If you're new to Communications Enterprise, the best place to start is our Marketing Automation Overview video.

In addition, the section below provides answers to questions frequently asked by those new to Communications Enterprise.

NOTE: This article references "Real Magnet" -- a previous name of the Higher Logic Communications Enterprise product.

How do I enroll contacts in a campaign?

You can add contacts to a campaign in a variety of ways:

When a Contact is in a group(s)

Select one or more groups. When the campaign is deployed ALL contacts in the selected group(s) will be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts in a group WHEN the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who are added to a group AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact is sent a message(s)

Select one or more messages. When a contact is sent the selected message(s) they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

This is a good option if you don't want to be limited by a group. For example, you send the message “My Webinar Promotion” to various groups at different times. Every contact who receives this message will automatically be added to the campaign and will start receiving the automated campaign messages.

NOTE: You may find this option particular useful if your Communications Enterprise account is configured to use the Unsubscribe from Message Category option.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who were sent a message BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who are sent a message AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact is sent ANY message within a Message Category

NOTE: This option is only available if your account has Message Category as the unsubscribe setting.

Select one or more message categories. When a contact is sent ANY message from the selected category(ies) they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who were sent any message within a category BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who are sent any message within a category AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact opens a message

Select one or more messages. When a contact opens ANY of the selected message(s) they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who opened a message BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who open a message AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact opens ANY message within a Category

Select one or more message categories. When a contact opens ANY message from the selected category(ies) they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who opened any message within a category BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who open any message within a category AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact clicks a Link Label

Select one or more Link Labels. When a contact clicks ANY of these Link Labels they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who clicked a link label BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who click a link label AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

Want to learn more?

See Link Labels to learn how to create and assign Link Labels.

When a Contact is tagged

Select one or more Tags. When a contact receives ANY of these Tags they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who received a tag BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who receive a tag AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

More info

A Tag is an attribute that is assigned from a Communications Enterprise campaign based on a certain set of conditions being met.

This is a good option when you want to add contacts to a campaign based on what they did in ANOTHER campaign. Remember, a contact completing one campaign can have them starting another one. The attribute (Tag) assigned to them is the trigger to add them to the other campaign.

For example you can create a Tag called “Prospect” and apply that tag to all contacts who click a certain link within a defined time frame. Then, you can use the Tag “Prospect” as the criteria for enrolling people to the campaign. This means that any contact who clicks the link is given the Tag “Prospect,” and that action automatically enrolls them in the campaign.

Want to learn more?

See Tags to learn how to create and assign Tags.

When a Contact submits a Landing Page

Select a Landing Page. When a contact submits this Landing Page they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who submitted a Landing Page BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who submit a Landing Page AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact submits an Event

NOTE: This option is only available if your account has the Event tool enabled.

Select one or more events. When a contact submits ANY of these events they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who submitted an event BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who submit an event AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

When a Contact submits a survey

NOTE: This option is only available if your account has the Survey tool enabled.

Select one or more surveys. When a contact submits ANY of these surveys they'll automatically be added to the campaign.

You can specify which contacts are added to the campaign:

• Only contacts who submitted a survey BEFORE the campaign starts,
• Only contacts who submit a survey AFTER the campaign starts,
• or BOTH.

Add Contacts from another campaign

With this option, you add contacts to your campaign based on their enrollment in another campaign. After selecting the campaign, you have the flexibility of filtering contacts in a number of ways.

See Enroll Recipients from Another Campaign to learn more.

Add Contacts from a saved search

On the Automation tab, click Reports / Search in the left sidebar. On the resulting page (contacts & Events tab), build your query/search with the desired condition(s), and then click Search. You’ll then see an option to save your search.

You can use any of these Saved Searches as the enrollment criteria for your campaigns. Keep in mind, though, that only contacts who meet the Saved Search's criteria WHEN the campaign starts will be added. The great thing about this is that Saved Searches act like a dynamic group of your contacts. For example, if 10 people meet the criteria today but 20 people do when the message is sent three days later, it'll be sent to all 20 people.

NOTE: Suppressed contacts will not be enrolled, meaning fewer contacts may be enrolled than are returned in the search.

Can I remove contacts from a campaign?

No. Once a contact is in a campaign, they are always in the campaign. This is intentional to ensure tracking data is accurate.

However, you can prevent contacts in the campaign from receiving messages by applying filters to the message(s).

NOTE: Refer to the How Do I Filter Out Campaign contacts from Receiving Specific Messages? section below for more information.

How do I filter out campaign contacts from receiving specific messages?

When you’re configuring the Send Action(s) for your campaign's message(s), you can use the Filter contacts menu to easily filter out contacts in two ways:

• You can filter out contacts who meet certain criteria, like belonging to a specific group, having a specific tag, etc.
• You can use advanced conditions to build your own query of contacts who should receive the message, filtering out everyone else.

