Q: I want to trigger a welcome email for people who opt-in on my website, and I also want to email that subscriber X number of days afterwards. What’s the easiest way to do it?

A: Triggering a welcome message and then a follow-up message is a great way to use triggered emails, and it’s easy to do with ExactTarget.

With ExactTarget Triggered Sends and Marketing Programs functionality, it’s very simply to set it up.

The first step is to set up a “triggered send definition” and select the list you want to add your new subscribers to and which email you want to send them.  When the subscriber signs up on your website, simply pass over an API call to that triggered send definition, and the subscriber will be added to the list and the email sent.

Now for the second step – the follow up email.  When passing over the subscriber information, I’d recommend you also pass a date attribute, such as “sign-up date'.”  This date can be used to set up a “relative date” based group.  The group will look for subscribers who fit the particular date range you query from the list, and with ExactTarget the query can be set up as a program that will automatically refresh each day (or week, month, etc. – whatever time you define.)  After you start the program, you can “set it an forget it,” as the group will refresh and send the email automatically.

This process can be repeated with several groups for several dates if needed, which creates an easy way to trigger relevant email sends.  If you’re using any of these features in a unique way (or want to learn more about them), let me know!

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

When speaking with ExactTarget clients about integration, it’s rare that we discuss email design best practices.  Typically, our focus is on how, why, when, and where to integrate ExactTarget with other business processes.  In general, I leave the email design questions to our talented Design and Strategy teams! 

However, there is one situation I’ve encountered where email design enters the integration conversation: the question, “What has to be done for me to change the email that is being sent out via an automated process?” 

In the past, there were two solutions for this situation.  The first was to stop the existing automated process, which had to be completed by a developer.  Then, the marketer could modify the existing email and work with the developer to start the process up again.  This was cumbersome for most companies, because developer resources are typically scarce and it takes too long to coordinate the effort. 

The second option was to create a new email (producing a new unique email ID) which was then provided to the developer to update the automated process code.  This second solution was usually the path clients took in order to get the switch scheduled at the correct time.  While the solution worked, it was certainly not ideal – especially to the marketers, whose changes are typically time-sensitive.

ExactTarget listened to the pain this situation caused and solved it with our triggered email interactions.  Triggered emails are typically the emails that are automated and they’re usually the emails that change frequently.  To address this issue, we give creative and automation change control to the marketer. 

After the initial API call is written and in production, the developer has completed his/her part of the process.  With triggered send interactions, the marketer has the ability to pause, modify, and restart their automated email sends – all within the ExactTarget user interface.   Here’s the beauty of the solution that developers will appreciate: while the email is paused and being modified, the API calls are queued up so no email sends are lost. When the definition is started again, the queued API calls are processed and sent using the new email creative, and any incoming API calls also send the updated email. 

In other words, this entire modification / redesign process can be completed without any development resources. This allows marketers to focus on email design and not have to worry about coordinating time with a developer in the process.  As you can imagine, this solution makes marketers and developers extremely happy!

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

Having multiple databases for subscriber information can be cumbersome when attempting to keep all your data up-to-date. Keeping lists clean and current is a common reason clients use the ExactTarget API.  Our API lets you update individual subscribers on a particular list, or you can update an entire list by using the API to kick off an import.

If it is a small set of subscribers that are being updated, the “single subscriber adds” or “subscriber edit calls” would suit you. This would allow you to update subscriber attribute values or even update subscriber’s status to unsubscribe. 

If you have a larger set of subscribers (as many of you do!) using a batch import would be the best option.  You can FTP the .csv or .txt file to the ExactTarget FTP location, and then use an API call to tell ExactTarget to import that file name into a particular list id.  You can also indicate the import type just as you can through the user interface: add and update new and existing subscribers, add only new subscribers, or update only existing subscribers.

Alternately, you can use the ExactTarget API to pull subscriber lists back in an XML format.  When pulling back a list of subscriber, the API lets you return all subscribers on that list, or to filter based on status.  For example, you can pull subscribers in an Unsubscribed, Undeliverable, Held, or Unsubscribed status, which is helpful if you have a different (or multiple) subscriber databases.  Pulling your subscriber lists out of our application means you can take advantage of ExactTarget’s powerful subscriber management tool and propagate that data across all databases for email marketing.  By automating these pushes and pulls to run daily (or weekly depending on email frequency) it will reduce the time needed to manually update your subscriber lists and help you stay Can-SPAM compliant.

No matter where your data is, the ExactTarget API can help you build, maintain and clean your subscriber lists.  And at the end of the day, that means you’re well on your way to building a better list.

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

When integrating email marketing with other applications, the first step towards success is to make a plan.  I advise clients to use the old journalism “5 Ws and an H” as your guide: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who is going to code / program the integration?  Usually, this resource is an internal developer; but due to time and budget constraints, sometimes this work is contracted out to make a deadline.  Regardless, the “who” decision needs to be made first so the proper developer can be included in the planning process and provide developer-specific details or suggestions if needed.
 
