Bookshelf v7.5.3: Designing Marketing Program Plans

Designing Marketing Program Plans

The program plan is the template for the program flow that is applied when you execute the program. In the Programs screen, you can use the graphical drag-and-drop Program Flow view or the Program Explorer view to design and execute multistage, triggered, and recurring marketing programs using new or existing segments, lists, and campaigns. If you prefer, you can use the Program Wizard button in the Program Plans list to guide you through the process.

You can establish multiple stages for a marketing program. Each stage can have multiple segments, campaigns, offers, and waves. Subsequent stages can be based on a customer response or any other event. For example, a premium customer visiting the products catalog might trigger an email offer to that customer for the selected product.

In the workspace, you can use the right-click menu to manually start Marketing Server tasks such as generating a snapshot. To schedule server tasks to be started automatically, use the Schedule calendar.

The graphical Program Flow designer is integrated with Siebel's workflow engine and Marketing Server. Therefore, once defined, the entire program can be automated from the initial customer segmentation through communication, to response collection and analysis. This capability is especially useful when programs are set to automatically recur, as in the case of a monthly welcome package campaign to new customers.

Each time you design and implement a marketing program, you perform a number of tasks in the sequence shown in the following list:

Creating a program plan. Define the details of the program plan, such as the customer hierarchy and targeting level, the campaign load mapping for external data, the start and end date, and so on. For details, see Creating a Program Plan.

Adding a stage to the program. Using the Program Flow view, add a stage milestone to the program plan and complete stage details, such as assigning a filter or output file layout to the stage. For details, see Using the Program Flow, and Adding a Stage to the Program.

Assigning segments to a stage. Using the Program Flow view, select predefined segments that define the target customer you are trying to reach, and associate the segments to the stage. For details, see Assigning Segments to a Stage.

Adding a campaign plan to a stage. Using the Program Flow view, select one or more predefined campaign plans with associated offers and link these campaign plans to the program stage. For details, read Adding a Campaign Plan to a Stage.

Adding lists to the campaign. If you have imported lists of prospects or contacts, you can optionally add these lists to the campaign plan. For details, see Adding Imported or Internal Lists to a Campaign.

Generating a snapshot. After you have designed your program logic, you can generate a snapshot manually from the Program Flow view or schedule the snapshot to automatically occur using the Schedule view. For details, see Generating and Maintaining Snapshot Files.

Allocating segment net counts to campaigns. After snapshot generation is completed you can distribute actual counts, or forecast percentages of counts to campaign offers. For details, see Allocating Segment Counts to Campaigns.

Defining waved distribution and vendor lists. To pace your distribution and avoid overloading your vendors and fulfillment center, you can set up wave periods and divide contact lists among vendors. For details, see Setting Up Waves and Creating Vendor-Specific Lists.

Previewing the list. You can preview the first 500 names in your distribution list to make sure the list is formatted correctly and contains the contact information you need. For details, see Previewing a List.

Loading the campaign. When you are ready to save your campaign lists in the Siebel database, you can perform the Load Campaign task from the Program Flow or Program Explorer views, or schedule the task using the Schedule view. Loading the campaign saves contacts in the Siebel transaction database and generates output list files and eAI list files. For details, see Manually Loading a Campaign (Generating a List).

Executing the campaign. After loading the campaign and generating the lists, you can launch the campaign from the Program Flow or Program Explorer views or schedule the program start, which automatically launches the campaign. The Launch Campaign task distributes lists to vendors using FTP or email, and sends email, eNewsletter and Web offers to contacts. For details, see Launching Programs and Campaigns.