Can I update a campaign after it's deployed?

Yes. For minor updates like adding a new message, updating a message before it's sent out, changing send date(s), etc., DON'T STOP the campaign. Instead, simply make the update(s), and on the campaign's Deploy page, click the Deploy button again to redeploy it. Do NOT stop a campaign for these types of minor updates because tracking of where each contact is in the campaign flow will be lost.

NOTE: Refer to the Can I Stop a Campaign After it's Deployed section below to learn about the ramifications involved with stopping a campaign.

Can I stop a campaign after it's deployed?

Yes. However, there are only two reasons you should ever stop a campaign:

1. The campaign is over.
2. Something is truly wrong (e.g., the campaign's message(s) are being sent to the wrong contact group, the campaign is sending the wrong message(s) altogether, etc.).

It's important to understand that when you STOP a campaign:

• All campaign-related activity is halted (no campaign messages will be sent out, no scores or tags will be applied, timelines are stopped, etc.).
• Tracking of where each contact is in the campaign flow is lost.

If your situation meets one of the two reasons listed above, you can stop your campaign by navigating to the Campaign Management page, selecting the campaign, and clicking Edit. Then, go to the deploy screen and click Stop Campaign.

In most situations, it's likely you can simply update your campaign instead of instead of stopping it. For changes like adding a new message, updating a message before it's sent out, changing send date(s), etc., just make the update(s), and on the campaign's Deploy page, click the Deploy button again to redeploy it.

NOTE: See Stop & Restart Campaigns for more detailed information about stopping campaigns.

Can I delete a campaign?

You cannot delete a “Running” campaign (a campaign that is deployed). You can only delete campaigns that are in the “Idle” state.

From the Campaign Management page, the state of each campaign is displayed in the Status column. To delete a campaign, simply select it and click Delete .

NOTE: We generally only recommend deleting test campaigns. Why? Because if you delete a campaign, all of its tracking information is lost and can’t be recovered.

What is a campaign goal?

A campaign Goal is the ultimate objective you want the contact to complete. This could be anything from signing up for a webinar, renewing a membership, making a donation, downloading a whitepaper, buying a product, etc. The Goal is also the indicator to Communications Enterprise that a contact has completed the campaign objective and to stop sending further campaign emails.

Want to learn more?

See Campaign Goals to learn how configure a Goal for a campaign.

What happens if a campaign's goal happens on a third-party site?

This can be a very common scenario.

Examples

• Send a series of emails promoting a webinar, where the webinar registration happens on a third-party site
• Send a series of emails promoting a publication or product that is sold on a third-party site
• Send a series of emails driving contacts to renew their membership/subscription, which happens on a third-party site

In each of these cases, Communications Enterprise needs to be notified as soon as possible that the contact reached the goal so the campaign can stop sending them additional emails. This is particularly important if you're using abandonment in your campaign.

To help with this, Communications Enterprise offers the Email Notification Code campaign trigger. Using this option, you configure a confirmation email that is sent by the third-party to be BCC'd (blind CC) to a Communications Enterprise email address.

How it works

1. Select the option Real Magnet receives Email with Notification Code. A code is displayed (e.g., ==RM:5678995656666==).
2. Insert this code anywhere inside the confirmation email that is generated by the third party.
3. Configure the third-party confirmation email to be BCC'd to confirmations@realmagnet.com.

Example - Webinar promotion

1. John Doe receives a campaign email about the webinar.
2. John Doe clicks the link in the email and goes to the third-party webinar registration page.
3. John Doe registers for the webinar.
4. John Doe is sent a confirmation email from the third-party site.
5. John Doe’s confirmation email is automatically BCC'd to confirmations@realmagnet.com.
6. Communications Enterprise receives the email, finds the confirmation code, and moves John Doe to having Reached the Goal.
7. John Doe will not receive additional campaign emails.

Additional info

An additional option is available for accounts that are integrated with a database that has information of the contact’s activity completing the goal: Use a group as the goal. In this scenario, the group will need to be:

1. Set up as a query in the database
2. and synced nightly as a group in your Communications Enterprise account.

How it works

1. Select the option When a contact is added to a group, and then select the group that is tied dynamically to the integration based on who completed this goal.
2. Talk to your IT department or integration admin to set up a query to pull all the contacts who have met this goal in your outside database/AMS where the information is stored.
3. Use that outside query with the integration to tie to a group in your Communications Enterprise account. You can find this under Tools > Integrations > Create Upload Job.
4. Once that upload job is created, the group is exposed under the Contacts tab and available to select as the campaign's Goal.
5. The group will update nightly at the specified time and anyone in the group will be counted as meeting the goal and not receive any additional campaign messages.

