Day 12
25 Days of Sitecore EXM!
The Differences Between Regular and Automated Messages
Day 12 in 25 Days of Sitecore EXM, takes a pause to provide a little more information about the difference between the Regular and Automated email campaigns.
Regular email campaigns that are in the process of being dispatched, will show up in the In Progress list.
Automated email campaigns that have been Activated will show up in the Automated list.
Email campaigns that are scheduled to either be dispatched (Regular) or activated (Automated) will show up in the Scheduled list.
Properties of a Regular Email Campaign
Has Recipient Lists
Regular email campaigns are meant to be sent to a list of multiple contacts. These lists can range from any size from 1 to millions of contacts in a list, or combined in multiple lists. This includes the ability to exclude contacts in specific lists too.
Has Variants
Regular email campaigns can take advantage of A/B Variant testing. This is possible because there is a finite list of contacts that we know we are sending to, and can accurately test a percentage of them.
Can Be a Reoccurring Message
Regular message can be set up in the Delivery Tab as a reoccurring message. This is helpful for newsletters that have dynamic content being dispatched to a large number of contacts on some schedule or frequency.
Dispatch Happens By Author Control
The Content author or marketer kicks off the email dispatch by clicking the Send Message button in the Delivery tab. As long as the message isn’t scheduled, Sitecore EXM will immediately start the process of dispatching the email campaign.
Properties of an Automated Email Campaign
No Recipient Lists
Automated messages are meant to be sent to a single contact, at a single time. These are sometimes called transactional messages, drip campaigns, or service messages.
Activation not Dispatch
Authors have control to Activate a Sitecore EXM Automated Message. When a message is activated, it is made available as an active message to other parts of Sitecore: Sitecore Forms, Sitecore Marketing Automation, and can be used as a message in the Sitecore EXM Client API.
Changes to a Message After Activation
In the event that changes are made to the original email content, after an Automated email campaign has been Activated, the dispatched message will not reflect that until the message is deactivated and re-activated. This is because EXM caches the message content.
Dispatch Happens Automatically by Contact
When the Marketer or content author uses an Automated message, it is generally through Marketing Operations or Sitecore Forms Submit Actions. While the author has no control over when a particular contact might receive an automated message, they have control over the processes that need to occur for that message to be sent. That means the Contact has to perform an action on the site, that initiates the message for dispatch.
EXM Live! Webinar Tomorrow!
Don’t forget to register for my Sitecore EXM webinar on December 13 EXM Live! An Email Automation Experience!
Register for EXM Live! Webinar
To register for this webinar, visit https://dx.connectivedx.com/2018-exm-webinar
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