Pinpointe has added a global custom field called "Subscriber Timezone". With this field, a user can include their contacts' local times zones in the CSV file to be imported or when adding contacts via an API call. 

When importing a list of contacts, the user should name the field (column) something that will clearly denote its value as a time zone. While you do not have to name this field, "Subscriber Timezone", doing so or naming it something relatively close will improve the likelihood the system will automatically map the CSV file field into the appropriate field in your Pinpointe database. If the system does not automatically map the two fields during the import, you will have an opportunity to do so manually. 

For the system to correctly identify the time zone value in your CSV file (or API call), it should conform to the format as presented in the drop down list for the "SUBSCRIBER TIMEZONE:" field that is part of the ADD A CONTACT and EDIT CONTACT pages. These pages are accessible by clicking the Add Contact link when viewing your database list:

Or, by clicking the Edit link of a specific contact when viewing the contact population of a particular database:

As an example, we'll use the EDIT CONTACT page to illustrate the time zone drop down list and the required format:

The Pinpointe system will accept the full string format as show in the figure above, such as GMT-09:00 American/Yakutat,or the shorter version of GMT-09:00. 

Note: "GMT" is the acronym for Greenwich Mean Time, and all time zones shown in the drop down list reflect the appropriate offset in hours from this commonly used standard time zone reference point. 

The new Pinpointe Time Zone feature is accessible during the campaign send process. It can be found as part of the EMAIL SCHEDULING OPTIONS section on the Send an Email Campaign page. Please refer to figure below:

By toggling the selector to "On", each contact will be sent the email at the send time set by the user, but in each contact's local time zone. For example, if the user's time zone is Pacific / Los Angeles and the user selects a send-time of 8:00 a.m., a contact in Honolulu, Hawaii will be sent the email at 8:00 a.m. Pacific / Honolulu time, or 10:00 a.m. Pacific / Los Angeles time (during non-Daylight Savings months). 

In most cases, a user will have contacts whose local time has already passed the user's current time. To avoid these contacts being sent the email the following day, a user may "force" the system to send the email campaign to those contacts immediately by toggling "On" the Force those subscribers to send immediately instead selector. Please see the figure below:

Once a contact has engaged (ie: opened an email), Pinpointe will log that contact's Geo-IP Region location. If a user selects the Enable Send at Local Timezone option but does NOT include any time zone data with their contacts, any engaged contact will receive their subsequent emails in their local time zone based on their Geo-IP Region. 

For example, User is located in Los Angeles, which is GMT-8:00. If User sends to contact "A" located in New York and that contact opens the email, Pinpointe will log that contact "A" is in a Geo-IP Region that uses GMT-5:00. If User then activates the Enable Send at Local Timezone option, contact "A" will receive their subsequent emails based on Eastern Standard Time, which equals GMT-5:00. 

If you have any questions regarding the Time Zone feature, please contact Pinpointe by using the in-app live chat feature or by sending your questions to: [email protected].