An Action widget denotes a process that is initiated and performed in Maropost. The actions in Data Journeys are used for bulk data management, such as importing and exporting contact files, secure suppression lists, Do Not Mail lists, and relational table data.
The Data Journey actions work sequentially. If you have several actions linked together, the subsequent action does not start executing until the preceding action finishes.
FTP Upload
The FTP Upload action uploads a file to an external FTP server using the credentials that you provide. Select the files, segments, custom reports, campaign reports, Do Not Mail Lists, and Relational Tables that you want to export to the FTP server.
You can also precede this action widget with the Start Export widget and have the output of that file uploaded to the specified FTP server. You can also select 'Add timestamp with file name', which will append a timestamp to the file name. In such a case, the file name will be:
[list_export | segment_export | dnm_export | table_export]_[listID | segmentID | dnm fileID | tableID]_[jobID]_[YYYYMonDDHHMMSS].zip.
📋 HOUSEKEEPING NOTE: Files stored in your folder on the Maropost FTP server are retained for a period of 395 days. Files older than this cutoff are permanently purged by a daily housekeeping task.
The following screenshot shows how the Start Export widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Start Export dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Send Campaign
The Send Campaign action enables you to send an email campaign. You have the same options as you have when you’re creating a new campaign. You can select the campaign details, such as name, subject, pre-header, content, and so on. You can also select lists, segments, or tables to specify contacts who will receive the email.
The following screenshot shows how the Send Campaign widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Send Campaign dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Start Import
The Start Import action begins a file import through Maropost’s FTP server or an external FTP server. Using the Select Lists option, you can select the list from which you want to import the contacts.
The following screenshot shows how the Start Import widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Start Import dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
On the widget dialog box, you have the following options:
- Settings – Details of the FTP server you are using for the file import.
- List Import – Select the list into which you are importing the data file. Set the mapping between the fields in the data file and the standard and custom fields in the Contact database.
- DNM Import – Select either the column name or the column number (ordered from left to right) that contains the email addresses of the contacts to be imported into either the general DNM list or Brand DNM list.
- Table Import – Select the Relational table into which you are importing the data. Set the mapping between the fields in the data file and the columns in the table.
Start Export
The Start Export action enables you to export a list, segment, Do Not Mail list, and data from a relational table. Unlike the Start Import action widget, you can only export one file at a time.
The following screenshot shows how the Start Export widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Start Export dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
The following lists all the possible exports supported by the widget:
- List Export – Select the list you want to export, and the contact fields you want to be included in the export file. You can also filter by subscription status.
- Segment Export – Select the segment you want to export and the contact fields you want to be included in the export file.
- DNM Export – You can export the general Do Not Mail list and/or the Brand Do Not Mail list.
- Table Export – Select the relational table and the columns from the table that you want to be included in the export file.
You can also choose the option to incrementally export contacts from subscription lists by using the Date Filter option. By default, the option is set to export all contacts. You can, however, set the option to export contacts based on the recency of updates in the past 24 hours, 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days.
📋 Note: The option also applies to the Do Not Mail list. In this case, the date of recency applies to when the contact was added to the list.
The rules are as follows:
- All – Date on which the contacts were either subscribed, unsubscribed, soft bounced, hard bounced, complained, or cleansed.
- Subscribed – Date on which the contacts subscribed to the selected list.
- Unsubscribed – Date on which the contacts unsubscribed from the selected list.
- Soft Bounced – Date on which the contact status is changed to soft bounced.
- Hard Bounced – Date on which the contact status is changed to hard bounced.
- Complained – Date on which the contact status is changed to complained.
- Cleansed – Date on which the contact status is changed to cleansed.
Send to Facebook
The Send to Facebook widget can be used to push a group of your Maropost for Marketing contacts into any Facebook Custom Audience that you have pre-defined in your Facebook Ad Account.
The following screenshot shows how the Send to Facebook widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Send to Facebook dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Prerequisites
In order to correctly use this action widget, make sure you have done the following:
- Have an existing Facebook Ad Account
- Have created at least one Custom Audience for that Ad Account
- Have set up the connection between Maropost for Marketing and the Facebook profile with which the Ad Account is associated
Mapping
Facebook requires that you map the fields of your Maropost contacts with the Facebook user profile fields. The mapping is necessary to determine whether a Maropost contact is indeed a Facebook user. At a minimum, an email address is required. There are additional fields that you can optionally use to increase the accuracy of the matching.
Select List
Select the list or segment containing the contacts that you want to push over to your Facebook Custom Audience.
Facebook imposes specific restrictions on how your contact profile data is formatted. If your data is not properly formatted, then it will not be used in the matching.
- First Name – Select the custom field that contains the first name of your contact.
- Last Name – Select the custom field that contains the last name of your contact.
- Gender – Accepts 'm' and 'f' as valid values for this field.
- City – Accepts city name in all lower case, with no punctuation, special characters, nor white space.
- State – Applicable to the United States of America only. Must be the 2-character ANSI abbreviation in all lower case.
- Country – Must be ISO 3166-1 Alpha-2 format (for example, “US”, “CA”, “CN”, and so on.)
- Zip Code – Only the first 5 digits (for the US). Use the Area/District/Sector format for UK addresses.
- Mobile Advertiser ID – Use this only if you have this data available as provided initially from Facebook.
- App Scoped User ID – Use this only if you have this data available as provided initially from Facebook.
- Date of Birth – Check to see if your date is formatted according to any of the date formats in the list.
Audiences
- Facebook Account – Select the name of the Facebook account that you have linked with Maropost for Marketing.
- Ad Account – Once you’ve selected the Facebook account, a list of Ad Accounts for the Facebook account will appear.
- Custom Audiences – After selecting the Ad Account, the list of Custom and Lookalike Audiences that you’ve already created under that Ad Account will now appear. Select the Audience that you want to push the contact to.
- Add to Fb – When you select this option, then the contact's attributes you've selected will be used to find a matching Facebook user. If there is a match, then Facebook will add that user to the selected Audience.
- Remove from Fb – When you select this option, then the contact's attributes you've selected will be used to find a matching Facebook user. If there is a match, then Facebook will remove that user from the selected Audience.
Secure List Import
The Secure List Import action begins the import of a secure/encrypted list that you can use as a special type of suppression file in your campaigns.
The following screenshot shows how the Secure List Import widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Secure List Import dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
The fields on the File Import widget are the same except in the Secure List Import widget, you have the option to select which column name or column number the encrypted emails are stored.
Generate Report
The Generate Report action generates a campaign or a custom report based on a selected list.
The following screenshot shows how the Generate Report widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Generate Report dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
HTTP Request
The HTTP Request action runs an HTTP API call to complete a variety of tasks. Consider the following examples. Enter the raw part of the API call in the BODY section.
Content-Type: application/json
Accept: application/json
OR
Content-Type: application/xml
Accept: application/xml
The following screenshot shows how the HTTP Request widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the HTTP Request dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Trigger Data Journey
The Trigger Data Journey action triggers a separate Data Journey to begin when the element is reached. This includes passing contacts from one Data Journey to another. This trigger loops contacts in Data Journeys as well. You can select multiple Data Journeys.
The following screenshot shows how the Trigger Data Journey widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Trigger Data Journey dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Toggle Data Journey
The Toggle Data Journey action toggles a Data Journey between enabled and disabled status.
The following screenshot shows how the Toggle Data Journey widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Toggle Data Journey dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
On the widget dialog box, clicking a Data Journey enables the Data Journey and it is then highlighted in blue color. Double-clicking a Data Journey disables the Data Journey and it is then highlighted in red color.
Update Content
The Update Content action copies content from one saved email content to another. The purpose of this widget is to add additional content to existing content without having to open the saved content to edit and save it.
The following screenshot shows how the Update Content widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Update Content dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
The widget dialog box shows the 'Copy From’ section on the left side and the ‘Copy To’ section on the right. You select which content you want to copy on the left, and then select which content you want the copied content to be placed into.
You can also use the ‘From URL’ option to copy content from a URL into the content on your Maropost account.
Send Notification
Th Send Notification action sends a notification to any group of email addresses. The widget enables you to create your notification message using a basic WYSIWYG editor. This action widget comes in handy for sending yourself a notification when an import or an export has been completed.
The following screenshot shows how the Send Notification widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Send Notification dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Refresh Counts
The Refresh Counts action refreshes the counts of a chosen list or segment. You can use this widget next to the Start Import action widget so that the segment counts reflect the most accurate numbers right after a large file has been imported.
The following screenshot shows how the Refresh Counts widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Refresh Counts dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Toggle Journey
The Toggle Journey action is similar to Toggle Data Journey, except this action toggles between enabling and disabling Journeys saved in your account.
The following screenshot shows how the Toggle Journey widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Toggle Journey dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
The action dialog box displays a list of Journeys that already exist in your account. Clicking a journey enables it and the journey is highlighted in blue color. Double-clicking a journey disables it and the journey is highlighted in red color.
SQL Query
The SQL Query action executes an SQL Query that you have already created. You can use the action widget to update a relational table’s data after you have imported data into another relational table.
The following screenshot shows how the SQL Query widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the SQL Query dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
Clear Field
The Clear Field action clears all data from the selected custom field for all contacts in your database.
📋 Note: Once you clear a field, you cannot undo it.
The following screenshot shows how the Clear Field widget appears on the canvas:
The following screenshot shows the Clear Field dialog box that appears when you double-click the widget:
