The Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Enterprise (Thrive Marketing Enterprise) netFORUM integration uses the netFORUM xWeb API in conjunction with Thrive Marketing Enterprise's API.
- This integration is compatible with all Higher Logic-supported browsers.
- This integration is compatible with netFORUM Enterprise, versions 2010 and higher.
- This guide is applicable to netFORUM 2010 and higher, and only for V2 of the Thrive Marketing Enterprise integration.
NOTE: As of 2019, this integration with netFORUM no longer allows for single sign-on to Thrive Marketing Enterprise. Users must log in directly to https://www.magnetmail.net.
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Who should read this guide?
This guide is for Thrive Marketing Enterprise users responsible for determining messaging and contact management guidelines. It assumes that you are familiar with:
- Using Thrive Marketing Enterprise
- Managing users in netFORUM
- Managing data in netFORUM
Additional information
The following articles provide important information about your Thrive Marketing Enterprise integration.
- See Unique Identifiers: Email Address and Custom ID to learn about these unique IDs and their differences.
- See Integration Access Levels & Permissions to learn about the access levels for integration features, and how you can set the access levels for your Admins.
Failure notifications
Thrive Marketing Enterprise can automatically generate a failure report if an upload job fails and automatically send an email alert to one or more individuals. The report includes:
- the name of the file that was used,
- the group name that the file was mapped to, and
- any identifiable error message.
TIP: This is a simple way to ensure that you are alerted to upload failures and can easily explore the details of the failure.
To enable the failure report and notifications:
- Log in to Thrive Marketing Enterprise.
- Navigate to Settings > Integrations > Integration Settings.
- In the Failure Report section:
- Set Enabled to Yes.
- Click into the Run Time field and choose a time.
- Specify the email address of the person to be notified; separate multiple email addresses with commas.
- Click Save and then click Close.
Track and report on user activity
You can configure Thrive Marketing Enterprise to track and report on your users' activities (e.g., email opens, unsubscribes, event registrations, and website visits), and have the results data written to your integrated AMS/CRM database.
The tracking and reporting do not automatically happen. An Admin must select which activities to track and then schedule a synchronization with your AMS/CRM database to write the tracking results to it.
Configure tracking and scheduling
Tracking and the sync schedule are configured on the same page.
- Log in to Thrive Marketing Enterprise.
- Navigate to Settings > Integrations > [integration] Management.
(The name of your AMS/CRM will display instead of "integration.") - Click the Manage Tracking tab.
Choose activities to track
NOTE: The Full Access permission for Tracking is required to be able to enable tracking. Thrive Marketing Enterprise recommends that you limit the number of Admins granted this permission. See Integration Access Levels & Permissions to learn how to set this permission.
In the Track the Following box:
- Check the boxes for the activities that you want tracked.
Check All Bounces to select all of its sub-options; uncheck it to deselect all sub-options. - RESULTS: The Tracking History box displays daily historical results. Use the dropdown to specify how many records to display.
Schedule the sync
In the Schedule section:
- Configure the time you would like the tracking results written to your integration database.
- RESULTS: Information about the last sync displays in the lower right.
Notes
- Higher Logic recommends that the sync be set for off-peak hours to better ensure uninterrupted data transmission.
- If there were issues with the previous day's sync, this page provides detailed error descriptions for un-synced activities.
- Be sure to click Go to save your settings.
Replace Thrive Marketing Enterprise records
At times there may be a reason for replacing a list of recipients in a given group; this is particularly true when it comes to updated membership lists or when your unsubscribe setting is unsubscribe to specified group:
Thrive Marketing Enterprise provides two options when uploading a list:
- Adding recipients - If add to existing list is selected, Thrive Marketing Enterprise will only add the records to the group with the records from the upload. Individual records will not be updated or overwritten.
- Replacing recipients - If Replace existing list is selected, Thrive Marketing Enterprise will replace the records in the group with the records from the upload. The records being removed are not deleted, only removed from the group (they remain in the database), and there is no impact on the historical data.
NOTE: The replace method can be made the default. To do so, submit a request to your Implementation Project Manager or to the Customer Support Team.