What are your needs for the integration? Is it to automatically send emails based on an action, or is it to pull back tracking from your email application to your database of record or CRM system?  With an open API like ExactTarget’s, there are so many options of how and what to integrate.  Getting a clear sense of everything you want to accomplish from the beginning will help your organization determine whether all of the initiatives should be put into one integration project, broken up into smaller projects in order to keep a timeline, etc.
 
When does the integration need to be deployed?  It is essential to have (and communicate!) a release date so everyone working on the project knows what the schedule is.  Keep in mind that for successful integration, you should build in time to develop and time to test, and make sure to take both into consideration when developing your schedule.  Also, it is good idea to find out what other projects people have on their plate.  While you may want to have an integration running by the end of the month, the developers and / or testers may not be able to keep to that timeline due to other deadlines.

Where will the integration be hosted?  Integrations are typically hosted on a server your company owns, but it needs to be decided if the proper resources (hard drive space) have been allocated to run the project.
 
Why are you integrating? This is similar to the what are your needs, but it goes a little beyond that.  Think big picture: once the integration is setup, how will you utilize it in your business process?  I’ve had experiences where companies want to integrate email with other applications, but do not understand why the integration is important to their business.  What are the ultimate goals you are hoping to accomplish?  Establishing the “why” will help you secure internal buy-in on the investment and measure whether or not the integration is successful in the future.

And don’t forget the “H”…
 
How will the integration be implemented?  In addition to the decision of who will actually implement the integration, you should also determine what the contingencies and risk factors for implementation are as well.  For example, what are you going to do if something doesn’t go as planned?  Identifying and planning for the unexpected factors from the beginning will help ensure your integration gets up and running smoothly.
 
Quite essentially, solid planning is key before starting any integration project.  So remember your 5 Ws + 1 H, and contact ExactTarget for more information.

Jessica Koch, Integration Consultant

2007 was a big year for the ExactTarget integration team.  I’m thrilled with the progress and advancements we made with our APIs, so I thought it was only fitting as the year winds down to reflect on some of my favorite integration moments from the past year…

• ExactTarget released our Web Services API on a limited basis this year, which is in addition to our industry-leading REST API.  The Web Services API allows our clients to use SOAP-based API to code their integration calls – exciting stuff!
• We’re currently building an extensive library of calls and increasing the functionality of the Web Services API, which should be generally available in 2008.
• Additionally, we revamped the architecture the REST API runs on to improve performance and stability.
• This fall, ExactTarget released a GUI for content syndication (a.k.a. HTTPGet), which makes the functionality easier to use.  Our Fall 2007 Release also included data extensions for a multi-table structure for subscriber data and the new AMPScript functionality to create dynamic emails based on data extensions.
• The exciting thing about all these new features is that ExactTarget is exposing more of our integration functionality through the UI, rather than just the API.  As we continue to expose this type of functionality in the UI, it means our less-technical user base will be able to use our integration functionality…without having a programmer!
• The new ExactTarget Programs functionality is the beginning of an ongoing effort to automate common activities within ExactTarget (such as important, group refreshes, email sends, etc.)  While this game-changing functionality is currently in limited release, 2008 should offer these exciting capabilities to our entire client base.

Oh, and who can forget raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens?  Just kidding, of course – but in all seriousness, I couldn’t be more proud about the integration strides we made in 2007.  I hope you’re just as excited as I am to see what advancements will happen in 2008!

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

Question: What is the best way to test my integrations?

Answer: When developing integrations between two systems, testing is simply essential.  Thorough testing is needed to verify that the two systems you want to talk to each other can actually talk, and it’s also needed to verify the XML return after a call completes. 

The best way to test the Rest API is to use ExactTarget’s API call wizard in the developer community. As a client, access to this online community is complimentary for integrated customers (so if you haven’t done so before, make sure to sign up!).  Once granted access to the site, you can use the call wizard to help formulate your calls and see the return XML from each call.  You can also test the calls against your ExactTarget account to use your own account-specific data (i.e. attributes, test emails, and test email addresses).  Or, you can test against a shared sandbox with generic data. 

As a member of the developer community, you are also granted access to the sandbox environment.  This is an excellent resource to help with your integration testing.  I would suggest not only testing for successful scenarios, but testing for failure scenarios as well.  By testing for failure scenarios, proper error logging can be programmed so that if there are problems in the future, you’re aware of what the errors means.  This also help you develop a contingency plan on what your integration should do if there are failures.

At the end of the day, I hope each and every one of you test – after all, testing isn’t just for designers!  Testing your integrations to ensure maximum success can have a profound impact on your email marketing program.

Jessica Koch
Integration Consultant

You saw it here first. The email revolution will be triggered. ExactTarget's Fall Release will be the trigger that starts the next revolution in one-to-one marketing. The ability to build programs within your email marketing system that run by themselves. Are you kidding me? Relevant Relational Data driving content in a single email marketing solution. It get's better, we have added the ability to send voice mail and text messsaging.

In one release? ExactTarget will need to hire someone to consult with customers on how to re-think database marketing given ExactTarget's latest toolset. Wait a minute. That's my job. Sorry readers I have to get ready for the revolution. No time to chat. One-to-one marketing is limited only by your imagination. Power to the Marketer.

If They say it can't be done - They haven't seen ExactTarget's Fall Release.