Shopperee Communications (eMail)

Communications is a term used to describe messaging or contacting customers. This can be in the form of free form email, templated email, printed document or sms.

Communications Process Flow

The process flow to generate communication output is shown in the diagram below:
commsflow.png

Through the 4 steps, managers define target customers and generate the appropriate output for comms.

Step 1: Defining a Customer Set - the Communications Wizard

Before messaging customers, managers must choose a customer set. There are two main ways of choosing a customer set:

  1. Via "contact" buttons throughout the application
  2. By selecting a pre-defined segment in the communication wizard

"Contact" Button
In the application, managers will see the "Contact" button on several different pages. The button enables managers to select the group of customers which the page segments. For example, the edit customer page addresses a single customer at a time, so use of the contact button at that point enables communications with the customer which was selected. Similarly, selecting a schedule enables managers to see all customers booked into the selected schedule. Using the contact button at a schedule consequently enables communications to customers attached to the session.

Communication Wizard Segments
In the communication wizard, managers can select pre-selected customer segments. These segments enable mass mailout to customers in a fast and easy manner. Pre-defined segments include:

Segment Description
Booked Customers who have booked a resource or booked into a schedule
Overdue Customers who have at least one receivable past its due date.
Unpaid Customers who have outstanding receivables.
Unconfirmed Customers who have outstanding receivables and have not confirmed payment.
Segment 1 (g) Customers who have been marked in selected segment.
Engagement Segmentation (f) Customers automatically segmented by value. See Engagement Segmentation for more information.
Location Segmentation (f) Customers who are currently booked (or have booked previously) into a service at the specified location.

Step 2: Marketing or Operational

This step is only relevant for templated emails. When the "Marketing" option is selected, an unsubscribed link is placed in the email in place of the UnsubscribeURLBK tag. This enables a customer to unsubscribe from marketing emails. Note that these are required by law whenever a marketing or advertising email is deployed.

Step 3: Choosing a Messaging Type

When managers have selected a customer set, the next step is to choose a messaging type.

Freeform Email

Freeform email allows managers to use their own emailing software such as Microsoft Outlook or Gmail to communicate with their customers. Shopperee will expose customers emails in a report page allowing managers to copy and paste emails into their preferred email programs.

Templated Email

Templated emails are selected pre-written text merged with Shopperee Database fields to enable content customisation. Templates for emails can be created as Microsoft Word HTML files or Pure HTML archives. The following table details the attributes of both template types:

MS Word HTML HTML Archive
Easy To Create Y - use MS Word N - requires technical knowledge
Target Author Manager or administrative staff Web designer
Emailable Y Y
Attachable As PDF Y Y
Printable Y Y

SMS

SMS text messaging1 is available to customers who have bought SMS credit packages. Packages are available in several sizes including 1000, 5000 and 20,000. Each message may contain up to 480 characters.

Printed Document

Printed documents are generated from MS Word MHT templates. When processed by Shopperee, the final document form is delivered in Word and PDF formats.
Notes 1. Please refer to Shopperee Terms & Conditions for your obligations regarding customer marketing communications. 2. Note that multi-messages to older mobile phones may be split because of the handset's inability to process longer messages correctly.

Step 4: Filter and Send

Before sending, the communication wizard provides additional filters to tune the customer set. These include:

  • "Only customers with amount owing" which is especially helpful when sending out invoices to ensure customers who have paid do not receive blank invoices.
  • "Only customers with invoiced charges" which ensures that customers are only message if they have at least one invoice line item which has not been previously sent to them.
  • "Remove duplicate emails" which is commonly used with marketing emails to ensure customers are not sent the same email more than once.

Sample Uses of Communications Wizard

Emailing Invoices To All Unpaid Customers

As this is a process for mass emails, managers would commonly go to the Communications Wizard in the "Connect & Report" menu. Here the manager would choose the following settings:

  • Step 1: Operational Email - as an unsubscribe link is not required.
  • Step 2: "Unpaid" segment - as the manager should only want to send invoices to unpaid customers.
  • Step 3: "Templated" email - at this point you can use a standard invoice or if you have specific content for late payments - use your 'late payment' invoice
  • Step 4: "Only customers with amount owing" and customer "With Email" only

After this step, the application moves to the email page where the manager would need to enter their email address and the subject of the email, followed by choosing the correct email template which is likely to be called "Invoice".

Printing Invoices of All Unpaid Customers

The print sample is similar to the email sample. Here the manager would use the following parameters:

  • Step 1: Operational Email - as an unsubscribe link is not required.
  • Step 2: "Unpaid" segment - as the manager should only want to send invoices to unpaid customers.
  • Step 3: "Printed Documents"
  • Step 4: "Only customers with amount owing" and customer "Without Email" only

After clicking next, a PDF document would be generated with all relevant invoices.

Emailing An Invitation to Join A Schedule (like a School Holiday Class)

As this is a process for mass emails, managers would commonly go to the Communications Wizard in the "Connect & Report" menu. Here the manager would choose the following settings:

  • Step 1: Marketing Email - as an unsubscribe link IS required.
  • Step 2: "All" segment - as the manager wants to send the invitation to all potential customers
  • Step 3: "Templated" email - choose your invitation template on the next step
  • Step 4: Check "Remove duplicate email address" and "With Email" filters so that your customers don't receive duplicates.

After this step, the application moves to the email page where the manager would need to enter their email address and the subject of the email, followed by choosing the correct email template.

Emailing A Request To End Trial By Paying In Full Or Opt Out of Booking

As this is a process for mass emails, managers would commonly go to the Communications Wizard in the "Connect & Report" menu. Here the manager would choose the following settings:

  • Step 1: Operational Email - as an unsubscribe link is NOT required.
  • Step 2: "TRIAL" segment (part of segmentation 2) - as the manager wants to send the invitation to all TRIAL customers
  • Step 3: "Templated" email - choose your opt out template on the next step
  • Step 4: Check "Only customers with amount owing" and customer "With Email" only

After this step, the application moves to the email page where the manager enters the sender's email address and the subject of the email, followed by choosing the opt out email template.

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