1) To start, click on the "Automated Emails" tab on the main nav bar and then select "New Drip Campaign" from the drop down menu (see Fig 1).
Fig 1
2) You will find yourself on this page (see Fig 2).
You will see a list of all your databases. Drips are initially based on a single database (On the next page of the Drip process, you can refine the target population further by selecting one or more specific lists from within the database if you so choose).
After selecting the database you wish to target, click either "Next >>" button.
Fig 2
3) On the next page, you'll give your drip email a name. As this is likely to be the first of a sequence, remember to name it something that will include which email it is in terms of this sequence. As this is the first email in this sequence, we've added the number "1" to the name.
You can now set the basic filter rules for this specific drip email. You will see three input fields that are very similar to what you see when doing a search under the "Contacts" tab. This default filter is set to "Confirmation Status" -- "is" -- "confirmed", which should include 100% of your eligible contacts that can receive an email. This is essentially a placeholder that works well when you want a drip to target any addition to your database, or, when you want to target all existing contacts in the database + any new additions. This will be further explained in the next section.
For this primary example, we will assume we want to target all contacts since this first drip email will be a basic marketing email that the entire database should receive.
When finished, click the "Next >>" button.
Fig 3
NOTE: As discussed is Section 2 above, you can choose to refine your audience by targeting only those contacts in the selected database who belong to one or more lists. In this secondary example below, we have used the filter rules to target only those contacts that are in List AA and List BB (See Fig 4).
We have selected the filter "Selected Contact" -- "is in list" -- "<some_list_we_select>". Since we are targeting two lists, we create two filters.
VERY IMPORTANT! - You want to make sure that if the intention is to target contacts who are in one OR the other of the two lists, make sure to change the default "AND" logical operator on the far left to "OR".
Fig 4
In addition, a user may specify as a filter any number of contact attributes, such as the city a contact is in, or a behavior, such as has NOT opened a certain email.
4) Going back to our primary example where we selected "Confirmation Status" -- "is" -- "confirmed", after clicking "Next >>", you will be on this page (See Fig 5).
Fig 5
As this page has quite a bit of important content on it, we will break it down into sub-sections below.
5-a) The top section of this page shows the basic information regarding the database that was selected. A very important element, however, is the "Send to Existing Contacts" toggle button at the bottom. Be default, the system will NOT include existing contacts already in the database, but you can include them by toggling the button to "On".
Some users only want new additions to their database / list to start on a given drip sequence, whereas other users want to include all existing contacts plus any new additions.
NOTE: Whenever you edit an existing drip campaign, the "Send to Existing Contacts" toggle button is automatically reset back to "Off", so if your intention is to continue to include existing contacts after editing, please remember to toggle the button back to "On" before you exit this page.
Fig 6
5-b) The next section is "SENDING OPTIONS". Please note the two toggle button options, which are mutually exclusive. The top button allows the user to specify that this particular drip campaign should go out as soon as a contact joins the target database.
The second button allows the user to instead select some time delay before it sends the drip campaign. See Fig 7 below.
Fig 7
Fig 8 below shows an example of toggling the delay button to "On" and selecting 12 hours as the delay interval before the campaign will go out.
Fig 8
NOTE: The default setting for Drips is to use the date a contact joined or joins the database. When creating a drip for only new additions, this does not cause an issue. However, when including existing contacts, this can cause unintended consequences.
For example (assuming you are including existing contacts), you create a series of three drips: First drip email goes out as soon as a contact joins your database, the second goes out three days later (so three days after joining), and the third goes out one week after joining. If [email protected] joined your database two months ago, he would satisfy all three time interval criteria, hence, he would get all three drip emails at the same time. Obviously not the desired result.
To eliminate this problem, Pinpointe allows the user the create a custom date field that can be applied to all contacts in a database. This custom date field is created using the Custom Fields feature found under the "Resources" tab. The user selects the "Custom Field Type" of "Date Field", gives it a name, then clicks "Next>>". See Fig 9 below.
Fig 9
On the next page, the user then selects the date unit order (month-day-year being the default). When finished, click the "Next>>" button. Apply the new custom date field to the database you are targeting with the drip sequence, then click the "Save" button. Remember, to see the new date field when you view contacts in this database, you'll need to edit the database and select the new date field as viewable. your See Fig 10.
