News for contacts import
We have implemented an optimised solution for importing large quantities of contacts via scheduled tasks. The platform decides for you in which cases this new type of import is to be preferred to the previous, more 'classic' type, which remains the optimal one for smaller volumes.
New scheduled task: importing data tables
If you use data tables, for example, to synchronise your customers' orders, you can then automatically import the data from a file into the selected table.
The source file can be located on the local platform FTP or on an external FTP server and can be an Excel, .csv or fixed-length file. You will be prompted to associate the fields in the table with the columns in the file and can choose whether to export the outcome report.
Like the other scheduled tasks, in the "Scheduling" tab, you can choose to execute this import periodically on an hourly, weekly or monthly basis. For example: repeat every 2 hours or every Monday and Thursday at 08.00.
More options to send SMS via web service
We have added the opportunity to manage the sending of special SMS cases via web service. You can, in fact, use the following parameters with the createNewsletter function:
- smsencoding: to indicate the encoding used to send the SMS messages
- enablelongsms: to send long SMS messages
- maxsmsparts: number of message parts, in the case of long SMS messages
- enablesmslinkstracking: to enable tracking of links included in the SMS message. Please note that if you enable this option, links will also be replaced with shortlinks.
Data tables and contact fields: it is better to have indexes
When you create a many-to-many relationship contact field with a custom association with a data table, the platform now checks if you have an index on the association table and, if not, suggests you create it directly, without having to go back and edit the data table.
Having the index improves performance on activities that occur repeatedly on contact fields of relation type.
Boost your Shopify eCommerce
Following the integration with Prestashop and Magento, we have added the Shopify app to the family of eCommerce connectors.
The main features of this connector follow the requirements already expressed for its predecessors.
- Synchronise Shopify customers: you can automatically update the contacts registered in your eCommerce with their master information, preferences and behavioural fields. To set up the synchronisation, you can easily associate Shopify fields with the contact fields in the platform database. You also have available data about the last order placed by each contact (e.g. total spend, products purchased...).
- Recover abandoned checkouts: you can synchronise the platform with the checkouts abandoned by your customers, so that you have the content of their attempted purchase and can recover up to 30% of expired carts. A small note to specify that Shopify does not take into account abandoned carts, but "abandoned checkouts". The checkout is that "extra step" when you click that "Continue / Checkout" button from your cart that makes you an "almost" customer. For shopify, in fact, it's not enough that the customer has filled the cart but wants to register a more realistic purchase intention.
- Manage unsubscriptions: the app provides you with a custom button action, which you can place on the button in the unsubscribe form, so when the contact unsubscribes, we will immediately report the unsubscription on Shopify as well.
- Start automated flows: the connector creates two new entry nodes, new customer and abandoned checkout.
New customer: when a customer signs up on Shopify, via the configured webhooks, the contact is created in the platform and the corresponding automated flow session is started. You can then, for example, send a welcome or subscription confirmation email.
Abandoned checkout: this node checks if there are checkouts abandoned on Shopify for more minutes than configured and, if so, starts the flow session. For example, you can send a personalised email to the contact with the contents of their cart. - Fish with the product picker: the product picker "fishes" your eCommerce product information directly from the Shopify product catalogue and allows you to easily insert it into the "Shopify newsletter" template, without having to enter it separately: photo, name, description, price, features and even product tags.
- Customise one-to-one: in the advanced version of the app, you will also find the "Shopify one-to-one" template. You can create dynamic and customised communications, with all the information relating to the product catalogue and the behaviour of each contact available in real time.
What can you do by configuring the Shopify connector? Let's take a look at a small practical example. You set up an automated flow serving the app and configure a node of type Abandoned checkout; the node initiates a session that sends an email to the contact with the Send Message node, using the one-to-one template with the list of products of his checkout and a discount customized according to his preferences, to capture the customer's attention and turn the checkout into an order.
New version for Facebook Connector
We have updated the connector to Facebook version 10.0.
- Stay up to date: to keep up with the latest Facebook updates, we've updated the platform integration API.
- Increase match rate for custom audiences: when creating a custom audience (custom audience segment), specify the list of contacts you'd like to add to your Facebook audience using a filter on the platform database. The resulting list of contacts from that filter is sent to Facebook, which matches certain fields and synchronizes the contacts it can find. Up to now, selecting this match required choosing between email address and mobile number. From now on, you no longer have to choose; you'll be able to match several fields at the same time, increasing the match rate and accuracy of your custom audience segments. In addition to these fields, you can also create custom audiences using a multi-match on the following additional contact fields: first name, last name, gender, country (the two letters of the international code) and postal code.
Updates to the Dynamics app
The Dynamics connector has been updated to release 11.0.
- Test send: when you import a campaign activity from Dynamics, the app creates a communication and a static audience to send to; if the number of contacts in the target audience is very large the synchronization can take a while. To make sure you send to a fully updated list of contacts, the app waits until synchronisation is complete before allowing you to start sending. Until this point, this check was done for all types of email sends. We’ve now excluded it for test sends. Moving forward, this allows you to create your communication, send tests and proceed with your changes while waiting for the synchronization to complete.
- Target: we've optimized the loading time of target audiences for campaign activities that have already been imported, speeding up the updating process in the event of minor changes (a few contacts added or removed).
- Virtual entities: we now also support the importing of virtual entities. A virtual entity is a custom Dynamics entity with fields containing data that comes from an external data source. When managing related entities and selecting which mode to use to perform the synchronization query, you can now select "Simple mode", this way the entity will be connected even when it is virtual. This synchronization mode does not apply any filters and always downloads all data.
- Lookup fields: the new version of the connector supports multireference lookup fields (linked to multiple entity types), and maps each referenced entity to a separate field on the platform. This will allow you to synchronize fields of customer type (e.g. "Company") and owner type.
For example, if you want to import a contact into the platform whose field on Dynamics is "Company", 2 new options are available:- "Company Name (Contact).Full Name (String)": this will be populated for contacts that have "Company" containing a Contact entity.
- "Company Name (Account).Account Name (String)": this will be populated for contacts that have "Company" containing an Account entity.
Developer
- New options smsencoding, enablelelongsms, maxsmsparts, enablesmslinkstracking added to createNewsletter.
- New options smsencoding added to sendSmsMessage and to batchSendSmsMessage.
- getNewsletterDetails now also returns values for smsencoding, enablelongsms, maxsmsparts, enablesmslinkstracking.