5Creating and Using Offers and Treatments
Creating and Using Offers and Treatments
This chapter describes how to create offers and treatments to present content on product and services to current and potential customers as part of a campaign. It includes the following topics:
About Creating and Using Offers and Treatments
An offer is a single proposition or message to a customer that provides an incentive to respond. Offers are associated with a campaign, and then presented to contacts and prospects when the campaign is launched. Offers can be reused in many campaigns, but the campaign is a one-time instance of the offer presented to a customer at a certain point in time.
A single offer can have multiple treatments, with each treatment delivering the offer by means of a specific channel and campaign. A treatment is a channel-specific instance of an offer. You create a treatment for every channel, such as email or direct mail, through which you want to deliver the offer.
Offers associated with campaigns are created using the Offers screen. Typically each campaign has a single offer, but you can associate multiple treatments with that offer. For example, a single campaign can have an associated offer that has email and Web treatments.
Using the Offers views and Treatments views, you can create, edit, and preview reusable offers with multiple channel-specific treatments, which can be associated with your campaigns.
In addition, you can design personalized HTML and text templates for email treatments. You can create email treatments containing conditional content that is based on contact and prospect attributes. Additionally, email treatments can contain embedded links to items such as Web treatments and Web surveys, so the marketer can assess and capture campaign responses. Web treatments can contain embedded links to Web surveys, events, trackable URLs, downloads, and response forms.
Process of Creating and Modifying Offers
To create and modify offers, perform the following tasks:
This process is a step in Roadmap for Setting Up Campaigns.
Creating and Modifying Offers
You can create reusable offers in the Offers screen, adding details such as the channel to use, activation and expiration dates, templates, literature, and so on. For more information about using offer templates to create an offer, see Creating Treatment Templates and Adding to the Template List.
Use the Offers link bar to navigate directly to a treatment type. The types of treatments that are available to you depend on the features your company is licensed to use. After you create or modify an offer, you can create and add treatments to the offer, and associate products with the offer.
This task is a step in Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
You can use the following procedure to create and modify offers.
To create or modify an offer
Navigate to the Offers screen.
In the All Offers list, create a record, or select an offer to change.
Complete the fields.
The following table describes some of the fields.
Fields Comment Offer Code
Contains a unique code that identifies the offer. You can change this code, but make sure the new value is unique.
Type
Designates the purpose of the offer. For example, Cross-Sell, Retention, or Up-Sell.
Activation Date
Identifies the date that the offer becomes active. You can associate an inactive offer with a campaign, but when you launch the campaign, only active offers are executed.
Expiration Date
Use the calendar controls to select the offer’s expiration date.
Expired offers must not be associated with campaigns because they are not sent out when the campaign is launched.
Organization
The organizations that have visibility to associate to see this offer in their campaign design views.
Approval Status
Indicates whether the offer has been submitted, approved, or declined.
Approval History
Shows the approval history of the offer.
Products
Use to indicate which products are being promoted by this offer.
Price List
Used to associate a previously defined price list with this offer.
A marketer can create promotional prices for specific products. When an offer recipient clicks a product item hyperlink in an email or Web treatment and goes to the product detail Web page, the recipient sees the predefined promotional price.
The set of products associated with the selected price list can be different from the set of products defined in the offer’s product list. When a contact responds to a treatment, clicks a product link, and goes to the product detail page, the contact sees the promotional price that is defined for that product only if that product is a part of the price list that was selected for this offer. Otherwise, the contact gets the default price for the product.
Promotion
Use to associate the offer with a promotion from the Order Management application (from the product catalog), such as a special price discount or product bundle.
Loyalty Promotion
Shows the Loyalty promotion associated with this offer. The offer is used to advertise this loyalty promotion. When a customer transacts accordingly, the promotion can award loyalty points.
Adding Treatments to Offers
You can use the following procedure to create treatments and add them to offers. After creating a treatment you can associate a treatment template with it.
This task is a step in Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
To create a treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen.
In the link bar, select the Treatment channel you want to add.
Complete the fields in the Treatment Details screen, using the values in the following table as a guide.
Fields Comment Treatment Code
Contains a unique code that identifies the treatment. You can change this code, but make sure the new value is unique.
Channel
Identifies the channel used to distribute the treatment.
For example, Email, or Fax.
Parent Offer
Choose the offer with which to associate the treatment.
Cost
Cost of the treatment.
Type
Designates the purpose of the offer. For example, Cross-Sell, Retention, or Up-Sell.
Activation Date
Identifies the date that the treatment becomes active. You can associate an inactive treatment with a campaign, but when you launch the campaign, only active treatments are executed.
Expiration Date
Use the calendar controls to select the treatment’s expiration date.
Expired treatments must not be associated with campaigns because they are not sent out when the campaign is launched.
Subject Text
Email Treatment only. Enter the subject text of the email.
Description
Enter a description of the treatment.
Organization
Use to associate the organization that has visibility to see this treatment in its campaign design views.
Approval Status
Indicates if the treatment has been submitted, approved, or declined.
Approval History
Shows the approval history of the treatment.
Products
Use to indicate which products are being promoted by this treatment.
Subscription List
Use to select a marketing list of type Subscription List and associate this list with this treatment. The subscription list can already have contacts or prospects or be empty.
Language
For email treatments, do not change the value in this field.
Version
Use this field if you create multiple versions of the same treatment in the same channel. You can enter any numeric value.
Locale
Used to locate the correct, language-specific Web page.
Email Marketing Server
Used for email treatments and Web treatments only. Use to select the Email Marketing Server when sending an Email treatment. This server provides the following:
From and Reply-To header values.
Connection details for the email sending daemon.
SMTP envelope Sender address domain (for bounces).
Base URL to use in constructing response forms and trackable URLs. Trackable URLs track customer clicks on an embedded link in an email.
Web Server base URL (for product catalog items, Web offers, Web surveys, some response forms, and events).
Delivery Profile
Used when sending fax treatments. This field is only available in the fax treatments view, not in fax treatment records in the All Treatments view. Profiles are created using the Communications Administration screen’s Communications Drivers and Profiles view. For more information, see Creating Delivery Profiles and Associating with Fax Treatments.
Associating Products with Treatments
You can associate predefined products with a treatment. Ideally, you only select a subset of products from the price list associated with an offer, because there is a many-to-one relationship between the products and the price list. The products that you associate with the offer determine which product catalog page links can be embedded in Email and Web treatments.
This task is a step in Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
The following procedure shows how to associate a product with a treatment.
To associate a product with a treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen.
In the All Treatments list, select the treatment and click the Products select button.
In the Products dialog box, in the Available list, select one or more products, and then click Add to copy them to the Selected list.
Click OK.
About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates
To create an Email treatment or Web treatment, you must start with a treatment template. A template can be empty or can include text and other elements. Treatment templates are available in Siebel Marketing, Siebel Web Marketing, and Siebel Campaigns. You can create the document that serves as a template using any HTML tool or text editor such as Adobe GoLive, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Microsoft Front Page, or Windows Notepad. After creating the source document you upload it to the Treatment Templates list.
After creating a template, you add the template file to the template list and associate the template with a treatment. When you associate a template with a treatment, Siebel Marketing creates a copy of the template, leaving the master unaffected. This copy has the same name as the original and adds a time stamp to provide a history.
Treatment templates can be associated with the following treatment types:
Fax treatments. For more information on Fax treatments, see Associating Templates with Fax Treatments.
Email treatments. When creating an email treatment, you can use the Edit Email view tab to associate a template with the treatment.
Web treatments. When creating a Web treatment, you can use the Edit Web Treatment view tab to associate a template with the treatment.
Process of Creating and Editing Treatment Templates
To create and edit treatment templates, complete the following tasks:
Related Topics
About Using Hyperlinks (HREF) in Treatment Templates
About Using Personalization Categories When Editing Treatments
Creating Treatment Templates and Adding to the Template List
Treatment templates are usually created with a file type of text (TXT) or HTML (HTM or HTML). You create the template, and modify existing templates, using third-party HTML tools and text editors, such as Microsoft Front Page and Windows Notepad.
After creating the template using a third-party tool, you must add the new template to the Treatment Templates list so that you can associate it with a treatment.
Creating an HTML or Text Treatment Template
The following procedure shows how to create an HTML or text treatment template.
To create an HTML or text treatment template
Create an HTML template, using a third-party HTML editor or text editor of your choice:
Using Microsoft Word, Front Page, Notepad, or another editor, create a new file.
For HTML templates, save the file using an HTM file extension.
Caution: Take care when using quotation marks in personalization elements. Some applications replace straight quotation marks (") with curly (also called smart) quotation marks (“"). Curly quotation marks cause errors when used in personalization elements.
