Configuring contact processes (Mail List or Call List)
Follow these instructions to configure a Mail List or Call List process in a Campaign flowchart. Configure a Mail List or Call List process to assign offers to contacts, generate a contact list for a direct mail or telemarketing campaign, and write the results to contact history.
1.
Open a campaign and click a flowchart tab.
2.
Click the Edit icon Tiny pencil icon in the flowchart window.
3.
Drag a contact process (Mail ListEnvelope icon or Call List Telephone icon) from the palette to your flowchart.
4.
Connect one or more configured processes as input to the contact process.
The processes that you connect must produce output cells, which serve as input to the contact process. For example, a Select process produces a list of IDs, so its output can serve as input to a contact process.
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All of the cells that you select as input cells must have the same audience level.
5.
Double-click the contact process in the flowchart workspace.
The process configuration dialog opens.
6.
Use the Fulfillment tab to specify what input is used to build the contact list and to specify whether output is generated to a list or table.
a.
From the Input list, specify the cells to use as the data source for the contact list.
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The Multiple Cells option is available only if the input process generates multiple cells or if there are more processes that are feeding into the contact process.
b.
The Enable Export To check box is selected by default. To export your list data to a table or file, leave Enable Export To checked, then use the appropriate options:
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To write the output to a database table, select a table from the Enable Export To list.
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If the database table that you want to use is not in the list, or if you want to write the output to an unmapped table, select Database Table. Use the Specify Database table dialog to indicate the table and database name. User variables are supported in the table name that you specify.
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To write the output to a file, select File from the Enable Export To list, then provide a file name and other details. You can write to a file to test the output of the contact process. After you run the process, review the file to confirm that the results are what you expect.
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To create a user table, select New Mapped Table from the Enable Export To list. For instructions, see the Campaign Administrator's Guide.
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Specify how to handle updates to the output file or table:
▪ Append to Existing Data. Add the new information to the end of the table or file. This option is the best practice for database tables. If you select this option for a delimited file, labels are not exported as the first row.
▪ Replace All Records. Remove any existing data from the table or file and replace it with the new information.
▪ Create New File. This option is available if you specify a new file in the Enable Export To field.
c.
If you only want to write to contact history, and you do not want to generate output to a table or file, clear the Enable Export To option. (Use the Log tab, explained later in these steps, to specify how to log to the Contact History tables.)
d.
(Optional) Summary File: Enter a path and file name in the Summary File field, or navigate to a location by clicking the ellipsis button. A summary file is a text file with the extension .sum. This file contains information about the contents of the list. Typically, you include this file with the list when you send it to the fulfillment center. A summary file is generated only if you select the Enable Export To option.
e.
(Optional) To send a trigger when the process finishes running, select the Send Trigger(s) option, and choose the trigger that you want to send. To send multiple triggers, use Ctrl+Click to select more than one trigger. The selected triggers are listed in the Send Trigger(s) field, and they are separated by commas.
7.
Use the Treatment tab to assign one or more offers or offer lists to each target cell:
a.
Click the Offer field next to the cell, then select an offer. To assign offers to multiple cells, select all rows to which you want to assign offers, then click Assign Offers.
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If the input cells are linked to a top-down cell defined in the target cell spreadsheet (TCS), and offers are already assigned in the TCS, the offers are displayed here. You can override these assignments. Any changes that you make here are reflected in the TCS after you save the flowchart.
b.
If you want to exclude some IDs from the contact list, select Use Holdout Control Groups, then change the Control? field to Y for each cell that you want to use as a control. Those cells appear in the Control Cell list and cannot be assigned offers.
c.
For each non-control cell, you can specify a control cell and an offer.
8.
Use the Parameters tab if your organization is using parameterized offers. For example, an offer might be parameterized with values of 10% and 20%. The Parameters tab shows the values for each offer that was assigned on the Treatment tab. If there are no parameterized offers, you can skip this tab.
a.
Use the For Cell(s) list to select the cells that you want to affect.
To save data entry time, select [All Cells] to assign values that apply to most of the cells, then select individual cells to override the values.
When you select [All Cells], you see one row per offer per parameter. Values that you enter in the Assigned Value field apply to every cell that gets that offer.
If you assigned the same offer to multiple cells on the Treatment tab, but you assign different parameter values for each cell, the [All Cells] view displays the text [Multiple Values] in the Assigned Value column, and the For Cell(s) list shows the value that is assigned to each cell.
When you select an individual cell, you see only the offers assigned to the selected cell. Values that you enter in the Assigned Value field apply only to that cell.
b.
Click in the Assigned Value field (or select a row in the table and click Assign Value), then select or type a value to assign to the parameter. You can use constants, derived fields, or table fields as values. For example, you can use a derived field to produce values that can be assigned to offer attributes.
The configuration setting Campaign | partitions | partition[n] | server | flowchartConfig | disallowAdditionalValForOfferParam determines whether you are allowed to specify additional values or whether you are restricted to values in the list for offer attributes of type Single Select drop down.
9.
Use the Personalization tab to specify which fields to write out to the contact list. For example, if you are building a mailing list, include contact names and addresses.
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The Export Field list indicates which fields to write to the output list.
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If you selected a table on the Fulfillment tab, the Export Field list includes all of the fields from that table. You must map each data field to a corresponding table column. To automatically find matching fields, click Match. Fields with exact matches for the table field names are automatically added to the list. If there are multiple matching fields, the first match is taken.
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If you selected a file on the Fulfillment tab, the Export Field list is empty and you must specify which fields to output.
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When you select Candidate Fields, you can click the arrow next to an item to expand it. For example, you can expand the IBM® Campaign Generated Fields list, then select Treatment Code. By including the Treatment Code in your output, you can use it to track responses. Direct Response tracking requires customers to provide the same code when they respond to the offer (for example, by using a coupon). Use Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click to select multiple fields.
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To view the values in a field, select the field and click Profile.
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Use the Add and Remove controls to adjust the contents of the list.
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The order of the fields in the Export Fields list determines the order that the data is written out.
10.
To sort the output and specify how to handle duplicate IDs in the list, click More on the Personalization tab.
You see the Advanced Settings dialog.
a.
Decide whether your list will include or omit duplicate IDs. For example, if your Audience ID is Household, there might be duplicate Audience IDs for each person in that household. You may or may not want each person included in the list. To omit duplicate IDs, choose Skip Records with Duplicate IDs, and specify which record to retain if duplicate IDs are returned. For example, to keep only the family member with the highest household income, select MaxOf and Household_Income.
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This option removes duplicates that occur in the same input cell. If the same ID exists in multiple input cells, your contact list might still contain duplicates. If your goal is to remove all duplicates from the list, use a Merge or Segment process upstream of the contact process to purge duplicate IDs or create mutually exclusive segments.
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This option pertains only to the fulfillment table (the list) and not to contact history. The contact history tables always contain unique IDs only. For example, say that your output list includes multiple family members (duplicate IDs for Households). The contact history will contain only one record for Household, using the first CustomerID found. The flowchart designer must ensure that the result set obtains the correct records before the records reach the contact history tables. Use the Extract process to de-dupe the results before the contact process box to ensure that the correct records are written to both the fulfillment table and contact history.
b.
To sort the output, use the Order By options. For example, to sort by surname in reverse order, select the Last_Name field and Descending.
c.
Click OK to close the Advanced Settings window.
11.
Use the Log tab to control what is written to contact history.
You must have the appropriate permissions to enable or disable the contact history log options.
a.
To log contact history to the system tables, check Log to Contact History Tables.
This option makes contact information available for tracking and reporting throughout Campaign.
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When you create a mailing list, do not log to contact history if you plan to send the list to a mailing house for processing (such as validating addresses). Instead, consider using a Track process to log the information after it is returned from the mailing house. In this way, you capture only the list of customers who were mailed an offer. Another approach is to allow the Mail List to update contact history, then use the Track process to update the contact history records that were created by the Mail List process.
b.
(Optional) To store contact information in another location, in addition to or instead of the contact history tables, check Log into Other Destination. This option is useful if your organization requires further processing of the information in another format, or if you want to examine the output before you update contact history.
12.
If you selected Log into Other Destination on the Log tab:
a.
Use Select cells to specify which input to use (if there are multiple inputs).
b.
Use Log to to select a destination table or file. If you select File, define the output file name and parameters.
Indicate which field data to include by moving candidate fields to the Fields to Output list. You can automatically find matching fields by clicking Match. Fields with exact matches for the Table Field names are automatically added to the Field to Log list. If there are multiple matching fields, the first match is taken. The order of fields in the list determines the order of data in the file.
c.
Use the following options to specify how updates to the destination file or table are handled:
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Append to Existing Data: Add the new contact information to the end of the table or file. Appending data is a safe choice for database tables because it preserves existing data. If you select this option for a delimited file, labels are not exported as the first row.
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Replace All Records: Remove any existing data from the table or file, and replace it with the new contact information.
An informational field indicates whether Skip records with duplicate IDs is set to Yes or No. You set this option on the Personalization tab but it also applies to the table or file that you specified for Log into Other Destination, where you are additionally logging contact history.
13.
To customize the information that gets written to contact history, click More Options on the Log tab.
The Contact History Logging Options dialog opens.
a.
To avoid updating contact history when this process runs, select Create Treatments Only.
This option generates new treatments in the Treatments table without updating the contact history, allowing for a delayed update to the history tables. For example, use this option if you plan to remove invalid and duplicate addresses through post-processing. By waiting to update contact history with the final list of IDs to which offers are sent, the resulting contact history will be smaller and more accurate.
If you select this option, the other options in this dialog that no longer apply are disabled.
By default, this option is not selected, so contact history is updated when the process runs.
For more information about logging contact history, see Contact history.
b.
To generate new treatments with the same package ID as in the most recent process run, select Use Last Package ID.
All offers given to an individual in the same contact process are considered to be a single "package". By default, Use Last Package ID is not selected. Not selecting this option ensures that each package is assigned a unique ID for each production run of the contact process.
If you selected Create Treatments Only to prevent customer history from being updated, you can also select Use Last Package ID to ensure that the package ID from the prior run is assigned to each set of offers. This action links the offers to the existing contact history.
c.
Use the Tracking Audience Level to determine which audience level is written to contact history.
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The contact process removes duplicate records based on the Audience level of the input process. Changing the Tracking Audience Level does not affect how records are de-duped. For example, say the input process for a Maillist process uses Audience level 1. However, you want to log records to contact history at Audience level 2. In this case, you must configure an Audience process to change the audience level. Then connect the Audience process as input to the contact process. Now you can select a Tracking Audience Level of 2.
d.
Use the Contact Date field to specify when to contact the people in the contact list. If you do not specify a date, Campaign uses the flowchart run date.
e.
Use the Contact Status Code list to specify a status code for tracking.
f.
Use the controls to add fields from the Candidate Fields list to the Fields to Log list.
g.
Click Close to return to the Log tab of the process configuration dialog.
14.
(Optional) To clear some or all existing contact history and associated response history entries before the next run of the contact process, click Clear History on the Log tab.
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Clear History permanently deletes contact and response history records from the system tables. This data is not recoverable.
15.
(Optional) Use the General tab to assign a name and descriptive notes to the process.
16.
Click OK.
The process is now configured. You can test run the process to verify that it returns the results you expect. A test run does not output data or update any tables or files, but it does run any triggers that were selected on the Fulfillment tab.
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