If Replace is selected (Thrive Marketing Enterprise's default setting to overwrite existing data), based on the unique identifier will overwrite the corresponding data that exists in Thrive Marketing Enterprise. This can be particularly useful in instances where there is one database of record that is in the process of being constantly updated.
NOTE: Add to Group will not update individual records in Thrive Marketing Enterprise.
Upload a netFORUM Query to Thrive Marketing Enterprise
All individual and organizational queries that are transferred from netFORUM to Thrive Marketing Enterprise are referred to as an upload job. Upload jobs that are allowed via the integration are:
- Individual Queries
- Cannot have run time parameters
- Must contain IND_CST_KEY (Primary Key)
- Organization Queries
- Cannot have run time parameters
- Must contain ORG_CST_KEY (Primary Key)
- Mailing Lists
Create Mailing Lists in netFORUM
A Mailing List is a list of names and addresses kept by an organization for the purpose of sending correspondence. Clients can keep track of mailing lists in the Marketing module by assigning the mailing list a name, mailing list type code, and mailing list description.
Ultimately, marketing teams must decide what types of mailing lists an organization will use and define them in Marketing Setup. Examples of categories include a mailing list for: administrative purposes, vendors, press, or advertisers. These categories are in turn queried against to create targeted Individual or Organization queries and marketing lists. Creating a mailing list now will assist with sending recipients to Thrive Marketing Enterprise later, via the Communicate button.
To add mailing lists proceed to the Marketing module:
- Click mailing lists.
- Click add mailing list.
- Enter a name.
- Select a type.
- Click Save.
NOTE: Learn more about Mailing Lists.
Scheduled Upload
The Real Magnet Upload Scheduler (RMUS) is a feature of the integration that facilitates automated uploads to Thrive Marketing Enterprise. RMUS is useful if there are any Saved Searches that you send to on a regular basis.
The following upload job types are available with the RMUS.
- Run Now - This upload job will run once. Once completed, edits or changes cannot be made to this upload job.
- On Demand - This upload job will only run when the green play icon is clicked or using the Sync on Send functionality. This will deploy the upload job when a message is scheduled to send to the group attached to the upload job.
- Scheduled - This upload job will run on a scheduled basis, either daily or weekly, and can be manually run by clicking the green play button. When selecting a group connected to an active Marketing Automation campaign, this option can also upload groups on an hourly basis.
The RMUS can be accessed by logging into Thrive Marketing Enterprise and selecting Settings. The details below cover all aspects of the RMUS.
Icons legend
The following table describes the icons in the Actions column.
| Icon | Description |
|---|---|
| Delete this upload job. | |
| Edit this upload job. (On Demand and Scheduled jobs only.) | |
| Run this upload job. (On Demand and Scheduled jobs only.) | |
| Open the "reject report" dialog which has an option to download the list of rejected records in a text file. |
Upload Jobs tab
The Upload Jobs tab lists the upload jobs that have been created in your Thrive Marketing Enterprise account.
- Query Name - The name of the query in netFORUM.
- Date Created - The date the upload job was created.
- Job Type - Whether the job is Run Now, On Demand, or Scheduled.
- Frequency - The frequency of the scheduled job, for Run Now and On Demand this will remain blank.
- Scheduled time - The times the job has either completed or is scheduled to run next.
- Start Time (HH:MM) – The time the upload job is scheduled to start.
- Last Run (MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM) – The time the upload job was last executed and completed.
- Next Run (MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM) – The next scheduled time it is set to run.
- Group Results - The group in Thrive Marketing Enterprise the query was uploaded to and the results of the last upload, that includes the total number in the group and the number added. Any error that may occur on upload will surface here.
- Actions - The allowed actions a user can make to the upload job.
Create an upload job
To create an upload job:
- Navigate to Settings > Integrations > netFORUM Management.
- Click Create Upload Job.
- Select a query.
- Click Create Map.
- Select View Entire Field List or One by One.
- Select which columns you would like to bring over to Thrive Marketing Enterprise. These are a one-to-one relationship when mapping fields. This means that you can only map the fields on the left side of the screen with one item on the Thrive Marketing Enterprise side once.
- Click Create Schedule.
- Select either Create New Group or Add to Existing Group.
- Select either Add to existing group or Replace existing list.
- Depending on account settings the third upload step may reveal the option whether or not to update. Select Do not Update Existing Records (Only Add Records To Group) or Update Existing Records.
- Click Create.
- Select a frequency: Run Now, On Demand, or Scheduled.
- Click Submit.
Character limits
Fields in Thrive Marketing Enterprise have the following character maximums. Make sure these are not exceeded when you are uploading records to Thrive Marketing Enterprise.
| Field Type | Character Limit |
|---|---|
| Email, Address 1, Address 2, all Custom Fields | 100 |
| First Name, Last Name, Phone, Fax, City, State, Zip Code | 50 |
| Company | 200 |
| Enhanced Personalization Fields | 250 |
See Custom Fields and Enhanced Personalization Fields to learn about these personalization features.
Manually upload individual or organization Queries to Thrive Marketing Enterprise
You may have users who want to upload .CSV files into the system, independent of the integration. When uploading a list within Thrive Marketing Enterprise, independent of the RMUS in order for tracking information to report back to netFORUM, you must include the CST_KEY and email address. Upon upload, the user must map the CST_KEY column to the Custom Member ID field in Thrive Marketing Enterprise.
Thrive Marketing Enterprise data in netFORUM
Thrive Marketing Enterprise tracking details
The Thrive Marketing Enterprise tracking data is displayed on the netFORUM Individual Profile page, under the Correspondence tab. This tracking information will update once a day, and is a one-way stream of information from Thrive Marketing Enterprise to netFORUM.
The tab contains two child forms related to the netFORUM integration:
- E-mail optout - Tracks the mailing types recipients have been added to or removed as a result of their unsubscribe or subscribe action. This is covered in additional detail in Managing Preferences and Suppressions.
- Message Activity - Shows all of the details on how recipients engaged with your email. It includes the message name, sent date, open, links clicked, and bounces. It also shows a date for opens and click-throughs. In the example below, you can see the mdockery@abila.com has both click-throughs and bounces.
By selecting the icon under messaging activity, you can get more details, including:
- Thrive Marketing Enterprise Recipient ID
- Activity Code
- Activity subcode
- Message Name
- Message Category
- Email Address
- Activity Date and Timestamp
- Group Category
- Group Name
- Link URL
- Link Label
Thrive Marketing Enterprise unsubscribe information
Customers using promotional mailing types can push unsubscribe data to netFORUM as not only an activity record but it can also update a recipient’s mailing type in netFORUM. Just like tracking, this is a one-way stream of information from Thrive Marketing Enterprise to netFORUM. A breakdown of this relationship can be found on Manage Subscription Preferences with netFORUM page.
To associate a group, group category or message category with a netFORUM promotional mailing types, you’ll first need to meet the following requirements:
- Your unsubscribe type must be by Group Category or Message Category.
- The functionality must be enabled for your integration.
Associating Groups or Categories with promotional mailing types
To create the one-way link between Thrive Marketing Enterprise and netFORUM:
- Navigate to Settings > Integrations > netFORUM Management.
- Click Manage Unsubscribes.
- Select which group or category in Thrive Marketing Enterprise that corresponds to the promotional mailing type in netFORUM.
- Click Submit.
When a recipient selects the one-click unsubscribe option, this information will write back overnight to the co_messaging_activity table in netFORUM AND to the corresponding mailing type under the email opt-out tab under Correspondence.
NOTE: Learn about Promotional Mailing Lists.
View Marketing Automation information in netFORUM
When Thrive Marketing Enterprise and netFORUM are integrated, a few additional items will be visible in netFORUM.
Additional Activity Codes, including:
- Landing Pages Submitted
- Website Visits
- Goal Reached
- Thrive Marketing Enterprise Individual Marketing Automation Profile *
- Thrive Marketing Enterprise Marketing Automation Campaigns Overview *
- Creating records in netFORUM via Thrive Marketing Enterprise Landing Pages *
NOTE: The items above with an asterisk (*) are available only with the benel component installed.
Thrive Marketing Enterprise individual Marketing Automation Profile
NOTE: Available only with the benel component installed.
The tracking result of a marketing automation campaign reports back to netFORUM, under the individual record. This data is natively stored in Thrive Marketing Enterprise and will not impact your performance; it is also updated to the minute. Once on the individual page:
- Click the Action Items menu.