If it does not already exist, then create a subdirectory in your HTML templates directory and name it Images.
The HTML templates directory is the directory specified for the editor file manager browser on the external Web server. For additional information about the editor file manager, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide. In the Images directory, you store the graphics to be used in the treatment. Make sure that you refer to each image as follows:
<IMG BORDER=0 SRC="http://server_name/Web Marketing/images/image.gif">
where:
server_name is the name of the server where the file manager is located on the external Web application server
image.gif is the name of the embedded image
Note: You cannot use HTML or embedded images in text email. However, some email readers display images that the sender attached to a text email at the end of the text email.Add the template you created to the Treatment Templates list as follows:
Navigate to the Offers screen.
In the link bar, click Treatment Templates.
In the Treatment Template list, create a record.
Complete the fields to add the treatment template to the list:
In the Name field, enter a name for the template.
Click the File Name select button and select the template file.
Copy the images you embedded in your treatment to the subdirectory you created or the image folder you referenced in Step 2.
Modifying An Existing Treatment Template
If you want to modify an existing treatment template, then perform the steps in the following procedure.
To modify an existing treatment template
Make the necessary modifications to the template file saved on your local drive, using the same text editor used to create the file.
Save and close the file.
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Treatment Templates view.
In the Treatment Template list, select the template record.
In the File Name field, click the select button.
In the dialog box, click Browse.
Select the file, and click Open.
About Using Hyperlinks (HREF) in Treatment Templates
Siebel Marketing can perform a special processing task for HTML-based emails and Web treatments. A URL address entered directly into the body of an HTML template, such as http://www.mycompanyname.example.com, is not recognized as a hyperlink by the HTML parser. The generic HTML syntax for a hyperlink is:
<a href="target url">highlighted text or picture</a>
The link includes both the URL and the anchor, which is the text or image that appears in the template and links to the URL. Thus, to create a link to the URL http://www.mycompanyname.example.com and display the Web site as the text in the message, you must enter the following:
<a href="http://www.mycompanyname.example.com">MyCompanyName Web Site</a>
Using this method, Web treatments, response forms, and product items are replaced differently in HTML templates from the way they are replaced in text templates. The following list describes the default method for processing hyperlinks:
For Web treatments, Web surveys, and product links, Siebel Marketing creates the hyperlink so that the hyperlinked text is the Web treatment name, Web survey name, or product name such as in the following reference:
<a href="[Web Treatment: 10% discount offer]">10% discount offer</a>
For more information, see About Using Personalization Categories When Editing Treatments.
For response forms, Siebel Marketing creates the hyperlink so that the hyperlinked text is the same as the response forms description in the Response Types view. The hyperlinked text for a response form can be modified in the Response Types view, where, for each response form, a description field represents the value used for highlighted text.
These default methods for processing hyperlinks in Siebel Marketing can be modified. You can put an asterisk (*) before the tag to tell the application that you are manually defining the hyperlink format in the HTML body. The asterisk tells the application not to create the hyperlink.
For example, instead of inserting [Web Treatment: Great Discount], the marketing manager can enter the following:
<a href="[*Web Treatment: Great Discount]">Whatever I want to highlight be it text or picture</a>
In this case, Siebel Marketing replaces the Web treatment with the proper URL but does not create the HREF syntax. You can then create a Web treatment link, product item link, and response form link with any text or picture you want.
About Email Treatments
Using the Email Treatments view, a marketer can design and distribute a personalized email treatment to target recipients of a campaign. An email treatment can be associated with a price list for various products. If the recipient clicks on a product link in an email treatment, then the product detail page displays the promotional price for that product rather than the list price.
The Email Treatments view includes the Treatment Details, Edit Email, Delivery Profile, Attachments, and Advanced tabs.
- Treatment Details. This form contains additional fields that you can use if the email treatment requires approvals from your company’s marketing and legal departments. It provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field. Use this form to specify the email treatment’s Subject Text, the Email Marketing Server (Reply-To and From headers, Email Marketing Daemon configurations, and Web Server URLs) to be used to distribute the treatment, and Personalization Format to use with this treatment.
- Edit Email. Use this form to edit the template content and to select personalization items such as Trackable URLs, Social Sharing URLs, Dynamic URLs, Response Forms, and Merge Fields. Personalization elements can be inserted into the template in the HTML Editor.
- Delivery Profile. This read-only list provides a list of the Email Marketing Server parameters for the Email Marketing Server that is associated with the treatment.
- Attachments. Includes literature items with your email treatment. These items are delivered as attachments to the email when the campaign is launched.
- Follow up Activity. Allows marketers to schedule a follow-up activity when the treatment is delivered.
Advanced. Contains the Related Web Treatments, Related Web Surveys, Related Events, Social Sharing URLs, Dynamic URLs, and Trackable URLs lists. Use these lists to specify the Web treatments, Web surveys, events, and URLs that you plan to include as hyperlinks in the email treatment. Adding these elements embeds them as Personalization Elements. For information on Web surveys, see About Web Surveys and Landing Sites.
Whenever a treatment recipient clicks a Web treatment, product catalog item, or trackable URL link in an email treatment, the click is captured as a response. The available response types are Clicked On Web Treatment, Clicked On Web Survey, Clicked On Product URL, and Clicked on URL.
Process of Working with Email Treatments
This topic lists the tasks you generally perform when setting up email treatments for an offer.
To set up email treatments, perform the following tasks:
Alternatively, you can use the Design Email Treatment task in the Task UI application to create an email treatment. See Using the Task UI Application to Create and Update an Email Treatment.
Related Topics
About Using Personalization Categories When Editing Treatments
Creating Email Treatments
Siebel Marketing has multiple forms of email treatments available for use in campaigns. The following topics cover these treatments:
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
Creating an Email Treatment
The following procedure shows how to create an email treatment.
To create an email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen.
Click Email Treatments.
In the Email Treatments list, create a new record.
Complete the fields, using the field descriptions in Adding Treatments to Offers as a guide.
Email treatments have their own specific channel types available. Creating an Email Treatment describes these email-specific channels. You must always create a treatment using the Email channel. Use the other channels when implementing a double-opt in or subscription confirmation process. When you create treatments using these other channels, they must be associated with the same campaign as the original Email channel treatment.
Table Channel Types for Email Treatments
| Email Channel | Description |
|---|---|
The Email channel is for standard email treatments that do not use a subscription list. |
|
Email-Confirm In |
The Email-Confirm In channel produces a confirmation opt-in treatment that is delivered to users. The confirm-in treatment is triggered by a user responding to the Confirm Subscribe to List response form. When this response form is clicked, this confirmation is delivered to the user with an additional link asking to confirm opt-in status to the email program. For more information, see Creating Email Confirmation Treatments. |
Email-Confirm Out |
The Email-Confirm Out channel produces a confirmation opt-out treatment that is delivered to users. The confirm-out treatment is triggered by a user responding to the Confirm Unsubscribe List response form. When this response form is clicked, this confirmation is delivered to the user with an additional link asking to confirm opt-out status to the email program. For more information, see Creating Email Confirmation Treatments. |
Email-Welcome |
The Email-Welcome channel produces a standard welcome message to the email program. This message is triggered by a user recording a subscription record in the database. This message is triggered by a user responding to the Subscribe to List response form. This message does not ask for confirmation, thus it is not a replacement for the Email-Confirm In channel. Use the Welcome channel when you do not want to have a double opt-in method as is used by the Email-Confirm In channel. For more information, see Creating Email Welcome Treatments. |
Creating Email Confirmation Treatments
Email confirmation treatments are used to respond to customers who have clicked on a Confirm Subscribe to List response form or a Confirm Unsubscribe to List response form in a previous message. These treatments are sometimes called double opt in or double opt out treatments because from the recipients’ point of view they must take two actions to opt in or out. The first act is to click on a response form in an initial email, the second is to respond to the confirmation email. If you do not require your customers to go through two steps to opt in, then you can send an Email-Welcome treatment instead of an Email-Confirm In treatment. For more information, see Creating Email Welcome Treatments.
Siebel Marketing sends out an Email-Confirm In or an Email-Confirm Out message to only those contacts who have clicked those response forms. If your list includes contacts for whom there is no record of the Confirm Subscribe to List or Confirm Unsubscribe to List events, then Siebel Marketing skips over them and does not send a confirmation treatment.
The following procedure shows how to create an email confirmation treatment.
To create an email confirmation treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
Create a new email treatment.
Set the Channel field to either Email-Confirm In or Email-Confirm Out.
Associate the Parent Offer with the treatment.
Associate a subscription list with the treatment.
In the edit email view, associate a treatment template with the treatment.
In the edit email view, include a response form for Subscribe to List within the body of the message.
Save the treatment.
Navigate to the Campaigns view.
Associate the treatment with the appropriate email confirmation campaign.
Creating Email Welcome Treatments
If you do not require your customers to use a double opt-in confirmation to accept the offer, then after the customer has clicked on the Subscribe to List response form, you typically follow up with an Email-Welcome treatment. Siebel Marketing sends out an Email-Welcome message to only those contacts who have clicked the Subscribe to List response form. If your list includes contacts for whom there is no record of the Confirm Subscribe to List event, then Siebel Marketing skips over them and does not send the Email-Welcome treatment.
The following procedure shows how to create a welcome message.
To create a welcome message
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
Create a new email treatment.
Set the Channel field to Email-Welcome.
Associate the Parent Offer with the treatment.
(Optional) Associate a subscription list with the treatment.
In the edit email view, associate a treatment template with the treatment.
Save the treatment.
Navigate to the Campaigns view.
Associate the treatment with the appropriate email confirmation campaign.
Including Forward to a Friend in Your Email Treatments
Siebel Email Marketing can include a Forward to a Friend link in email treatments. This provides a means for your contacts and prospects to forward a version of the message to others and optionally to add a personalized note as well.
The following procedure shows how to include Forward to A Friend in a treatment.
To include Forward to A Friend in a treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Treatments list, click an email treatment.
In the edit email view, select a template to edit.
In the HTML editor view, from the Categories menu on the toolbar, select Response Forms.
In the Items menu on the toolbar, choose [Response: Forward to Friend].
Click the location in the template where you want to insert the Forward to Friend link.
Click the Insert button (the down arrow icon) on the toolbar.
Creating a Text Email from an HTML Template
You can create a text version of your HTML treatments. By creating the text version, you can streamline your production efforts. This creates a text template from the HTML template. You might have to adjust the formatting before delivery.
The following procedure shows how to create a text version of your HTML treatments.
To create a text email from an HTML template
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Treatments list, click an email treatment.
In the list between the Treatments list and the Editor, create an additional template for the treatment.
In the Template Name field, choose a text treatment template and click OK.
Return to the HTML template within the treatment.
Click Save Text Template.
To view the results, select the text template in the list preceding the Editor.
The text content appears in the Editor.
Associating Templates with Email Treatments
You can associate a template with an email treatment by using the following procedure. To edit the treatment template, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
To associate a treatment template with an email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Email Treatments list, select the treatment.
In the Edit Email tab, create a new record.
In the Edit Email list, complete the necessary fields.
Siebel Marketing populates the Sequence field. Change the sequence if you are adding multiple templates with rich and plain format. The sequence field includes email attachments. Therefore, when you add your first template, you might get a sequence number other than 1.
For example, if you have two templates (one HTML and one text) associated with the email treatment, then adjust the sequence so that you associate the plain format (text) first and the rich format (HTML) last. This change satisfies the Multipart MIME standard. The Multipart MIME standard defines a way to send both the text and HTML content together within the body of a single email message. The email program displays only the part that it has been configured to display.
In the Template Name field, click the select button.
You can associate one text template and one HTML template with the treatment.
- In the Pick Treatment Template dialog box, select the template record, and click OK.
Save the record to associate the template with the treatment.
Editing Treatments
After you add a template to a treatment, you can edit it in the following ways:
Edit a template in the edit treatment screen. Make changes to your treatment using the text editor or the CKEditor HTML editor provided with Siebel Marketing. In the Edit Email view, select a template to modify. The template appears for editing at the end of the page.
If you created your template as an HTML file, then you can use the HTML editor to render the HTML source (tags and text) and to modify the rendered HTML. If you created your template as a text file, then a text editor displays the treatment contents for editing. Preview the email to verify the treatment’s syntax, including merge fields and embedded objects.
Modify a template using a third-party HTML editor. If you have to make edits that are not possible in the HTML editor provided with Siebel Marketing, then you can modify the template using a third-party HTML editor. Examples of third-party editors are Adobe GoLive and Macromedia Dreamweaver. For more information, see Editing a Template Using a Third-party Default HTML Editor.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
Editing Email Treatments
The following procedure describes how to edit an email treatment.
To edit an email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Email Treatments list, select an email treatment.
In the Edit Email tab, select a template to change.
One of the following editors starts:
Text editor. You use this tool to make simple changes to the text. The text editor starts by default, if the selected template is a text (.txt) file.
HTML Editor. You can use this tool to make more complex changes than you can make in a text editor. The CKEditor HTML editor starts by default if the selected template is an HTML file (HTM or HTML file extension). For more detail, see Using the Siebel Marketing CKEditor HTML Editor.
To embed a personalization item such as a Response Form or Trackable URL, perform the following steps:
Locate the position in the treatment text where the personalization item is to appear.
In the Categories drop-down menu, choose one of the available personalization categories, for example, Events, Merge Fields, or Social URLs.
The available elements for the selected category appear in the personalization Items menu. For more information about personalization categories, see About Using Personalization Categories When Editing Treatments.
- In the Items menu, choose a personalization item and click the Insert button.
When you finish making changes, click Save Template.
Repeat Step 3 through Step 5 to continue editing the template.
To preview your changes and verify that the template still performs correctly, click the Verify & Preview button.
If your administrator has configured the Email Marketing Server to integrate with Apache SpamAssassin, then clicking the Verify & Preview button also generates spam scores for the email. A spam score for an email indicates the likelihood of the email being classified as spam and being rejected by a recipient's spam filters.
If the email generates a high spam score, modify the email content until it passes the spam scoring test. For additional information, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide.
Using the Siebel Marketing CKEditor HTML Editor
You can use CKEditor, the HTML editor provided with Siebel Marketing, to make changes to your HTML template. To make more complex changes than are possible in CKEditor, see Editing a Template Using a Third-party Default HTML Editor.
CKEditor supports the following features:
Alignment options: left (for example, align to inside margin on page), center, and right (for example, align to outside margin on page)
Alt-tag support
Bold, italic, and underline
Bulleted List
Clip art support
Copy, cut, and paste
Fonts (typeface, size, style)
Find and replace
Graphic and Flash support
HTML formatting characters such as: NBSP (non-breaking space)
HTML source view
Hyperlinks
If-Then-Else conditional statements
Indents
MS Office document integration
Numbered Lists
Personalization support (events, merge fields, response forms, Web surveys, Web treatments, trackable URLs, social sharing URLs, dynamic URLs, product catalog items)
Preview support
Spelling checker
Styles
Tables
Undo and redo
Note: To enable image map support, download and install the Image Map plug-in for CKEditor. The Image Map plug-in allows you to create and edit image maps in CKEditor. For additional information, go to the CKEditor Web site at http://ckeditor.com/.
To make changes using the HTML editor, enter your changes directly in the workspace. You can also use the editing toolbar in the Template Contents workspace for formatting text. Most of the buttons on the toolbar are the same buttons that appear in the standard CKEditor software.
$(Header "X-header-name" "value").
Adding Graphics to HTML Email Treatments
The following procedure describes how to add a new graphic to an email treatment using the HTML editor.
To add a graphic to an HTML email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, and from the link bar select Email Treatments.
In the Email Treatments list, select a treatment, and click the Edit Email tab.
In the HTML editor workspace, place your cursor at the location where you want to insert the graphic.
On the HTML editor toolbar, click the Image icon.
In the dialog box, do one of the following:
Enter the URL of the image and click OK.
Browse for an image on the local server or on a remote server by clicking the Browse Server button.
If you chose to browse for the image file in Step 5, then do one of the following:
To insert an image that already exists on the Web server where the CKEditor file manager is located, double-click the image file from the list of files displayed.
To upload an image file to the server and then insert the image to the treatment, click the Browse button to locate the file, then click the Upload button. The image file is uploaded to the server. You can insert the image into the treatment by double-clicking it.
You can create a new directory on the server into which the uploaded image is saved by clicking the Create New Folder button and entering a folder name before you upload the file. A new directory is created on the server with the name specified and when you upload the file, it is stored in the new directory.
After selecting an image to edit, a thumbnail rendition of the graphic appears in the Preview window of the Image Properties dialog box.
Adjust the picture dimensions if necessary, and then click OK. The image is inserted in the HTML editor.
Click the Save Template button.
Editing a Template Using a Third-party Default HTML Editor
If you prefer to use a third-party HTML editor over the CKEditor HTML editor provided with Siebel Marketing, then you can do so using the following procedure.
To edit a template file using your default HTML editor
Navigate to the Offers screen and, from the link bar, select the type of treatment.
In the Treatments list, select a treatment, and click the Edit Email or Edit Web Treatment tab.
For email treatments, select the HTML template in the list between the Treatments form and the Editor.
In the HTML Editor toolbar, click the Source icon.
Copy all the text in the workspace to your third-party HTML editor.
In the third-party HTML editor, make changes to the template.
Paste the changed template source text back into the HTML editor.
In the Edit Email list, associate the HTML file with a treatment.
Adding Attachments to Email Treatments
Use the following procedure to add literature items as email treatment attachments. Be aware that some Internet Service Providers limit the size of emails and email attachments that they deliver to their subscribers.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
To add an attachment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Email Treatments list, click the treatment name.
Click the Attachments view tab.
In the Attachments list, create a new record.
Click the Name select button, select a literature file to attach, and click OK.
In the Attachment Label field, enter an attachment label for each file.
Adding Response Forms to Email Treatments
You can include a variety of response forms in an email treatment. Whenever a customer receives the email treatment and clicks on the hyperlink for a response form, responses are created for the campaign.
Response types are fields in a response record. A response record might be generated by the email recipient clicking the response form link or by completing a form on the Web page to which he or she has been directed.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
The following procedure shows how to add a response form to an email treatment.
To add a response form to an email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Email Treatments list, click an email treatment name.
Click the Edit Email view tab.
Click a template to edit.
The template appears in the workspace.
From the Categories (HTML editor) or the Personalization Categories (text editor) menu, choose Response Forms. Use the following table as a guide.
Response Form Description Confirm Subscribe To List
Use this in an initial email treatment to activate a double opt-in process. When the recipient clicks the embedded link, Siebel Marketing sends an email confirm-in treatment with a Subscribe to List response form.
Confirm Unsubscribe from List
Use this in an initial email treatment to activate a double opt-out process. When the recipient clicks the embedded link, Siebel Marketing sends an email confirm-out treatment with an Unsubscribe to List response form.
Forward to Friend
Navigates customers to a page where they can add the email address of friends and from where your company can forward the message.
Customers can also provide a text message to be sent with the email treatment. When they submit this form, Siebel Marketing generates a Forward to Friend response type record and sends a copy of the email to any email addresses that the customer provided. It then regenerates the response form links in the email for the new recipient's email address.
One Click Unsub
Sets the Do Not Email check box on the contact profile and displays a confirmation message to the customer that states that she has been unsubscribed from all email treatments.
Read Receipt
Detects that the email message has been opened by the customer. The customer is not aware of this hidden event.
This link is used only in HTML to embed a 1x1 pixel image in the email treatment at the location where a response form is placed. If the recipient of the email treatment opens the email, then Siebel Marketing retrieves this image from the Email Marketing Server and updates the Message Open Timestamp in the campaign history table (S_CAMP_CON). The following are some ways a read receipt can be blocked:
Newer email applications have preferences options that can prevent the display of embedded images.
Ports used to make the request for the image might be blocked at the recipient's firewall.
If you place the read receipt image in the HTML part of a multipart MIME email message and the recipient sets up his email application to read text emails only, then the Read Receipt image request does not occur.
For the Read Receipt to work correctly, it must be on its own line at the end of the message.
Requested call back
Navigates customers to a Web page where they can provide contact information and from where your company can arrange a follow-up phone call.
Requested More Info
Navigates customers to a Web page where they can provide contact information and from where your company can send more information such as brochures or other collateral.
Requested Unsubscribe
Navigates customers to a Web page where they can enter communication preferences by channel. For more information, see Setting Up and Using Web Marketing
Subscribe to List
Navigates customers to a Web page where a confirmation message displays stating that they have been subscribed to the list. This response associates the contact or prospect ID of the respondent with a subscription list associated with the treatment.
Unsubscribe from List
Navigates customers to a Web page where a confirmation message states that the customer has been unsubscribed. Siebel Marketing generates an Unsubscribe from List response type record and removes the customer’s contact or prospect record from the subscription list associated with the treatment.
In the Items menu (HTML editor) or the Personalization Elements menu (text editor), choose a response type.
Position the cursor at the desired location in the content, and click Insert.
When you are finished editing, click Save Template.
Adding Social Sharing URLs to Email Treatments
When editing email treatments, you can use the Social Sharing URLs functionality to define a hyperlink and associate it with one or more social network icons, for example, Facebook© or Twitter© icons, which are added to the email treatment. Customers who are targeted for the email campaign can then click the relevant icon directly from the email offer to share the hyperlink on their social networks.
To make a social sharing URL available in CKEditor for inclusion in email treatments, you must first define the social sharing URL. The following procedure describes how to create a social sharing URL and then add the URL to an email treatment. For information on configuring the social networking sites that are available for selection in CKEditor when using social sharing URLs, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
To create a social sharing URL and add it to an email treatment
Create the social sharing URLs that you want to make available for selection in CKEditor as follows:
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Email Treatments list, click the treatment name.
Click the Advanced view tab, then click the Social Sharing URLs link bar.
Create a new record, entering values similar to those shown in the following table, then save the record.
Parameter Value Name
Enter the name you want to assign the social sharing URL. This name is displayed in the Items menu in the email treatment editor.
URL
Enter the URL that you want to allow customers to share on their social networks.
Insert the social sharing URL you have created into an email treatment template as follows:
Click the Edit Email view tab.
Select a template to edit.
The template appears in the workspace.
From the Categories menu in CKEditor, choose Social URLs.
From the Items menu, select the social sharing URL you created, then click the Insert arrow.
The Social Sharing dialog box is displayed.
In the Social Sharing dialog box, specify values similar to those shown in the following table.
Parameter Value Title
Enter the text that is displayed for the hyperlink when it is displayed on customers’ social networks.
URL
The social sharing URL is displayed allowing you to modify it, if required.
Select the social communities on which you want to allow recipients of the email treatment to share the hyperlink by clicking the appropriate check boxes, then clicking OK.
The social community icons are embedded in the email treatment.
Adding Dynamic URLs to Email Treatments
When creating email treatments, you can use the Dynamic URLs functionality to embed dynamic hyperlinks into an email template. When emails are generated for the treatment, the Email Marketing Server retrieves the content indicated by the dynamic URL and the content is merged into the email.
To make a dynamic URL available in CKEditor for inclusion in email treatments, you must first define the dynamic URL, then add it to an email treatment as described in the following procedure.
This task is a step in Process of Working with Email Treatments.
To create a dynamic URL and add it to an email treatment
Create the dynamic URL that you want to make available for selection in CKEditor as described in Step 1 in Adding Social Sharing URLs to Email Treatments, but click the Dynamic URLs link bar at Step c.
Enter values similar to those shown in the following table, then save the record.
Parameter Value Name
Enter the name you want to assign the dynamic URL. This name is displayed in the Items menu in the email treatment editor.
URL
Enter the URL that you want to embed in the email treatment template.
Dynamic URLs can contain merge fields and can be defined to specify the content management system that is the source of content for a given contact or prospect. For example, the following dynamic URL contains 2 merge fields, [Field: First Name] and [Field: Last Name]:
http://server_name.example.com:8080/ getOffer.php?firstName=[Field: First Name]&lastName=[Field: Last Name]
Insert the dynamic URL you have created into an email treatment template, as described in Step 2 Adding Social Sharing URLs to Email Treatments, but select Dynamic URLs from the Categories menu at Step c.
From the Items menu, select the dynamic URL you created, then click the Insert arrow.
The dynamic URL is embedded in the email template.
If you defined a dynamic URL that contains merge fields, as shown in the example in Step 2, then when the email is generated for a contact named JaBrown, the URL is converted, and offer content appropriate to Jane Brown is merged into the email as follows:
http://server_name.example.com:8080/getOffer.php?firstName=Jane&lastName=Brown
Creating Activities for Contacts and Prospects for Email Treatments
Siebel Marketing can create an activity for each contact and prospect in your mailing. If you enable this option, then Siebel Marketing uses the Email Marketing - Update Status workflow to create the new activities. The workflow is called after each wave batch sent. You can customize the workflow if needed. The following information lists the workflow fields and the values used.
Table Workflow Field Values
| Workflow Field | Value |
|---|---|
Account Id |
accountId for the contact or prospect |
Campaign Id |
campaignId |
Description |
treatmentName |
Done |
current date |
Opportunity Id |
opportunityId |
Status |
Done |
Type |
Email - Outbound |
The following procedure shows how to create activities for contacts and prospects for an email treatment.
To create activities for contacts and prospects for an email treatment
While creating the Email treatment, click the Advanced tab.
Check the Create Activity check box.
Using the Task UI Application to Create and Update an Email Treatment
Siebel Marketing includes the Create Email Treatment task to streamline the process of creating or updating an email treatment. For information on using the Task UI application, see Siebel Fundamentals. For details on customizing, activating, and assigning access privileges for tasks, see Siebel Business Process Framework: Task UI Guide.
The following example lists the steps that an end user performs to use the Create Email Treatment task.
To create or update an email treatment using the Task UI
Navigate to Offers, then the Email Treatments view.
Click the Email Setup Wizard button.
Choose to create a new treatment or edit an existing one, and then click Next. If editing an existing treatment, then select a treatment on the Pick Email Treatment screen.
In the Create Email Treatment screen, enter details for the treatment.
In the Define Email header screen, choose a delivery profile to populate the profile parameters.
In the Define Merge Elements screen, choose merge field set.
Merge field set is an email list format that defines the available merge fields. Define the merge elements to embed in the email content, including trackable URLs and landing site URLs.
In the Email Template screen, select a template from the picklist.
In the Email Body HTML screen, you can see the HTML content based on your selected HTML template.
Make changes in the HTML editor, then save your changes by clicking the Save Template button.
In the Email Template Option screen, choose whether to add another template.
In the Email Treatment Attachment screen, associate one or more documents as attachments if required.
In the Review Email screen, click Test Email to test the new email treatment, using an internal seed list of recipients.
For more information on seed lists, see Using Seed Lists for Testing Email Treatments. Options for the format of the test email include HTML only, Text only, or Multi-part MIME.
About Using Personalization Categories When Editing Treatments
This topic describes the personalization objects that can be added to treatments. Personalization categories are categories of supported object types that can be embedded in treatments when you edit the treatment. Depending on which category type you select in the editor, the Personalization Elements menu (text editor) or the Items menu (HTML editor) contains the available elements for that category.
Personalization Categories
The personalization categories are listed in the following table. The channel that each personalization category can be used with is also shown.
Table Personalization Categories
| Personalization Category | Available Channels | Description |
|---|---|---|
Merge Fields |
Email offers, Web offers, Fax offers |
Merge Fields allow you customize treatments by contact or prospect. The Merge Fields that are available for you to select is determined by your configuration. If you are using the advanced mode, then merge fields can be extended using fields from the segmentation module. For more information, see Using Merge Fields in Email Treatments. |
Product Catalog Items |
Email offers, Web offers |
Product catalog items are limited to those defined for the Product catalog page for the products associated with the treatment. |
Response Forms |
Email offers, Web offers |
Typically, response forms are Web forms that a contact or prospect can use to respond to a treatment through the Web. For additional information, see Adding Response Forms to Email Treatments. |
Events |
All offer channels |
You can associate an event with a treatment provided the event has been defined for this treatment in the Related Events link bar. For information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments. When you add a related event, you can only display events with active dates that have a status code of Executing or In Progress. |
Trackable URLs |
Email offers, Web offers |
Use trackable URLs to embed hyperlinks into a treatment that link to other treatments, or to generic Internet Web pages. When a contact or prospect clicks this link, Siebel Marketing records a campaign response. You can associate a trackable URL with a treatment provided the URL has been defined for this treatment in the Trackable URLs link bar. For information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments. |
Web Treatments |
Email offers |
You can associate a Web treatment with the treatment you are currently defining. You can relate the same Web offer to more than one email treatment. For example, you might have a Web offer and want to associate that Web offer with multiple email offers. In this case, each of these email offers has a link to that same Web offer. The list of Web treatments is limited to those defined for this treatment in the Related Web Treatments list view tab. For information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments. |
Web Surveys |
Email offers, Web offers |
You can associate a Web survey with the treatment you are currently defining. The list of Web surveys is limited to those defined for this treatment in the Related Web Surveys list view tab. For information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments. |
Dynamic URLs |
Email offers |
Use dynamic URLs to embed hyperlinks that can include merged fields into an email treatment. When emails are generated for the treatment by the Marketing Email server, the merged field content is dynamically merged into the URL. The list of dynamic URLs that is available when editing treatments is limited to those you define on the Dynamic URLs link bar. For additional information on Dynamic URL functionality, see Adding Dynamic URLs to Email Treatments. |
Social Sharing URLs (This category is listed as Social URLs in the editor menus) |
Email offers |
Use social sharing URLs to embed hyperlinks, which are associated with one or more social network icons, into email treatments. Customers who are targeted for the email campaign can share the hyperlink on their social networks. The list of social sharing URLs that is available when editing treatments is limited to those defined on the Social Sharing URLs link bar. For additional information, see Adding Social Sharing URLs to Email Treatments. |
Downloads |
Web offers |
You can select files that are available for downloading with the treatment. To be available for selection in the editor, the download items must have been defined in the Downloads list for the treatment. For additional information, see Adding Attachments to the Web Treatments Downloads List. |
For Web offers, Web surveys, Events, and URLs (trackable, dynamic, and social sharing URLs) to be available for selection as personalization elements, you must add records to the relevant lists. For more information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments.
About Using Personalization Items
You can insert any field from the Personalization Elements menu (Text editor) or Items menu (HTML editor) that is available for a treatment by selecting the item, then clicking the insert arrow when editing the treatment.
For example you might want to personalize an offer with the contact’s name, such as: Exciting Offer for [Field: First Name] [Field: Last Name]. Using the Merge Fields category, select the personalization item [Field: First Name] and insert it into the desired location in the message. Repeat this procedure to add a last name. Typically, the tags for personalization items are enclosed in brackets ([ and ]). During run time, the target values are substituted for personalization elements.
Response forms, product links, Web treatment links, and Web survey links personalization items are encoded so that they become URL links containing the destination address, with campaign, treatment, and recipient codes included. Thus, the URL in any text-based email can become long.
The following list contains descriptions of how links to offer elements appear in an offer:
Web offer link. The following is an example of how a link to a Web offer appears in an offer. The hyperlink is the image (banner_midsize.gif). When you click the link, the Web offer (Introducing Diet Vanilla Cake) appears.
<a href="[*Web Offer: Introducing Diet Vanilla Cake]"><img src="banner_midsize.gif" border=0 width="149" height="43"></a>
Event link. The following is an example of how a link to an Event appears in an offer. The hyperlink is Click Here. When you click the words Click Here, the specific Event appears.
<a href="[*Web Offer: Introducing Diet Vanilla Cake]">Click here</a>
Web survey link. The following is an example of how a link to a Survey appears in an offer. The hyperlink is the image (customer_survey.gif). When you click the image, you are taken to a predefined Web survey page.
<a href="[*Web Survey: Diet Vanilla Cake Survey]"><img src="images/ customer_survey.gif" border=0 width="156" height="23"></a>
Web surveys are used to capture customer feedback or qualify leads. Using the Web Survey designer, you can design a survey one time, reuse questions and answers for multiple surveys, and deploy the survey on the Web and in the Call Center. For information on Web surveys, see About Web Surveys and Landing Sites.
Trackable URLs link. The following is an example of how a link to a trackable URL appears in an offer. The hyperlink is Click Here. When you click the words Click Here, the specific URL appears, showing any specified data elements.
<a href="[*Trackable URL: DVC URL]">Click here</a>
Products link. The following is an example of how a link to a Product URL appears in an offer. The hyperlink is the image (order_now.gif). When you click the image, the specific product page appears.
<a href="[*Product: Diet Vanilla Cake]"><img src="images/order_now.gif" border=0 width="81" height="23"></a>
Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments
This topic describes how to associate Web offers, Web surveys, Events, and Trackable URL personalization items with offer treatments. When you have associated these items with an offer treatment, they become available for selection from the Personalization Elements menu (Text editor) or Items menu (HTML editor) when editing the treatment, and they can be embedded in the treatment.
To associate Web offers, Web surveys, Events, and Trackable URL personalization items with treatments
Navigate to the Offers screen.
In the link bar, choose the treatment type to associate with an offer element, for example, Email Treatments.
Select a treatment, then click the Advanced view tab for the treatment.
Select one of the following link bars, depending on the type of element you want to make available from the Personalization Elements menu (Text editor) or Items menu (HTML editor):
Related Events
Trackable URLs
Related Web Treatments
Related Web Surveys
In the selected list, create a new record and save it.
The item created can now be embedded in the treatment. For example, after you add a Web treatment on the Related Web Treatments link bar, if you navigate to an Edit view and select Web Treatments in the Categories menu (HTML editor) or Personalization Categories (text editor) menu, your newly added Web treatment appears in the list of elements.
Note: Trackable URLs must start with http:// or the Web server address is inserted. If you have more than one URL, then separate each one with a semicolon (;) and no spaces.
About the Merge Fields Personalization Category
Use merge fields to customize treatments by contact or prospect. Contacts or prospects can have multiple fields associated with them, each field defining some attribute of a contact or prospect (for example, the person's first or last name). For each unique contact or prospect, the value of these fields might differ. You insert the merge field personalization element in the text and then the value of the Contact or Prospect field is populated into the text where you inserted the merge field personalization item.
