Before you start
Things you need to know:
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 a messaging channel in Fresh Relevance, you must first set up things in Dotdigital.
1. Create custom data fields
For Fresh Relevance to load contact data into Dotdigital, you must set up custom fields for any fields you choose to map across in your channel's field mapping.
Learn more in Field Mapping.
To create custom fields in Dotdigital:
In Dotdigital, expand the User menu, and go to Settings > Contacts > Contact data fields.
Select the Custom data fields tab, then select NEW DATA FIELD.
Learn more about creating custom data fields in Dotdigital.
2. Create a campaign
Next, you must create an email campaign.
We recommend creating triggered campaigns because the content of the emails can be updated without having to recreate the entire campaign each time. Using a triggered campaign also prevents you from having to update the campaign ID in Fresh Relevance each time you make a change.
To create a new triggered campaign in Dotdigital:
In Dotdigital, go to Automation > Triggered email.
Select ADD NEW.
Learn more about creating a triggered email and designing email campaigns in Dotdigital.
Once you've created your campaign, you must find the campaign ID.
To do this:
Go to Automation > Triggered email.
Select the campaign name for the campaign you just created. This opens it in EasyEditor.
Check the URL of the page to find the campaign ID. For example, the ID is at the end of the URL.
https://r1-app.dotdigital.com/Campaigns/Step/EasyEditor.aspx?id=151783
In Fresh Relevance, you can use this campaign ID as the Default Campaign Id in the ESP settings or in the Send email field of a Trigger.
3. Create a list
A Dotdigital list is used by Fresh Relevance to store contact information for your shoppers.
To create a list in Dotdigital:
Go to Audience > Lists.
Select NEW LIST.
Enter your list's name and other details and select ADD NEW LIST.
Go to Audience > Lists and select the Properties icon for your list. Make note of the List ID.
Learn more about creating lists in Dotdigital.
4. Create an API user
An API user is required to allow Fresh Relevance to access and load data into your Dotdigital account.
Learn how to Create an API user in Dotdigital.
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:
In Fresh Relevance, expand the User menu, then go to Settings > Triggers and Messaging integrations.
Select Messaging Provider(s).
Under Set up a new channel, expand the Service provider drop-down menu and select Dotdigital, then select NEXT.
For Channel name, enter a name for your channel.
This makes it easier to find your channel in menus in the future.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.Select NEXT.
Fill out the 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 will be forwarded. |
API Region | The geographical region where the API is hosted. You can find this from the API users page where you created the API user earlier. |
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 address book in Dotdigital where contacts are stored. |
Default Campaign ID | The ID of the campaign to send with, as created in 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. |
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:
|
New Contact Permission Behaviour | Determines the behavior for adding new contacts to Dotdigital.
Options:
|
New Contact Opt-In Type | Determines the opt-in type for new contacts added to Dotdigital.
Options:
|
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 dropdowns.
If you have previously used Dotdigital prior to these permission changes and are unsure of which options to select, the default values provide the same behaviour as previous versions of the integration.
Existing contacts
The Contact Exists Permission Behaviour option controls how subscription status should be controlled when adding a contact that already exists on Dotdigital.
Do not change the subscription status stored on Dotdigital
The existing subscription status of the contact in Dotdigital is unchanged, for example, unsubscribed contacts stay unsubscribed.
Change the status of the contact to subscribed regardless of the current Dotdigital state
Change the contact's status to Subscribed regardless of the previous permission level. This contact is then eligible to receive marketing.
New contacts
The New Contact Permission Behaviour dropdown controls how subscription status should be controlled 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 material.
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.
Learn more about email opt-in types in Dotdigital.
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 if they willingly opted into your campaigns.
They are ready to receive marketing materials, and you are responsible for making sure that you send emails only to contacts who've opted in. |
Single | Single opt-in type means that the contact was added with consent, but without a confirmation email, and is ready to receive marketing materials. |
Double | Double opt-in means that before a contact can receive marketing material, they have clicked a link in a confirmation email that is sent outside of Dotdigital after opt-in.
This is trust-based, and you should only select Double opt-in if you have a record of a contact's opt-in status as verified outside of Dotdigital. |
Verified double | Verified double opt-in means that before a contact can receive marketing material, they have clicked a link in a confirmation email sent to them by Dotdigital after initial opt-in and are verified. |
Learn more about configuring verified double opt-in Dotdigital.
With the messaging channel configured and field mapping setup, all that remains is to create the trigger program.
Learn more about how to create trigger programs in Create a Trigger Program.
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:
Select the checkboxes for the preferences you want contacts to be opted in to.
Optionally, select the Overwrite Preferences checkbox to remove any previous preferences for a contact and replace them with your selection.
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.
To test send an email channel:
Go to Content > Cart Layout.
Hover over Default Cart Layout and select VIEW then scroll down to the Send Test Message section.
Expand the Send Test Message drop-down menu and choose the trigger that you want to test.
If you haven't set up a trigger yet, go to Triggers.Enter your email address.
Select SEND TEST MESSAGE(S). You see a pop-up message at the top of the screen stating that a test email was queued.
Select View Send History, and you see the Person History for your email address.
Scroll down to see any actions performed. Select the actions to expand them and see more detail.
To test an SMS channel:
Go to Content > Cart Layout.
Select NEW CART LAYOUT.
Choose an SMS template.
Enter a Layout Name, then select SAVE.
Expand the Send Test Message drop-down menu, then choose the trigger you want to test.
If you haven't set up a trigger yet, go to Triggers.Enter your mobile number in international format (E.164), for example, +447778889999 for the UK or +12345234523 for the USA.
Select SEND TEST MESSAGE(S). You see a pop-up message at the top of the screen stating that a test message was queued.
Select View Send History, and you see the Person History for your mobile number. Scroll down to see any actions performed. Select the actions to see them in more detail.
Push to Dotdigital
Before you start
You must set Dotdigital as the default messaging channel to use Push to Dotdigital.
If your Dotdigital account has AccountInsight enabled, then you can easily make Slots available within the Dotdigital EasyEditor.
To do this:
Go to Content > Slots.
Select the slot you want to push and select Use.
From the page that loads, select the Push to Dotdigital tab.
Select PUSH TO DOTDIGITAL.
Slots pushed this way appear in EasyEditor as App blocks. They are generated dynamically when the email is opened, according to the marketing rules and recommendation configuration that you've set up.