- Select RM Marketing Automation Profile.
- Once selected, it will display that recipients current campaign details.
Thrive Marketing Enterprise Marketing Automation Campaigns overview
NOTE: Available only with the benel component installed.
The tracking result of all marketing automation campaigns also reports back to netFORUM, under the Marketing module. This data is natively stored in Thrive Marketing Enterprise and will not impact your performance; it is also updated to the minute.
- Click Modules.
- Select Marketing (or e-marketing in versions prior to 2013).
- In the left navigation, click Real Magnet.
- Click Campaign Dashboard.
This will provide an overview of your campaigns in Thrive Marketing Enterprise; selecting them will display the tracking details for each campaign.
Create records in netFORUM via Thrive Marketing Enterprise Landing Pages
NOTE: Available only with the benel component installed.
When creating a landing page campaign in Thrive Marketing Enterprise, there is an option to create records in netFORUM: Create new records for the campaign in netFORUM.
Required fields
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email Address
Once the record is created, they are created with the Ind_Type of non-member or prospect, and their mailing address will reflect your netFORUM Client Address.
Frequently asked questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Why can’t I see my query in the Create Upload section? | Is it an Individual or Organization query without an ask at run time parameter? If either of the query types have Ask at Run Time checked for the query in netFORUM, it will not display in the list of available queries. |
| Why aren’t records being added to netFORUM? | Did you check whether the Landing Page was enabled to create records? |
| Why can’t I see the Marketing Automation Frames? | Are you using Internet Explorer? Did you add magnetmail.net to Trusted Sites? |
| What is the Thrive Marketing Enterprise child form under my individual record? | This tab is a remnant of an older integration process. Since then, Thrive Marketing Enterprise and Abila have modified the integration process to update the records under Correspondence. |
| Why are there multiple opens in my recipient’s activity history? | Thrive Marketing Enterprise reports back gross opens. This means that each time a recipient opens the message, this record is scored and tracked. |
| Why is there no tracking data updating to my netFORUM? |
Did you select tracking data? Log in to Thrive Marketing Enterprise and walk through the below:
|
| Why is this individual record missing tracking information? | Ensure that individual is assigned a Primary Key or CST_KEY, this is a 36-digit key in netFORUM. If the individual was uploaded outside of the Real Magnet Scheduler you must ensure that it also has its Primary Key or CST_KEY mapped to the Custom Member ID. This is how the netFORUM platform identifies that individual in its database. If an individual is missing this information, no tracking information will push back for that recipient to netFORUM. |
| Why am I getting the message: “This upload job has one or more groups to which you do not have access.”? | Do you have access to the group? If your account is Enterprise, ensure that you have access to the group the Upload Job is connected to, or ensure that the group has not been archived. |
| When I attempt to upload from within netFORUM I receive the error: “The number of columns in your list is greater than the number of fields you have set up in MagnetMail. Please define more custom fields or edit your list to remove some unnecessary columns. ” | The upload tool will require that all fields in the query be matched to a Thrive Marketing Enterprise field. Either remove some of the columns from your query or create new fields in Thrive Marketing Enterprise. |
| The Integration Failure notification gave me the following error “Field “Primaryname” not found in query “All Members” results. The error is related to a field is missing from the query – this can happen if someone manually removes a field or they alter the field itself. | There are two solutions: 1. Return the fields to the queries in netFORUM. 2. Remap the upload job. If a new field was created or added to the query you can Select Settings > Integrations > netFORUM Management > Edit the Upload Job > Map a new field to the Real Magnet email Field > Select Create Schedule > Select Submit. If the query is no longer needed, you can then delete the upload job. If you would require assistance on how to add query fields to a query, the Abila Wiki or Abila support can walk you through those steps. |
| Will the integration upload Private Queries? | Yes. The netFORUM integration will display all queries that are from the Individual module and do not have an Ask at Run Time parameter. This includes Private Queries. |
| What happens if the tracking data portion is canceled mid-stream? | Thrive Marketing Enterprise logs the failure and re-attempts to send the data to netFORUM. |
| What happens if I am using Internet Explorer? | Due to Internet Explorer’s security configurations, we recommend: 1. Add magnetmail.net to Trusted Sites. 2. Use Compatibility Mode. |