The following simple example shows two prospects with the first names of Sally and Fred, how the personalization item appears in the treatment before and then after the contact or prospect field is populated.
Before population in the treatment text:
Hello [Field: First Name]!
When Sally receives the treatment, she gets the following:
Hello Sally!
When Fred receives the treatment, he gets the following:
Hello Fred!
In some contact or prospect records, a value might not exist for a non-numeric merge field. For example, the database record from which the value comes is a NULL entry. When the contact or prospect field is populated, the merge field can default to one of the following values:
Empty string. The value is an empty string (a string containing no characters).
Unspecified. The value is the word Unspecified.
Using Merge Fields in Email Treatments
Your application can be configured to use email merge fields in the following ways:
Basic. Provides a static set of merge fields based on the campaign recipient business component. These merge fields are available when your organization has not licensed or deployed the marketing segmentation module.
Advanced. Provides a flexible set of merge fields based on data from any data source or table within the application. The merge fields in this case are controlled by the Personalization Format (Email Server list format) that you select for the email treatment. For information on selecting a personalization format, see Selecting a Personalization Format for an Email Treatment.
For instructions on configuring the Basic or Advanced modes for email personalization, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide. In the Basic configuration, each category has a number of personalization elements. For example, the Merge Fields category has the following personalization elements (depending on the personalization format used):
[Field: M/M]
[Field: First Name]
[Field: Middle Name]
[Field: Last Name]
[Field: Account]
[Field: Account Location]
[Field: Job Title]
[Field: Work Phone #]
[Field: Home Phone #]
[Field: Cellular Phone #]
[Field: Fax Phone #]
[Field: Email Address]
[Field: Current Date]
[Field: Source Code]
[Field: Contact Id]
[Field: Prospect Id]
[Field: Camp Con Id]
[Field: Segment/List Name]
[Field: Forwarder Message]
[Field: Subscription List]
You can use merge fields in the body of a text or HTML email treatment, in the same way that they are used within the text or HTML of other treatment types. Additionally, you can use merge fields in the following areas related to email treatments:
Subject Text field of the email treatment. The text to appear in the subject line of the email.
From Address parameter value. A parameter of the Email Marketing Server in User Delivery Profiles.
Reply To Address parameter value. A parameter of the Email Marketing Server in User Delivery Profiles.
For example, to personalize the From Address parameter with a first name, navigate to the Administration - Marketing screen, then the Servers view. Select the Email Marketing Server and enter ${first name}@example.com in the From Address field.
Selecting a Personalization Format for an Email Treatment
When you create an email treatment, the values for the Email Marketing Server and Personalization Format are set based on settings established by your administrator.
The default value for the Personalization Format field is Default Merge Fields. If the field value is not a path name, then the available merge fields come from the Campaign Recipient business component user property. Otherwise, the columns in the report identified by the path are displayed in the Merge Fields picklist. You can change the default value for this field by using the Email Personalization Format server parameter for your object manager.
The following procedure shows how to select a Personalization Format (merge fields) for an email treatment.
To select a Personalization Format (merge fields) for an email treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Treatments list, click the name of the email treatment.
In the Email Treatment form, click the Merge Field Set button.
In the dialog box, select the appropriate format from the folders that appear.
For more information about creating Email Server formats, see Siebel Marketing Installation and Administration Guide.
In the Edit Email form, from the Personalization Categories menu (text editor) or the Categories menu (HTML editor), choose Merge Fields.
The merge fields must appear in the Personalization Elements menu (text editor) or Items menu (HTML editor).
About Creating Conditional Content in Treatments
There are two personalization elements that can be used to generate conditional content within an email treatment. Each of these is made up of the following personalization elements:
If-Then-Else. Determines whether or not a block of text or HTML is removed from an outgoing email by verifying if a Merge field value is defined. The merge field is defined if it is not an empty string or, for numeric merge fields, if it is not a value of 0 (zero). For more information, see About the If-Then Personalization Element.
If the merge field is defined, then the block of text or HTML remains in the outgoing email.
If the merge field is not defined, then the block of text or HTML is removed from the outgoing email.
Named Blocks. Used to decide whether or not to insert a block of text or HTML into an outgoing email by comparing one string with another. For more information, see About the Named Blocks Personalization Element.
If the two strings are identical, then the block is inserted.
If the two strings are not identical, then the block is not inserted.
The components of these personalization elements must be placed in the correct locations in the text or HTML email treatment or an error occurs.
About the If-Then Personalization Element
The following table shows a list of If-Then personalization element components.
Table If-Then Personalization Element Components
| Personalization Element | Description |
|---|---|
$(endif) |
The End-If component closes the current If-Then-Else personalization element. |
$(if [Field: FieldName]) |
TheIf component is required to start an If-Then-Else personalization element. TheIf component determines if the merge field named [FieldName] has a value. If there is a value for [FieldName], then the text between this If-Then-Else component and the next If-Then-Else component is not removed from the email. |
The following is a simple example of the use of an If-Then personalization element. If the first name is defined, then the contact's or prospect's first and last name appears. If the first name is not defined, then only the last name appears:
$(if [Field: First Name]) Dear [Field: First Name] [Field: Last Name], $(else) Dear Mr. or Mrs. [Field: Last Name], $(endif)
Nesting If-Then personalization elements (placing one within another) is an acceptable practice. The following is an example of nesting these elements:
$(if [Field: First Name])
$(if [Field: Last Name])
Dear [Field: First Name] [Field: Last Name],
$(else)
Dear [Field: First Name],
$(endif)
$(elseif [Field: Last Name]) Dear Mr. or Mrs. [Field: Last Name], $(else) To Whom It May Concern: $(endif)
Use of indentation indicates the nesting of one If-Then personalization element within another. Indentation is not necessary, but makes it easier to read. Also, in this example, each component is on its own line. This use of separate lines is also not necessary, but it makes reading the treatment easier.
After the Email Marketing Server makes the decision about what text or HTML to remove, the If-Then-Else personalization element components are also removed (including their trailing line breaks).
Inserting If-Then Statements in an Email Treatment
The following procedure shows how to insert if-then statements in an email treatment.
To insert if-then statements
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Treatments List, click an email treatment.
Select a template to edit.
From the If Then Rules menu, choose If.
In the secondary menu, choose a merge field to be personalized.
In the tertiary menu, choose a conditional operator.
Click the Value button (the book icon) and enter the value of the merge field to be personalized.
Select a location in the template to insert the personalized If statement.
Click the Insert Rule button (which is a down arrow icon).
Place the conditional content between $(if) and $(endif) tags.
(Optional) Add $(elseif) conditions if more than one iteration of the content must appear.
Place default content after the $(endif) tag.
About the Named Blocks Personalization Element
The following table shows a list of Named Blocks personalization element components.
Table Named Blocks Personalization Element Components
| Personalization Element | Description |
|---|---|
$(DefineBlock "MatchString") |
Define Block component. Starts a block of text or HTML that is inserted in place of an Insert Block component when MatchString is identical to the MatchString of the Insert Block component. |
$(EndBlock) |
End Block component. Ends a block of text or HTML started with the Define Block component. |
$(InsertBlock "MatchString") |
Insert Block component. A block of text or HTML is inserted at the location this component is placed when MatchString is identical to the MatchString of a Define Block component. This comparison is case sensitive. |
The following is a simple example of the use of a Named Blocks personalization element:
<P>The temperature of your favorite drink is $(InsertBlock "[Field: Favorite Drink]").</P> $(DefineBlock "Coffee") <B>hot</B> $(EndBlock)
$(DefineBlock "Iced Tea") <B>cold</B> $(EndBlock)
$(DefineBlock "Water") <B>cool</B> $(EndBlock)
In this example, the merge field named Favorite Drink is the value Coffee. After the merge fields are populated, the following sentence appears:
The temperature of your favorite drink is hot.
The HTML source reads:
<P>The temperature of your favorite drink is <B>hot</B>.</P>
If there is no match for an Insert Block component match string, then the Insert Block component is not replaced by any text or HTML. After the Email Marketing Server resolves all matches, the remaining Named Block personalization element components are removed (including their trailing line breaks and any text or HTML between Define Blocks and End Blocks).
Inserting Named Blocks in an Email Treatment
The following procedure shows how to insert named blocks in an email treatment. For additional information about named blocks, see About the Named Blocks Personalization Element.
To insert named blocks
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Email Treatments view.
In the Treatments List, click an email treatment.
Select a template to edit.
From the If Then Rules menu, choose Insert Block.
In the secondary menu, choose a merge field.
In the tertiary menu, choose a merge field to be personalized.
Select a location in the template to insert the block.
Click the Insert Rule button to insert the block to be personalized.
After inserting the named block, you must define the values that have personalized content as follows:
From the If Then Rules menu, choose Create Block.
Click the Value button and enter the value of the personalized item to be linked to this block.
Click in the workspace after the previously inserted Insert Block statement.
Click the Insert Rule button.
Place conditional content between $(DefineBlock "merge field") and $(EndBlock) statements.
About Applying Localization Rules to Treatments
Each treatment record contains a locale value. The locale is used to locate and display the localized landing page for response forms. When you create an email treatment record, the locale value defaults to the value set in your profile. You can change the value to match your business needs. When you launch the campaign, the locale assigned to the email treatment is used for all recipients.
The default character set for emails is UTF-8 which is the value set in the Charset attribute for the email's Content-Type header. To change the Charset attribute, select an Email Marketing Server profile with the correct Charset attribute or request an Administrator to make the changes necessary to the Email Marketing Server profile that you use.
The character set for the template you upload must be the default character set configured for the operating system you are using (the current code page on Windows or UTF-8 on UNIX). On UNIX platforms, an environment variable (SIEBEL_FILE_ENCODING) can be assigned to a character set to use in place of UTF-8 when reading templates. If the original template file contains a BOM (Byte Order Mark), then the character set of the template file can be detected. This detection is useful when the character set differs from the platform default character set.
Previewing Treatments
You can preview what a treatment looks like when received by a contact or prospect in the following ways:
Click Verify and Preview in the appropriate Edit Template view. Clicking this button previews the selected template and tests the behavior of conditional content to various merge field values. For more information, see the topic in this chapter that applies to the template you are using.
Use the Test Treatment feature. This feature is one way to confirm configurations for email and fax treatments. For example, when you use this feature to test email treatments you confirm configurations such as Email Marketing Server configuration and proper template setup for use in multipart MIME. For more information, see Testing Campaigns That Have Email and Fax Treatments.
About Fax Treatments
Fax treatments are available in Siebel Marketing and Siebel Campaigns. Using the Fax Treatment view, a marketer can create personalized faxes for targeted distribution during a campaign.
The Fax Treatment view contains the following view tabs:
Treatment Details. This form contains additional fields that you can use to specify a predefined communications Delivery Profile for fax distribution, an Activity check box that can be used to track the treatment as an activity, and approval check boxes and fields if the fax treatment requires approval from your company’s marketing and legal departments. The Treatment Details form also displays a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field.
Edit Fax. Use this form to choose a treatment template and specify the personalization elements that are included in your fax design.
Delivery Profile. This read-only list displays parameters of the Siebel Communications profile chosen for the fax treatment. For more information on setting up a delivery profile for a fax treatment, see Siebel CTI Administration Guide. For more information on testing and distributing fax campaigns, see Testing Campaigns That Have Email and Fax Treatments.
Literature. This list shows the company and product information associated with the media treatment. You can add additional items to this list if desired. For more information, see Associating Literature with Treatments.
Related Events. Displays events related to fax treatments.
Process of Working with Fax Treatments
To set up fax treatments, perform the following topics:
Related Topics
Associating Templates with Fax Treatments
A template can be associated with a fax treatment. To edit the template, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates.
The following procedure shows how to associate a treatment template with a fax treatment.
To associate a treatment template with a fax treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Fax Treatments view.
In the Fax Treatments list, select the fax treatment, and click the Edit Fax view tab.
In the Edit Fax form, create a new record.
Click the Template Name select button.
In the Pick Treatment Template dialog box, select the predefined template for the fax treatment, and click OK.
Only treatment templates that you add to the Treatment Templates list are available for selection. For more information, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates.
Save the record.
The template contents appear on the far side of the view, and Edit Template and Verify & Preview buttons become available.
Delivery Profiles for Fax Treatments
Delivery Profiles are available in Siebel Marketing. They are required for fax treatments. Delivery Profiles are created using the Communication Administration screen’s Communications Drivers and Profiles view. Fax treatments are distributed using the fax communications driver provided with your fax application.
Siebel Communications Server does not interface directly with fax servers. Most popular fax servers provide email gateways that connect themselves to an email server such as Microsoft Exchange Server or an SMTP server. The host email server recognizes messages with specially formatted email addresses and directs those messages to the fax server.
Siebel Communications Server interfaces indirectly with this type of fax server through the host email server. Except for the email address format, it makes no difference to Siebel Communications Server whether it is sending an email or a fax. Before fax treatments can be sent out, you must select one of the defined profiles.
Default parameter values are set for each communications driver within the Communication Administration screen’s Communications Drivers and Profiles view. You can create customized communications profiles for each of these driver types that override the default values for that driver. For example, a profile might specify customized From and Reply-To email addresses. For more information about communications drivers and profiles, see Siebel CTI Administration Guide. For more information about using delivery profiles, see Creating Delivery Profiles and Associating with Fax Treatments.
Creating Delivery Profiles and Associating with Fax Treatments
This topic describes how to create a delivery profile and associate it with a fax treatment.
Creating a Delivery Profile
Use the following procedure to select a communications driver and create a profile that you can associate with fax treatments.
To create a delivery profile for fax treatments
Navigate to the Administration-Communications screen, then the Communications Drivers and Profiles view.
In the Communications Drivers list, select a driver, and click the Profiles view tab.
In the Profiles list, create a new record:
In the Name field, enter a name for the new profile.
In the Organization field, accept the default organization, or click the select button to select another organization.
In the Responsibilities field, click the select button, and in the Responsibilities list, select the responsibility associated with profile access.
The Responsibilities field is used in conjunction with Siebel eMail Response. It does not apply to outbound email campaigns.
Save the profile, and click the Driver Parameters view tab.
Edit the parameters for the profile, and save the record.
Associating a Delivery Profile with a Fax Treatment
The following procedure shows how to associate a delivery profile with a fax treatment.
To associate a delivery profile with a fax treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Fax Treatments view.
In the Treatment Details form, select the treatment record.
In the Delivery Profile field, select the delivery profile for the treatment.
Web Treatments
Web treatments are targeted HTML treatments that can be displayed on the Siebel Web Marketing microsite. Web treatments are available in Siebel Marketing and Siebel Web Marketing.
Using the Web Treatments view tabs, you can specify a template containing content for the Web treatment, edit the template and add personalization elements, identify links to related Web offers, surveys, related events and trackable URLs and attach relevant product information that can be downloaded by the Web site visitor. The following table shows the view tabs available in the Web Treatments view.
Table Web Treatments View Tabs
| View Tab Name | Description |
|---|---|
Treatment Details |
This form contains additional fields that you can use if the Web treatment requires approvals from your company’s marketing and legal departments. It also provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field.
Note: If you select the Inbound Active Flag check box, then the Web treatment appears to eligible users in the Web Marketing home page. The Featured Treatments applet checks this flag before displaying a Web offer to an eligible contact or prospect.
|
Edit Web Treatment |
Use this form to attach templates containing the content of the Web treatment. To be selected here, templates must first be added to the Treatment Templates list. For more information, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates.
|
Downloads |
Use this list to provide a list of literature related to the offer that is available for download by the Web site visitor. |
Advanced |
Contains the Related Web Surveys, Related Events, and Trackable URLs link bars. Use these lists to specify Web surveys, related events, and trackable URLs that you can embed in your Web treatment, using the Edit Web Treatment personalization elements controls. For more information, see Associating Web Offers, Web Surveys, Events, and Trackable URL Personalization Items with Treatments. |
Follow up Activity |
Allows marketers to schedule a follow-up activity when the treatment is delivered. |
Real-Time Details |
This view is used only if Siebel Marketing is integrated with the Oracle Real-Time Decisions (RTD) product. |
The following topics detail how to create a basic Web treatment:
Related Topic
Associating Templates with Web Treatments
Complete the steps in the following procedure to associate a template with a Web treatment. To edit the treatment template, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates. Templates must first be added to the Treatment Templates list to be available for selection in the Edit Web Treatment view tab. For more information, see About Creating and Editing Treatment Templates.
The following procedure shows how to associate a treatment template with a Web treatment.
To associate a treatment template with a Web treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Web Treatments view.
In the Web Treatments list, select the treatment, and click the Edit Web Treatment view tab.
Create a new record.
Click the Template Name select button.
In the Pick Treatment Template dialog box, select the template, and click OK.
To be available for selection, templates must first be added to the Treatment Templates list. For more information, see Creating Treatment Templates and Adding to the Template List.
Save the record to associate the template with the treatment.