Fig 10
Now, the user needs to export all the contacts for the target database. The easiest way to add the new drip trigger date is to delete all columns in the exported CSV file except "Email Address". In the second column, name it the same name that you gave your custom date field, such as "Drip Sequence May 2021" in my example. If you want your drip to start firing off the next day, you'll want to assign that date to the column cells for every contact. The suggested format (assuming you choose a M-D-Y structure) would be 05/21/2021 as an example, but other formats will work as long as the structure matches the order you assigned to your custom date field.
Now the user will import this file back into their target database in their Pinpointe account, making sure to check the "overwrite" option during import. This is very important. The user should then check their database to confirm success of their import.
All contacts in the the database will now have the same start date for the new drip sequence regardless of when they actually joined the database.
See Fig 11 for an example of using a custom field date as the launch point for a drip email.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The feature to use a custom date field as a drip launch point is not enabled by default in a user's account. Please contact Pinpointe Support to activate this feature.
Fig 11
5-c) In the "ADVANCED OPTIONS" section, we recommend leaving the default settings as is with the exception of the fourth option, "Track with Google Analytics?". If you track various UTM tags using G.A. or via some other tool, and wish to track these tags when sending out drip emails, then toggle this button to "On". Otherwise, we suggest leaving it in the default "Off" setting. See Fig 12.
Fig 12
5-d) The final section on this page is the "AUTOMATED EMAIL CONTENT" section. See Fig 13.
This is where you can either copy an existing email template to use as the basis for creating your drip email, or you can create one from scratch. If you choose to create a template from scratch, you will be taken to the "CHOOSE AN AUTOMATED EMAIL EDITOR" page where you can then select either the Drag & Drop Builder or the WYSIWYG Editor. If you choose to copy an existing template, the system will redirect you to either the Builder or the Editor, depending on which tool was used to create the original template you are using as the basis.
Fig 13
6) You will now be on the "View Automated Emails" page. There will be a wide orange bar which will list the database (note it will call it a "List") being targeted by this drip email. Various pieces of information will be provided:
- Name of the drip email
- Creation date
- When it is to be sent
- Number of Recipients who have recived it after it starts sending
- Any recorded bounces or unsubscribes after it is sent
See Fig 14
Fig 14
The second-to-last column is the "Active" column. All drip emails are set to inactive by default, denoted by a red "X". You may activate a drip by either clicking on the "X", which will turn it into a green check mark, OR, you can select the drip by clicking the box to the left of the name column, click into the "Choose an action" field, select "Activate the selected drip email sequence(s)", and then clicking the "Go" button. Deactivating a drip and then reactivating it will NOT result in the drip relaunching from the beginning again. See Fig 15, however, but please note that the drip time trigger clock continues to run. For example, if you have a second drip that is supposed to launch in three days, and a third drip launches in five days, if you leave the drip inactive for six days and then "reactivate" it, both drip emails will launch at the same time since five or more days have passed.
Fig 15
The last column is the "Action" column.
Actions:
Pause - You may "Pause" a drip email, but please note that the drip time trigger clock continues to run. For example, if you have a second drip that is supposed to launch in three days, and a third drip launches in five days, if you leave the drip paused for six days and then "Resume" it, both drip emails will launch at the same time since five or more days have passed.
View - Will render the drip email content within your browser window.
Edit - Allows you to edit the drip email for both rules and content. Editing a drip email will automatically deactivate it and will require reactivation. PLEASE NOTE: editing an activated drip and then reactivating it WILL cause the drip to launch from the beginning again, resulting in some contacts possibly getting the drip email(s) again.
Copy - Allows a user to make a copy of an exiting drip and use this copy as a basis to create another drip email.
Delete - Delete the selected drip.
NOTE: A user may also click the blue "Add New Automated Email" button to create another drip from scratch targeting that same database.
Drips can be simple or complex and may be challenging to set up for the first time user. Pinpointe encourages any user that feels unsure of how best to set up their drip sequence based on their email goals to contact Pinpointe Support. Support will be happy to assist any user in setting up and testing their drip sequence prior to sending to a live audience.