifying business rules and constraints, and using scores such as response likelihood, you can determine the optimal communication strategy for maximizing the value of each customer contact.

3.	Set up at least one campaign that has a flowchart with one or more Optimize processes.

When configuring the Optimize process, you select an Optimize session to associate with the process. The eligible contacts are written with their associated offers to the PCT of the selected Optimize session.

4.	Set up another flowchart in the campaign mentioned in the previous step.

This flowchart retrieves the optimized contacts from the Optimize session and can send marketing communications to the list of contacts. This flowchart is called the post-optimization flowchart.

5.	Run the flowchart that contains the Optimize processes.

When you run the flowchart, Campaign writes to the PCT. Optimize accesses this list of proposed contacts and offers. If you have multiple campaigns, each campaign manager must run theCampaign sessions to create a complete proposed contact list for optimization.

6.	Perform a production run of the Optimize session to generate the optimized contact list.

Reviewing the rules and the optimization results is an iterative process, especially in the beginning. During the review process, you can change rules or the initial selection criteria to address the goals of each campaign manager. If adjustments are required, you can edit the definitions, rules (and scoring for the session, if you are using the internal scoring table within Optimize). Campaign managers can also modify the flowcharts that submit contacts or scores to Optimize and then run the flowcharts again.

7.	Trigger or manually run the post-optimization flowchart to retrieve the optimized contact list from the Optimize session and send the marketing communications.