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Connect Dotdigital as your messaging provider

Learn to connect your Fresh Relevance account to use Dotdigital as a messaging provider.

Updated over 3 weeks ago

Before you start

Things you need to know:

  • You must have

    • your login details to the Dotdigital account you want to use, with permissions to create lists, campaigns, and API users.

    • your login details to Fresh Relevance.


Initial setup steps

Before you create the Dotdigital messaging channel in Fresh Relevance, there is some setup you must complete in your Dotdigital account.

1. Create custom data fields

For Fresh Relevance to load contact data into Dotdigital, you must set up custom fields for the data you want to import.

Learn more in Field Mapping.

2. Create a campaign

Next, you must create a triggered email campaign to use as the default campaign for your Dotdigital messaging channel in Fresh Relevance.

This default campaign acts as a fallback in case a trigger program is configured without a specified campaign ID. With correct implementation and testing, this fallback campaign is unlikely to ever be sent, but must be configured to complete the set up.


Once you've created your campaign, you must find the campaign ID.

To do this:

  1. In Dotdigital, go to Automation > Triggered email.

  2. Select the campaign name for the campaign you just created. This opens it in EasyEditor.

  3. Check the URL of the page to find and make note of the campaign ID. The ID is at the end of the URL:
    https://r1-app.dotdigital.com/Campaigns/Step/EasyEditor.aspx?id=151783

3. Create a list

A Dotdigital list is used by Fresh Relevance to store contact information for your shoppers.

Once you’ve created the list, you must find the list ID:

  1. Go to Audience > Lists and select the Properties icon for your list.

  2. On the Settings tab, make note of the List ID.

4. Create an API user

An API user is required to allow Fresh Relevance to authenticate the connection to your Dotdigital account.


Create the messaging channel

When you've completed the above steps, the Dotdigital channel can be created in Fresh Relevance.

To create a messaging channel:

  1. In Fresh Relevance, expand the User menu, then go to Settings > Triggers and Messaging integrations.

  2. Select Messaging Provider(s).

  3. Under Set up a new channel, expand the Service provider drop-down menu and select Dotdigital, then select NEXT.

  4. For Channel name, enter a name for your channel.
    This makes it easier to find your channel in menus in the future.

  5. Optionally, select the Enable Preference Settings checkbox to set Marketing preferences for contacts synced to Dotdigital. The section Preference settings covers how to configure these settings.
    Learn more about marketing preferences in the Dotdigital article Marketing preferences overview.

  6. Select NEXT.

  7. Enter the requested details in the form. You’re asked for the following:

Setting

Description

Catch-All Email Address (Optional)

An email address to which all messages that do not match any existing email address in the system are forwarded.

API Region

The geographical region where the API is hosted.

Learn how in the section Find your API region.

API Account Username

The username of your Dotdigital API account.

API Account Password

The password of your Dotdigital API account.

Default Address Book ID

The ID of the default list in Dotdigital where contacts are stored.

Default Campaign ID

The ID of the fallback campaign you created in step 2. Create a campaign.

List ID to Use to Check Send Permission on Your ESP

The ID of a list in Dotdigital that serves as a permissions checklist. If a contact is not on this list, then messages are not sent to them.

It’s your responsibility to ensure that contacts in this list have consented to receive any messages you send them.

Only Send Marketing Material to Contacts That Have an Opt-In Status of Verified Double Opt-In

If enabled, marketing materials are only sent to contacts with a verified double opt-in status.

Contact Exists Permission Behaviour

Determines the behavior when a contact already exists in Dotdigital.

Options:

  • Do not change the subscription status stored on Dotdigital

  • Change status of the contact to "subscribed" regardless of the current Dotdigital permission status. This re-subscribes deleted list members.

New Contact Permission Behaviour

Determines the behavior for adding new contacts to Dotdigital.

Options:

  • Add the contact with a status of "subscribed"

  • Add the contact with a status of "unsubscribed"

New Contact Opt-In Type

Determines the opt-in type for new contacts added to Dotdigital.

Options:

  • Load new contacts with "Unknown" opt-in type

  • Load new contacts with "Single" opt-in type

  • Load new contacts with "Double" opt-in type

  • Load new contacts with "Verified-Double" opt-in type
    Triggers a Double opt-in confirmation email from Dotdigital to new contacts or those who previously had a different opt-in type.

Do Not Send Unless Contact Already Exists in ESP

If enabled, emails are not sent to contacts unless they already exist in Dotdigital.

Find your API region

This is the Dotdigital account region. You can find your region in Settings > Access > API users.


Permission options

When loading contacts to a list in Dotdigital, you can control which permission options are required through the Contact Exists Permission Behaviour and New Contact Permission Behaviour drop-downs.

If you’ve used Dotdigital with Fresh Relevance before, prior to these permission changes, and are unsure of which options to select use the default values. These provide the same behaviour as previous versions of the integration.

Existing contacts

The Contact Exists Permission Behaviour option controls how subscription status should be managed when adding a contact that already exists in Dotdigital.

  • Do not change the subscription status stored on Dotdigital
    The existing subscription status of the contact in Dotdigital is not changed, for example, unsubscribed contacts stay unsubscribed.

  • Change the status of the contact to subscribed regardless of the current Dotdigital state
    The contact's subscription status is set to Subscribed, overwriting the previous subscription status. This contact can be sent marketing communications.

It’s your responsibility to ensure you only send marketing to contacts who have opted in.

New contacts

The New Contact Permission Behaviour option controls how subscription status should be managed when adding a new contact to Dotdigital.

  • Add the contact with a status of ‘subscribed’
    New contacts are added to Dotdigital as Subscribed and ready to receive marketing communications.

  • Add the contact with a status of ‘unsubscribed’
    New contacts are added to Dotdigital as Unsubscribed and are unable to receive marketing material until subscribed.

Opt-in

When uploading new contacts to Dotdigital you also have control over the opt-in status they are loaded with.

The available opt-in types are:

Opt-in type

Description

Unknown

Unknown opt-in type means that Dotdigital does not know how the contact has been sourced or whether they have opted into your campaigns.

While these contacts can be marketing communications, you must make sure that you send marketing only to contacts who've opted in.

Single

Single opt-in type means that the contact was added with consent, but without a secondary confirmation, such as an email confirmation.

These contacts can be sent marketing communications.

Double

Double opt-in means that a contact has provided an additional confirmation of their consent using a method separate from Dotdigital.

This is trust-based, and you must only select Double opt-in if you have a record of the contacts’ opt-in status as verified outside of Dotdigital.

Verified double

Verified double opt-in means that a contact has clicked the double opt-in link in a confirmation email sent to them by Dotdigital.

Preference settings

If you enabled preference settings in step 5 above, select PREFERENCE SETTINGS to configure these.

To set marketing preferences for contacts synced to Dotdigital:

  1. Select the checkboxes for the preferences you want contacts to be opted in to.

  2. Optionally, select the Overwrite Preferences checkbox to remove any previous preferences for a contact and replace them with your selection.

  3. Select SAVE.


Send a test message

To check Fresh Relevance is set up correctly, you can send a test message after setup. The process varies for email and SMS channels.

Learn more in the section Send a test message.


Push to Dotdigital

If your connected Dotdigital account has AccountInsight enabled, then you can make Slots available directly within the Dotdigital EasyEditor.


Next steps

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