Adding Attachments to the Web Treatments Downloads List
The Web Treatment Downloads list displays literature and other files that can be downloaded with the treatment. Literature items must be included in the literature list to be available for selection in this view.
The Downloads list shows files that can be included in the selected Web treatment for download. Any literature other than treatment templates can be included in a treatment as a download. The fields in this view are shown in the following table.
Table Fields in the Web Treatment Downloads View
| Field | Comment |
|---|---|
Comments |
Populated from the literature table. |
Description |
Populated from the literature table. |
File Name |
Populated from the literature table. |
File Type |
Populated with the file extension. |
Modified |
Populated with the file modification date. |
Name |
Click the Name select button to select a literature item. |
Release Date |
Populated with the date that the literature item was released. |
Size (In Bytes) |
Populated with the file size in kilobytes. |
Files added here are not yet available for downloading. In this view, you select a set of files to be able to include as downloads from your Web treatment. These files then appear in the personalization Items menu of embeddable objects in the HTML Editor tool bar when you choose Downloads from the personalization Categories menu.
You can select any file from that list and copy it into the template file and that file becomes available for downloading. These files are displayed in the Embedded Object list as [Download:Literature Item Name].
When the Siebel Marketing software encodes this tag, it uses the Literature Item Name as the hyperlink text. The marketer can override this default behavior by using the wildcard (*) functionality and manually defining the HREF link, as described in About Using Hyperlinks (HREF) in Treatment Templates.
The following procedure shows how to attach literature in the Downloads view.
To attach literature in the Downloads view
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Web Treatments view.
In the Web Treatments list, select the treatment, and click the Downloads view tab.
In the Downloads list, select the literature to make available for downloading from the Web treatment:
Click the menu button and create a new record.
In the Downloads form, click the Name select button.
In the Pick Literature Item list, select the item, and click OK.
Creating Other Treatment Types
You can create other treatment types, such as direct mail, media treatments, and phone depending on the application you use:
Creating Contact Call Treatments and Associating a Response Template
Contact call treatments are available in Siebel Pharma Marketing and Siebel Pharma Campaigns only. Contact call treatments are executed through the Siebel Pharma sales application. Use the Contact Call treatment view to define specific product messages to be delivered as part of pharma call detailing. The contact call treatment view includes the following view tabs:
More Info. This form contains fields that you use if the contact call treatment requires approvals from your marketing and legal departments. It also provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the treatment code field.
Response Templates. Use this list to create potential responses to the product message created as part of the contact call treatment.
For instructions on how to create response templates, see Associating a Response Template to a Contact Call Treatment.
My Messaging Plan List. Displays messaging plans associated with the Contact Call treatment.
For more information on executing contact call treatments and for information on messaging plans, see Siebel Life Sciences Guide.
Creating a Contact Call Treatment
The following procedure describes how to create a Contact Call treatment.
To create a Contact Call treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen, then the Contact Call Treatments view.
In the Treatments list, create a new treatment.
Contact Call is displayed in the Channel field.
In the Contact Call Treatments list, complete the remaining fields.
For more information about creating treatments, see Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
Click the Contact Call treatment name.
In the More Info tab, complete the fields.
Associating a Response Template to a Contact Call Treatment
Response templates associated with a contact call treatment determines the choice of responses that can be recorded as part of call reporting in Siebel Pharma.
The following procedure shows how to associate a response template with a contact call treatment.
To associate a response template with a contact call treatment
Navigate to Treatments screen, then the Contact Call Treatments view.
Click the treatment name.
In the Response Template list, create a new record.
Direct Mail Treatments
Direct mail treatments are available in the Siebel Marketing application. For instructions about how to create a direct mail treatment, see Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
Using the Direct Mail Treatment view, you can associate Literature documents with a treatment. Siebel Marketing does not provide a mechanism to print direct mail treatments but can pass output lists to vendors for execution.
You can generate output or distribution list of contacts during the campaign launch. The customer information is arranged according to a predefined list format, and the list can be delivered to the appropriate vendors through a predefined method (for example, FTP or email). For more information about list output and vendors, see About Previewing and Generating Lists.
The Direct Mail Treatment view contains the following view tabs:
Treatment Details. This form contains additional fields that you can use if the direct mail treatment requires approvals from your company’s marketing and legal departments. It also provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field.
Literature. This list shows the company and product information associated with the treatment. To add literature to the list, see Associating Literature with Treatments.
Related Events. Displays events related to direct mail treatments.
Follow up Activity. Allows marketers to schedule a follow-up activity when the treatment is delivered.
Direct Mail Template. Allows you to associate a template with the direct mail treatment.
Media Treatments
Media treatments are available in Siebel Marketing and Siebel Campaigns. For more information on how to create a media treatment, see Process of Creating and Modifying Offers.
Use the Media Treatments view to define indirect treatments. Types of media treatments available in the standard product are Billboard, Print Ad, Press Release, Radio, TV, Seminar, and Trade Show. When you define indirect treatments, you know the general characteristics of your audience but not its exact composition.
The Media Treatments view contains the Treatment Details, Literature and Related Events view tabs.
Treatment Details. This form contains additional fields that you can use if the media treatment requires approvals from your company’s marketing and legal departments. It also provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field. You can specify the type of media to use to distribute the treatment using the Type field.
Literature. This shows the company and product information associated with the media treatment. You can add additional items to this list if desired. For example, if the media treatment type is press release, then you can associate the press release content with the treatment for later referral. For more information, see Associating Literature with Treatments.
Related Events. This indicates if the media treatment is being used to promote a specific event or set of events.
Follow up Activity. Allows marketers to schedule a follow-up activity when the treatment is delivered.
Phone Treatments and Direct Sales Treatments
Phone treatments and direct sales treatments are available in Siebel Marketing and Siebel Campaigns.
Use the Phone Treatments view or Direct Sales Treatments view to define telemarketing treatments to be executed using Siebel Call Center or another application. The following table shows the view tabs in the Phone Treatments view.
Table Phone Treatments View Tabs
| View Tab Name | Description |
|---|---|
Treatment Details |
This form contains more fields that you can use if the phone treatment requires approvals from your company’s marketing and legal departments. It also provides a unique identifier for the treatment in the Treatment Code field. |
Literature |
This list shows the company and product information associated with the phone treatment. You can add additional items to this list if desired. For more information, see Associating Literature with Treatments. |
Related Events |
Displays events relating to phone treatments. |
Advanced |
This form associates a treatment group with the phone treatment. This tab is not available in the Direct Sales Treatments view. |
Follow up Activity |
Allows marketers to schedule a follow-up activity when the treatment is delivered. |
Real-Time Details |
This view is used only if Siebel Marketing is integrated with the Oracle Real-Time Decisions (RTD) product. |
Associating Literature with Treatments
Literature about the products or services offered during a campaign can be associated with a treatment using the Literature view tab in the Direct Mail, Media, Phone, and Fax Treatment views. To add attachments to email treatments, see Editing Treatments.
You can associate literature items, such as white papers, presentations, brochures, advertising material, and product specifications with your treatment to create a specialized library of information. You can use this library when reviewing details of treatments that are being reused in current campaigns.
In addition, a call center agent can view the literature while launching the campaign. The agent can also include literature items with faxes, email messages, or correspondence sent to a contact. Literature items are then included when you create a new correspondence record for a contact.
Before you can select literature to associate with a treatment, you must add the literature items to the Literature screen’s All Literature Across Organizations list. For more information about adding literature that you can associate with your treatments, see Siebel Applications Administration Guide.
Use the following procedure to associate specific literature items with your treatments.
To associate a literature item with a treatment
Navigate to the Offers screen.
From the Treatments link bar, select the appropriate treatment type.
Click the treatment name.
In the Literature list, create a new record.
In the Literature form, click the Name select button.
In the Pick Literature Item dialog box, select the literature, and click OK.
Implementing Test and Control Groups for Treatments
Test and control groups allow you to isolate variables in the effectiveness of a treatment. The test group contains treatment recipients who are tested for a particular factor. The control group does not receive this factor, and is therefore separated for purposes of comparison.
The following procedure shows how to implement test and control groups for a treatment.
To implement test and control groups for a treatment
In Siebel Tools, add an LOV value to the treatment to identify it as Control or Test.
Add a filter to all export list formats that excludes any customer rows that receive control treatments. You might have to extend the list export business model to join to the treatment type (for example, S_CAMP_CON to S_DMND_CRT_PRG).
Add a search specification to any Call Center screens, so that outbound telemarketing calls do not show any recipients of the control treatment.
Associate both test and control treatments with the campaign.
Use a segment tree to split the test and control groups. Allocate the tree branches to the test and control treatments.
Load the campaign, including both test and control segments.