Interactions

Interactions: Concepts

Note:
This feature is available in Marketing Operations 9.1 only.

Interactions automate the process of sending personalized communications to a large number of people. Interactions enable you to build and execute 2-way, multistep, multichannel campaigns. An interaction is specific to an activity or a lead process.

In an activity, you can use an interaction to communicate with these kinds of subjects:

In a lead process, you can use an interaction to communicate with these kinds of subjects:

Note:
In addition to the features described in this topic, interactions in a lead process can automate the process of distributing leads to participants.

After you define an interaction's basic information, you design the logic to process the records that move through the interaction and construct the communication process.

For example designs, see these topics:

Design Considerations

You create interactions in activities or lead processes.

Tip:
Before you create an interaction, be certain you know the interaction's target group. The target group determines the type of subjects the interaction can process. After you save an interaction, you cannot change the target group.

After you create an interaction, use the Designer module to construct the communication process.

For some activities, a single interaction can automate all required communications. For other activities, you might need to create multiple interactions.

Tip:
Separating large or complex communication processes into multiple interactions can make maintenance and troubleshooting easier.

You must create multiple interactions to automate communications with participants and audience members in the activity. In general, a single interaction cannot automate communications with both types of subjects.

To copy interactions, you must have the appropriate rights. You can copy existing interactions created for activities or lead processes in the current domain. You can then edit the copied interaction.

To copy an interaction, open the activity or lead process that will contain the copied interaction. Navigate to the Interactions module, and click the Copy button. Select the interactions you want to copy, and click the Save button.

Note:
You cannot copy an interaction created in a lead process to an activity.

When you copy an existing interaction to create a new interaction these items are also copied:

The target group.
The schedule information.
The interaction design.
The inbound forms, outbound messages, and microsites used by the interaction. If necessary, any outbound messages, inbound forms, and microsites used by the interaction are automatically added to the activity.
The processing flags created for the interaction.

When you copy an interaction, the interaction's status changes automatically to Not Started. Before you can start a copied interaction, you must complete these steps:

You can delete interactions that are not running. You delete 1 interaction at a time.

Caution:

When you delete an interaction, the interaction is permanently removed from the application.

Details

Field	Description
Target Group	Select the type of subjects the interaction processes. In an activity, you can choose audience members or participants. In a lead process, you can use an interaction to communicate with audience members, participants, or leads. After you save an interaction, you cannot change the target group.
Test Email Account	When you test an interaction, the application delivers email messages generated by a process or communicate step to this email account.
Selected Groups	This field appears if the interaction's target group is audience members. Select the group or groups of audience members to add to the interaction.
Total Subjects (Estimated)	The field Displays the interaction's estimated number of subjects. Click the hyperlinked Update Counts text to update the interaction's estimated number of subjects.
Contact History	This field appears if the interaction's target group is audience members. Select the contact history records created by the application when the selected events occur. If your organization is licensed to use the email deliverability service, the Outbound Message Sent option is always selected. Example: You create an interaction that requires an audience member to submit multiple inbound forms. The application creates a separate contact history record each time an audience member submits an inbound form.
Real Time	Select when the application processes the interaction, relative to all other running interactions. Set this field to Yes if the interaction runs only once. Interactions with the Real Time field is set to Yes have a higher priority than other running interactions. Example: You designed an interaction that sends an email message to 100,000 audience members. The message's information is time-sensitive, and the interaction runs only once. For these reasons, you set the interaction's Real Time field to Yes. The other running interactions are delayed until the interaction with higher priority ends. For interactions that are not time-sensitive, you set the Real Time field to No.
Email Method	Select how the application sends email messages and notifications generated by the interaction to subjects. Batch Notifications Controls when the application sends email messages and notifications. All email messages and notifications generated by the interaction are queued in the Batched Notifications module. The messages are not sent until you release them from the Batched Notifications module. Send Email using Deliverability Service This option is available if your organization is licensed to use the email deliverability service and if the interaction targets audience members. Send Email using Direct SMTP Submits the generated email messages directly to the SMTP server. Send Email using Notification Service Submits the generated email messages and notifications directly to the Notification service. If email message delivery speed is a priority, the Send Email using Direct SMTP option is the fastest method available. This method does not enable you to view the generated email messages before the application sends them to subjects.
Remove on Completion	This field is available if the interaction's target group is audience members. Select whether the application removes the subject from the end step, the interaction, and all groups and profiles associated with the interaction. This also enable the interaction to process a subject more than once. The default for this field is No. So, when the subject reaches the end step, the subject is not removed when the interaction completes. The subject remains at the end step. If you set this field to No, when a subject reaches the interaction's end step, the subject remains at the end step until you manually set the subject back to the begin step or you restart the interaction. If you set this field to Yes, when a subject reaches the end step, the application removes the subject from the end step, the interaction, and all groups and profiles associated with the interaction. The interaction can process a subject again if a profile or segment adds the audience member to a group associated with the interaction. Example: Your interaction sends an email message to thank a customer for making a purchase on your Web site. Because a customer could purchase items from your Web site on multiple instances, you want the application to remove the customer from the interaction after sending the email message. When the customer makes another purchase on your Web site, a profile adds the customer to the interaction again, and sends another email message to the customer.

Schedule Information

An interaction processes data on a scheduled basis. The schedule information determines when and how often the interaction runs. A default schedule setting is available. To change the default settings, you must configure the schedule information before you start an interaction.

When you configure an interaction's schedule information, you are required to specify an end method. The end method is the event that signals the interaction to stop. When the specified event occurs, the interaction stops automatically, and the schedule status changes to Expired.

End Method	Description
Manually	The interaction does not stop until you click the Stop button. These are ongoing interactions.
On a given date and time	The interaction ends automatically on the specified date and time.
Once a given processing flag statement is true	The interaction ends automatically when a processing flag statement is true. To select this option, you must first create the processing flag.
Once a given step has processed a given number of subjects	The interaction ends automatically after a specific step processes a defined number of subjects. In addition to selecting this option, you must also define the step and the number of subjects.
Once all eligible subjects have been processed	The interaction ends automatically after all eligible subjects reach the interaction's end step.

Tip:
Regardless of the end method you select, you can manually stop an interaction at any time.

An interaction's schedule status determines which parts of the interaction you can edit. The Schedule Status field is located on the Schedule Information tab.

Status	Description
Not Started	The interaction has not been started. For interactions with this status, you can edit all parts.
Pending	The interaction has been started but is not currently processing data. For interactions with this status, you can edit only the schedule information. To edit any other part, you must pause or stop the interaction.
Running	The interaction is currently processing data. For interactions with this status, you can edit only the schedule information. To edit any other part, you must pause or stop the interaction.
Error	A problem has been detected with the interaction. An interaction with this status continues to process data. For interactions with this status, you can edit only the schedule information. If you must change the interaction design to resolve the error, you must pause or stop the interaction.
Paused	The interaction has been paused. An interaction with this status cannot process data until you restart it. For interactions with this status, you can edit the details of individual steps or paths. However, you cannot delete or rearrange the steps and paths. To edit any other part, or to revise the interaction design, you must stopthe interaction.
Expired	The interaction is no longer running. For interactions with this status, you can edit all parts.

Note:
You can add subjects to an interaction while the interaction is running.