Having an easy way for subscribers to manage their subscription preferences is a great tactic for more effective email marketing and communications. Integrated Preference Management (IPM) for iMIS is another way for subscribers to indicate what they would like to receive from your organization. After you've set up iMIS on your side, contact Higher Logic to activate the iMIS extension in Informz.

After creating user-defined tables and fields in iMIS (known as "interests"), you work in Informz and add the interests (now they are "Remote Interests") as checkboxes to a Landing Page form. Then you create an Informz mailing and include a link to the Landing Page form. When subscribers click the link, they're taken to your web-based Landing Page form; they complete and submit the form. The results are recorded in Informz and — through your integration — are passed to iMIS.

Caveats

The data that are represented by these checkboxes are subscriber preferences and are the only field types that update bi-directionally between iMIS and Informz. Due to their nature, other fields (such as first name, organization name) must be updated in iMIS to ensure data integrity. You must also ensure that user-defined table contains records for all iMIS IDs; if not, the checkboxes cannot be updated. iMIS will not create the records; it will only update them.

WARNING: If a mailing with a link to a Landing Page form is forwarded and the receiver clicks the link and completes the form, that subscriber's responses will overwrite the original subscriber’s preferences.

Summary Features

• The syncing of interests happens automatically behind the scenes. A login to either iMIS or Informz is not required.
• Checkboxes, which sync between iMIS and Informz, are created in iMIS user-defined tables.
• Informz admins decide which iMIS user-defined checkbox fields appear in Informz.
• Checkboxes can be presented on an Informz form.
• Checked fields ultimately become interest-based target groups once in Informz.

Setting Up iMIS

IPM requires user-defined tables in iMIS with any number of user-defined checkbox fields. Each checkbox can be presented on an Informz form for subscriber use. Once created, these iMIS user-defined checkboxes are identified as iMIS Remote Interests in Informz. This happens as part of the normal sync process between Informz and iMIS. Informz displays the table name and field name of each checkbox.

Make sure that any user-defined table has the appropriate permissions assigned in iMIS to ensure that the integration user account can access the data.

iMIS User-Defined Tables

Create an iMIS User-Defined Table

To create a user-defined table with user-defined fields in iMIS, click Customers at the top of the screen.

1. Click Set up Module to expand the menu and click General.
2. Click Additional Windows.
3. Click Define Tables.
4. Click New.
5. Enter a name for the table and click Confirm to create.
6. Click the System dropdown list and select Membership.
7. Select ID as the Access Method.
8. Click Insert Line to add fields to the table. If necessary, click Delete Line to remove fields.
9. Enter a name for each field.
10. Select Checkbox as the field type. (Remember, only checkbox user-defined tables will appear in Informz.)
11. Uncheck the Multiple Instances Allowed checkbox.
12. Check the checkbox for Always Create; this will ensure that new records created in iMIS will also be created in this table.
13. Click Save and confirm.
14. Click Auto-Create Window to create a tab in the customer profile.

Once this has been created, it cannot be modified. If changes are necessary, delete the corresponding window and then recreate it.

Populate the User-Defined Table

Once a user-defined table is created, your iMIS administrator must do an initial data load to insert a row for each member record in iMIS. Generally, the SQL to do this is (where ud_tablename is the name of the table you have just created):

insert into ud_tablename (ID) select ID from Name

Edit Fields in a User-Defined Table

1. Click Customers at the top of the screen.
2. Click Set up Module to expand the menu, and then click General.
3. Click Additional Windows.
4. Click Define Tables.
5. Enter the name of the table you want to edit in the Table Name field and press Enter.
6. Make your edits to the field names.
7. Click Save.

Remember to retain the checkbox field and to delete/recreate the corresponding window.

Add a Tab to a Customer Profile

A tab in an iMIS user-defined table can provide greater data visibility. Note that a tab for a user-defined table can be created only if the table has a corresponding window in iMIS.

1. Click Customers at the top of the screen.
2. Click Manage Customers.
3. Right-click in the Profile tab and select Edit Tab Preferences from the pop-up.
4. Select a user-defined table from the Other Available Detail Tabs list and click the left arrow to move the table to the Visible Detail tabs list.
5. Click Save.
6. Restart iMIS for the changes to take effect.

View a Customer Record to see the Updated User-Defined Field Status

To see changes for user-defined fields in your iMIS customer profile, the customer must be listed in your user-defined table.

To view a customer record:

1. Click Customers at the top of the screen.
2. Click Find and enter the subscriber's iMIS ID.
3. Click the Customer Profile tab to see any updates to the user-defined fields.

• True - The iMIS Remote Interest on the Informz Landing Page is checked.
• False - The iMIS Remote Interest on the Informz Landing Page is not checked.

Informz will update the status of the user-defined field for any change that occurred using an iMIS Remote Interest checkbox.

View a Customer Record to see User-Defined Activities

After everything is configured in Informz and iMIS, the history of the iMIS remote interests is visible in iMIS.

To view a customer record:

1. Click Customers at the top of the screen.
2. Click Find and enter the subscriber's iMIS ID.
3. Click Activities-All to view any iOptout activity.

Informz will update the Date, Type, and Product Code for any change that occurred from a Landing Page.

Configure IPM for iMIS in Communications Professional

Because there are many potential interests available in iMIS, the Communications Professional admin selects these interests appropriate for use in Communications Professional.

Navigate to Subscribers > Profile Fields > iMIS Remote Interests > Manage iMIS Remote Interests to select interests for use in Communications Professional.

Communications Professional Landing Pages

With iMIS fully configured, your subscribers now have an easy way to indicate their preferences using a Landing Page that you design, create, and make available to them. Incorporate this data into your targeting for precise preference management. Learn more about Landing Pages and iMIS.