A contact database is the primary repository that stores your subscribers. You need to have at least one database, but you can create as many as you like. Instead of using several databases, however, Pinpointe recommends only using one database and creating tagged lists and segments as a method to parse your subscribers into sub-groups. Companies often use different tagged lists when they want to group certain types of contacts together. For example, you might have one tagged list of contacts who registered directly on your website and another for those who you met at a trade show or signed up via a webinar.

 

To create a database, click the "Manage Database" icon link on the home screen;



or by clicking the main "Contacts" tab, and then selecting the "Manage Database(s)" option. 



On the next screen, click the 'New Contact Database' button.



(Click the "Continue" button on the pop-up panel)


This will bring up the "New Contact Database" page. We'll break this page down into three sections.


Please note: You can move your mouse cursor over the small orange circles containing the italicized 'i'. Doing so will bring up an expanded description of each field.

  

Section #1:


Enter a name for your database (required) and a description (optional) in the provided fields.


Please Note: The name and description are what are displayed on the unsubscribe page, so please name accordingly.



Remaining fields:

  • Default Send-From Text: Recipients see this as the person or company the email came from. You might choose the sender's personal name, the company name or something the recipients will relate to. Avoid clinical descriptions such as "Discount Mailing List".
  • Default Send-From Email Address: Recipients see this as the email address that sent the message.
  • Default Reply-To Email Address: If a recipient clicks their "reply" button, their message will be addressed to this email account. It can be the same as the Send-From address above. Some customers choose to not allow replies by setting this to a mailbox that isn't monitored (e.g. [email protected]). If possible, you should set this to a monitored email address so as to provide another avenue of engagement to your customers.

Please Note: We highly recommend keeping your reply-to email address the same as your send-from address. Some email clients / spam filters now warn not to send the email when using the reply-to option if the reply-to email is a different (external) domain from the send-from email as this is considered a security risk.

  • Send event notification?: This option is checked by default and results in a notification email being sent to up to five different email addresses whenever a recipient subscribes, unsubscribes or submits a form. If no address is specified, will be sent to the Send-From email address. This option may be unchecked of course.
  • Send alert to: As noted above, you can specify up to five different email addresses to which the alert notification will be sent. If the "Send event notification" is checked, this field cannot be empty. 


Section #2:


This next section of the page allows you to determine what fields (columns) will be included in your database and of these included fields, which ones you would like to see displayed when you view your database contacts. 


Every database includes basic fields such as Email Address. The "Custom Fields" panel allows you to include other contact information such as First Name, Last Name and Company. The more common custom fields are listed in the panel by default. You may check those you wish to include. You can also create new custom fields and add them to your database. Please refer to the Knowledge Base Section entitled "Custom Fields". Note there is no harm in selecting more fields than you will immediately use.


The "Visible Fields" panel allows to to select a subset of your custom fields that will be visible when you view your contacts' details in your database and any subsequent lists you create. 




Section #3:


This final section includes your company's information. Pinpointe is a CAN-SPAM compliant service, therefor accurate information is required for all outgoing emails.



Once the required fields are filled in, click the "Save" button to continue. If you return to the "Manage Databases" page, you will see your newly created database. Now it's time to import some contacts.


Also see: