Custom Responses

Overview

The Custom Responses feature allows you to bring external response information into Engage+, typically for reporting purposes. For example, this information could consist of data collected from "off-line" channels, such as a print Campaign or a call center, or possibly from your own internal systems, or another vendor. You can link this response data to a Engage+ Campaign, and the platform will include those responses within the response reports for that Campaign.

The Custom Responses screen is very similar to the Tables screen, where your main marketing database tables are defined. The Custom Responses screen provides a few features unique to Custom Response handling. One of these unique features is a set of three system-generated fields that are always created for every new Custom Response table -- "Campaign ID," "Message ID," and "Response Time." These fields are used to link new custom response data with a Messaging Campaign, so that this data can be utilized in campaign reporting.

Access

The Tables screen is accessible by the following method:

From the Main menu, select Data > Management > Custom Responses

Additional Topics

For more information on Tables, please see:

Working with Fields

Working with Joins

Features

Create a New Custom Response Table

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To create a new Custom Response table:

Above the list of existing Custom Response tables, click + New button. The Workspace is refreshed to show a blank Custom Response table screen.
In the "Display Name" field, enter a name for this new table. The "Table Name" field is automatically populated based on what you enter in the "Display Name" field. The "Display Name" value is automatically converted to all lower-case, and spaces are replaced with underscores.
Optionally, enter a different table name in the "Table Name" field. Only alphanumeric characters and underscores are valid entries in the Table Name (no spaces or symbols).
From the "Join to Table" drop-down menu, select the existing Table to which you want this new Custom Response table to be joined.
Click save. The system saves the new table and displays the Custom Response details screen. See Working with Fields or Working with Joins more information on how to define the fields and joins in your new Custom Response table.

Note: Every new Custom Response table includes three system-generated fields: "Campaign ID," "Message ID," and "Response Time." These fields are used to link new custom response data to the appropriate Engage+ Campaign, so that this data can be used in campaign reporting. These three system-generated fields are displayed within a separate section on the Custom Response details screen called "Required Response Fields."

View or Edit a Custom Response Table

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To view or edit an existing Custom Response table:

When the screen is displayed, a list of all the current Custom Response tables is displayed in the left-hand side of the Workspace. Optionally, you can filter this list by typing in all or part of a table name in the "Search by Name" field.
Click on the Custom Response table that you want to view. The Workspace is refreshed to show the details of the selected table.
Optionally, to view detailed information about the table, click the Response tab in the Tool Ribbon. The Item Details screen is displayed, showing who created the item, who modified it last, and what the last actions taken on the item were. On this screen, click "Related Items" in the Function Menu to see other items in the system that reference or utilize this table. When finished, click the Edit tab in the Tool Ribbon to return to the main edit screen.
Optionally, to rename the table, click Edit > Rename in the Tool Ribbon. A "Rename Item" dialog box is displayed. Enter a new name for the table, then click save new name.
Make any necessary changes to the Fields in this table (see Working with Fields for more details).

Note: In most cases, you won't need to assign a Unique Identifier to a Custom Response table. Typically, these tables store "transactional" data, such as purchases. This data isn't updated like Recipient data is, so it doesn't need to have a Unique Identifier associated with it.

Make any necessary changes to the Joins in this table (see Working with Joins for more details).
To save your changes, click Edit > Save in the Tool Ribbon.

Assign a Custom Response Table to a Campaign

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To assign a Custom Response table to a Campaign:

Navigate to the desired Campaign (see Campaigns for more details).
In the Tool Ribbon, click Responses > Add Custom Response. The "Custom Response" pop-up window is displayed.
From the "Response Table" drop-down menu, select the table where you're loading custom response data.
From the "Group By" drop-down menu, select the field by which you want to group the responses.
From the "Aggregation" drop-down menu, select how you want to aggregate the responses.
From the "Aggregate Value" drop-down menu, select an aggregate value.
From the "Time Dimension" drop-down menu, select a time dimension.
Click save response. The system adds a new section named "Custom" within the "Responses" section of the Campaign detail screen. From this new section, you can see a list of all the custom response tables assigned to this Campaign.
If you need to remove a custom response table, click the remove button ("X" icon) next to the table. If you need to edit the custom response table, click the edit button (pen icon) to bring up the "Custom Response" dialog box.