Example – Webinar promotion

1. John Doe receives a campaign email about the webinar.
2. John Doe clicks the link in the email and goes to the third-party webinar registration page.
3. John Doe registers for the webinar.
4. John Doe meets the criteria for the query created in the database/AMS and, after the nightly sync, is added to the Communications Enterprise group tied to this query.
5. Communications Enterprise recognizes that John Joe is in the group and moves him to having Reached the Goal.
6. John Doe will not receive additional campaign emails.

When selecting multiple assets as part of a campaign are the connectors “ands” or “ors”?

These are always “OR” — for example, if you have two groups as the criteria for campaign enrollment, it means add every one to the campaign that is in Group 1 OR in Group 2.

Does Communications Enterprise dedupe messages?

By default, messages sent through Communications Enterprise are NOT de-duped, meaning a contact can receive the message more than once. On each individual send action you have the option to enable deduping.

NOTE: If a message is sent via Communications Enterprise and then you send that same message to a group OUTSIDE of Communications Enterprise, the normal Real Magnet deduping process will take effect.

How does a contact achieve the goal of a renewal campaign?

Renewal campaigns are based on a date set in a custom date field. When that date field gets updated, the campaign member is automatically moved to the Goal stage (“In Good Standing”). This is why it's important to update Communications Enterprise with the most recent expiration date for each campaign member.

NOTE: To create a custom field, navigate to the Contacts tab. Then, expand Contact Tools in the left sidebar, and click Custom Fields.

Example

1. You create a custom field in Communications Enterprise called “Expiration Date” and check the box next to the field to indicate that it is a “ date field.”
2. You set up a daily upload of your contacts, including a field mapped to “Expiration Date.”
3. John Doe has an expiration date of 5/1/2015.
4. You set your renewal campaign to send two campaign messages, the first 90 before expiration and the second 30 days before expiration.
5. Exactly 90 days before 5/1/2015, John Does receives the first renewal email.
6. Ten days after receiving the email, he clicks the link and renews his membership.
7. On the next daily upload, John Doe’s expiration date is updated from 5/1/2015 to 5/1/2016.
8. The campaign detects that John Doe’s expiration date has been updated and moves John Doe to the “In Good Standing” stage. John Doe will NOT receive the second renewal notice.

What's the difference between “Rolling” and “Fixed Date” Call to Action campaigns?

Call to Action campaigns are among the most common and flexible campaign types. In a Call to Action campaign, you send a series of emails to prompt campaign members to take an action (download a document, register for an event, make a purchase, etc.).

To help you determine which type to choose, refer to the diagram and explanation below:

When selecting a Call To Action campaign, you’ll need to determine if you want your campaign to be Rolling or Fixed Send Date (i.e., date-based). The main difference between a rolling and date-based campaign is where new contacts enter into the campaign timeline. In a Rolling campaign, it doesn’t matter when Mitch enters the campaign: He will always start off with the first message in the campaign series.

The Date-Based campaign starts off the same way: Everyone at the start of the campaign will be sent the first message and subsequent messages. However, when a new contact joins, they will only get messages in the series that have NOT yet been sent out, and you will NOT be able to reconfigure messages which have already been sent, such as selecting a new message or setting a new send time. You can, of course, change messages which have not yet been sent out–remember to redeploy the campaign to put your changes into effect!

Take a look at the Date-Based campaign for Mariana. She is added to the campaign the month after the first message was sent out. For her, the marketing campaign will begin with the second message in the campaign series.

Which method is right for me?

This depends primarily on the type of Call To Action being sent out:

• A Rolling campaign is great for ongoing initiatives that don't have a hard deadline. These would include campaigns for new member acquisition, downloading of whitepapers, satisfaction surveys, etc. To have the campaign end, you must specify an end date for the campaign or manually end the campaign at a later date.
• A Date-Based campaign implies a fixed expiration date for the entire campaign. At some point, no new contacts will be sent a message as the date of the last message will have passed. This makes Date-Based campaigns great for time sensitive offers, like promotions, sales, and events.

What is Abandonment?

Abandonment is defined as a contact clicking the Call to Action link but NOT completing the goal within a specific time frame. This simply means that the contact has taken a different fork (turn) in your campaign road.

For example, let's say your Call to Action is a webinar registration. The contact receives the email and clicks the link to register but does NOT register within five hours. The contact is considered “abandoned,” and will start receiving a different set of messages than those who clicked the link and completed their registration.

How to set up an Abandonment branch

To set up a separate abandonment branch, configure the following:

1. Select which messages you want to apply the abandonment rule to. For each message, you need to select which link(s) will trigger the abandonment process. It is very important that this be set for each message. You want to make sure that contacts who HAVE reached the goal do not get confused with those who have not. Otherwise, there is the risk that they will receive two sets of messages.
2. Define the amount of time to wait to consider the contact abandoned. This is the amount of time between when they click the link and do NOT complete the goal.
3. Set up a series of messages to send with the appropriate Wait Time interval.

What is the campaign End Stage?

The campaign End Stage is used in all Call to Action-related campaigns. After a campaign member receives ALL of the campaign's messages and still has NOT reached the goal, they are moved to the End Stage.

NOTE: Any time a campaign member completes the Call to Action, they will always be moved to the Reached the Goal stage, even if they had previously been in the End Stage.

What is a landing page?

A Landing Page is a web page that contains a form where people provide information (name, email address, etc.). Communications Enterprise manages the entire Landing Page process:

1. The designing of the page (including form fields),
2. the hosting of the page (either on our site or yours), and
3. the tracking and analytics.

Can I create my own templates for messages and landing pages?

Yes. Template creation for both messages and Landing Pages is a login level permission. To create a Landing Page template:

1. Navigate to the Automation tab.
2. Click the Landing Page Templates link on the left side bar.
3. Give your template a name and description, and then click GO.
4. Use the editor to design your Landing Page template.
5. When finished, you need to publish your template to make it available for use. Click the gear icon at the top right of the toolbar and select the Publish option.

Can I host a landing page on my site?

Yes. There are two methods:

i-Frame - Use this method if you want to use Communications Enterprise's editor to create and design your form. In the i-Frame on the hosting site, the Landing Page design will look exactly as it does in Communications Enterprise, regardless of stylesheet(s) applied to the page.

Div - Use this method if you want to use styles already available on your site. For example, if you have specified widths in your CSS that you use for drop-down menus, those will be applied to your Landing Page content imported from Communications Enterprise.

How do you create a confirmation page for landing pages?

Once someone submits a Landing Page, there are two options:

1. You can redirect them to a URL (perhaps a page on your site),
2. Or you can configure the Landing Page to display a confirmation message in place of the form. On the main Landing Page design canvas, select the Submission Message option from the drop-down on the top tools page. You can then add your confirmation message text in the WYSIWYG section.

What are Link Labels?

Link Labels are labels assigned to email links to help identify contacts who click specific links across messages. You can create as many Link Labels as needed, with examples being “Product X,” “Annual Meeting,” “Advertiser,” “Marketing,” “Newsletters,” etc.

As an example, let's say you have three messages, and in each message you have a link to your product page. You want to set a trigger that sends a follow-up email to contacts who click any link in any email that takes them to your product page. Using Link Labels, you can “label” each of the links with the label “Product Page” and then set the trigger on the “Product Page” Link Label itself.

See Link Labels to learn how to create and assign Link Labels.

What are Tags?

A tag is an attribute that is assigned to a contact from a Communications Enterprise campaign based on a certain set of conditions being met (e.g., they've clicked a link, submitted a Landing Page, accumulated over 100 points, etc.). You can create as many Tags as needed, with common examples being “Engaged,” “Prospect,” or “Member.”

Once a contact has been tagged, a number of options open up to you:

• You can search based on Tags. For example, you could quickly find all contacts with the "Engaged" tag, which is defined as someone who has opened five emails in the last six months.
• You can use tags as criteria for campaign enrollment. To continue our example, let's say you want to ensure all of your "Engaged" contacts are invited to your upcoming webinar. You can use this Tag as the enrollment option for your webinar campaign.

See Tags to learn how to create and assign tags.

What is a wait time interval?

The wait time is the interval between the contact receiving one message and the contact being sent the next one. You can set the interval time in days, hours, and minutes.

As an example, let's say your Call to Action is a webinar registration, and the campaign's goal is defined by contacts belonging to a specific group. You set the wait time between the first and second promo messages to seven days. In this instance, the contact receives the first message, and seven days later the campaign checks whether the contact is in the group (meaning they reached the goal of registering for the webinar); IF NOT, then the campaign sends the second promo message.

Transition contact to Campaign End Stage

You also set the wait time interval between the contact receiving the LAST message and the end of the campaign. Think of this as a grace period. For example, let's say the last message has been sent to the contact. They then have a grace period of 10 days (which you set) to reach the goal of registering for the webinar.

NOTE: No matter when in the campaign (even if the campaign is over), if a contact reaches the goal, they will be moved to this stage.

What if I can't find a suitable template for my campaign?

If you can’t find exactly what you're looking for, you can use the Workflow Builder to build your own custom campaign. The Workflow Builder provides a blank canvas, enabling advanced users to create the most simple or intricate campaigns and workflows with an unlimited number of triggers, actions, and conditions to set up the exact schedule of actions you need.

NOTE: Those new to Communications Enterprise can likely find a campaign template to meet their needs, and this is generally the approach we recommend; creating campaigns via the Workflow Builder is more involved, and is recommended more for advanced users.

See Workflow Builder to learn more.