Drop Folders
- Ben Clark
Overview
This step can be used to send emails from a your Alterian Email Manager account.
This step provides two methods to create the emails:
Drop Folders - You can link the step to a previously configured drop folder. This has the advantage that the people sent the email through Email Manager are added to a specific list so you get the full reporting options within Email Manager on the success of these sends. Health suppression and opt-outs within Email Manager are honoured. If more than one individual is being emailed at a time this option should be used.
One Off Deployment - For transactional purposes - This allows you to send an email without the requirement to create a drop folder. The email is simply sent with the details provided in the step and the recipient is not added to a specific list within Email Manager. This has the advantage that emails are sent out faster than the drop folders method. The disadvantage is that as the individuals are not added to the list more limited reporting is available in Email Manager. This option has been designed specifically for transactional email sends, you as a brand need the recipient to get the email. Using this option the emails will be sent even if they would normally be blocked within Email Manager due to health suppressions or opts outs.
Plugin Configuration when using Drop Folders option
The following settings can be configured:
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Step Name | Allows you to name the step to differenciate it from others with the same default name. |
Soap Endpoint URL | The Email Manager URL e.g. https://clientname.alterian.net |
Static Token | The Email Manager static token. This can be obtained from the Alterian help desk. We would encourage our users to set this as a Forced, Confidential global parameter to maintain security on the tokens. |
Buffer size | The amount of rows of data to send to Email Manager in one go |
Buffer seconds | The amount of seconds to wait between each send batch. In the below example, 30,000 rows / (emails) would be sent to Email Manager every 60 seconds:  |
Import Id Destination Field | Provides back from Email Manager the ImportID used to load the data into Email Manager. The field will populate the field chosen by this drop down. More details can be found here. |
Drop Folders | The Drop Folder name to use to send out the email against. The drop down list can be populated by selecting “Populate List”. This assumes the URL and Static Token have already been populated. |
Write only If | Where the data in the rule has been reviewed for validity you can choose what happens.
|
Field Mappings (Separate Tab) | The fields within Email Manager to populate:
|
Setup
The step used to send an email via Email Manager relies on Drop Folder configuration to be set up in Email Manager:
Alterian Email Manager: Drop Folder Configuration
Drop Folders require a base deployment
Login to your Email Manager account
If required, create a new List
Have the email creative ready
Create a deployment to the list using the email creative
Drop Folder configuration:
Create new Import
Select “Verify the headers before importing”
Select whether you want to:
Upload the records to an existing list OR
Create a new one
Select the base deployment created earlier
Select whether you want to:
Reuse an existing deployment OR
Copy the base deployment
DDE Rule Setup
Configure the Alterian Email Manager Plugin
Enter the Email Manager URL and Static Token
For the Drop Folder
Click Populate List to retrieve details from your Email Manager Account
Select the Drop Folder created earlier
Click Get Fields to pull down field configuration in the Drop Folder list import
The "Map to incoming field" are the fields in the Rule
The plugin will try to match these up and create the mapping
If the mapping is incorrect, select the correct fields
In Email Manager:
If a new list was selected, then a new list will be created
If the base deployment was selected to be copied, a new deployment will be created
An Email is sent
