(EN) Using the Email Marketing Hub – Ackroo Support

The Email Marketing Hub is a self-serve email-marketing campaign tool that allows you to create, design and send custom email messages to your member contact lists from the Ackroo Gift and Loyalty platform.

As a Program Administrator, log in to your Ackroo Program Console at https://manage.ackroo.com.

MARKETING SETTINGS

Before using the Marketing Hub, you must first ensure that all Program Audience Settings are configured properly.

NOTE: These fields will become default text that is automatically displayed in your email communications. In order to be Canadian Anti-Spam Law (CASL) compliant, the Company Address, Unsubscribe Link and Permission Reminder must be present in the footer of every email message.

To setup your Program Audience Settings:

Select the Admin option at the top right of the Program Console >> Select Settings
Select Program Audience Settings from the left-hand menu list
Complete all fields:
- All Business Details: Company Name, Address, Phone Number, etc.
- Default From Name - Displays in the recipients inbox as the sender of the email
- Default Language - Displays either as English or French for
- Default Subject Line - Displays in the recipients inbox as the subject/title of the email
- Default Reply-To Email - Receiving address (inbox) if the email recipient wants to reply to the delivered email (I.e. info@businessname.com)
- Permission Reminder - is a CASL-required statement that must be displayed in the message, explaining why the recipient is receiving the email (I.e. "You are receiving this email because you are a member of the Snack Shack Rewards Program").
Select Save to store the settings

CREATE AN EMAIL CAMPAIGN

STEP 1 - Select an email campaign template

Once signed in, you can find the Marketing Hub by selecting the Marketing menu option at the top of the page.

Select Email Campaigns from the drop-down menu to create your email campaign
Select + Create Email Campaign
From the Select Email Template drop-down list, select the “V” arrow icon to either:
- Build a Blank template from scratch, or,
- Utilize a pre-built Ackroo design template from the list of options available.

Once a template is chosen, you can view a preview of the layout. Use the scroll bar on the right hand side to navigate down the preview page.
Select NEXT to proceed with the selected template

STEP 2 - Campaign Details

Complete all fields displayed on the page:

Campaign Name is the Title or Name of your campaign, for internal reference only
From Name will appear as the Sender Name. You can use the default option pre-populated from the Marketing Settings page, or, manually overwrite to an alternative Sender Name
Subject will appear as the subject line of the email. You can use the default option pre-populated from the Marketing Settings page, or, manually overwrite to an alternative Subject Line
Select Save to store the campaign details (Or select Back to return to Step 1).
Select Update if any fields are modified and to override your previously saved selection.
Select NEXT to proceed.

STEP 3 - Campaign Audience

The campaign’s target audience is Who the email should be sent to. Options include:

Customer Consent (Requires selection)

Opted-In - All registered cardholders who have manually opted in to receive both general account updates, as well as sales and/or promotional offers.
All Customers Registered - This includes any and all registered cardholders or rewards members who have signed up for your program regardless of their opt-in consent to receive email communications.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Email communications sent to your full contact list will include customers who have manually opted out of sales- and promotion-specific emails. Content sent to this audience may only contain information specific to the Rewards Program or regarding their account/balance. It may not contain sales or promotional offers that are intended to “sell” products or services.

Optional Filters (Enabled by selecting the sliding switch)

Participating Businesses and Location(s) - If your program runs across multiple Businesses and/or Locations and you want to restrict sending to all customers within the program, you can filter the email audience by customers who have specifically transacted at certain businesses/locations. Note: A maximum of one participating business may be selected, however, you may select multiple locations within a single business.
Customer Inactivity - Select customers who have not transacted since a specific date/timeframe.
Rewards Balance Between - Select customers carrying a Loyalty balance within a specific dollar value range. Note: A minimum or maximum may be entered alone and is inclusive of the value entered. These fields accept whole numbers only. (e. Customers carrying a minimum of $5.00 in rewards or greater)
Visit Frequency - Select customers with a specific # of unique store visits, for all time (leave dates blank), or within a fixed timeframe. (e. Customers who have visited 3-12 times in the last 12 months)

Once the email audience is selected, you can select Calculate to display the total Customer Count, that is, the total number of contacts that match your selection and to which your email will be delivered.
Select Save to keep your selected audience filters, or, modify the criteria and select Update to override your previously saved selection.
Select NEXT to proceed.

STEP 4 - Design Your Email in the Editor

You are now ready to build the design for your email campaign.

Below describes the design elements and how to add them to your template.

Personalization Tags

A Personalization tag (or merge tag) is a string of code that allows you to insert unique user data about your customer, as it is stored within Ackroo’s database and then display it as variable text in your email message. In other words, it’s a personalized field, specific to the recipient. I.e. If the customer addressed in the email is registered as First Name John, typing in “Hello *|FName|*” will appear as, “Hello John,” in the final message.

To see an example of how merge tags can be utilized in the design, you can preview the “Default Template” that is available in Step 1 during initial campaign-creation.

To view the available Personalization Tags, select the “+” icon on the right-hand side. Scroll down to view the full list of merge tag options.
To use a listed Personalization Tag, select the desired value from the TAG column to copy the text.
Select the area or text block where you would like to add (drop) in the tag and either type ‘Ctrl+V’ to paste, or, right-click the space and select ‘paste’.
To minimize the list of tags, select the “+” icon on the upper right-hand side (above the Editor)

NOTE: For CASL compliance, all Company Reference personalization tags (Business Address, Unsubscribe link and Permission Reminder) must be included in the email. If the email communication is regarding the customer’s gift and/or loyalty rewards account, it is strongly recommended that the Card Number (*|CARDNUMBER|*) tag, as well as the Gift Balance (*|GIFTBALANC|*) or Loyalty Balance (*|LOYBALANC|*) tags are used to reference the customers’ account details.

Design / Editor

The editor is an easy-to-use drag and drop tool. To add structure to your design template, content must be built in Rows or “blocks”. You can then add Content to a newly added row.

If you are using an existing template, you can remove any sections of the design by selecting the element (box) within a particular row or section, then selecting the Trash Bin icon. An element may be duplicated using the Copy icon, and also may be moved by selecting the Drag-and-Drop icon.

Editor - General Options

Select the Actions option on the top menu bar of the editor, if at any time you would like to:
- Preview a copy of the email message, either on Desktop or Mobile view >> Select the "x" icon on the right to close preview mode.
- - Send test will open a pop-up box, allowing you to type an email address(es) and send out a test version to view a sample of the email

Select the Show Structure option to show the outline of all content rows and blocks in the message body
Select the ? Help option to redirect to this User Guide at anytime
Select the SAVE option to save your work -- Note: It is recommended to save frequently!

Add Rows

Select the Rows Header from the right-hand menu panel.
Select from any of the layout options that are offered by left-clicking the object to select and then drag and drop the block into the body of the message
To add additional rows or blocks to the message, ensure to drag the new Row and hover immediately over the top or bottom edge of the current block, until you see a blue line stating Drag it here. Then release to drop in the new block.

Content Settings

A row or block’s appearance can either be left as it appears when dropped into the message body, or it can be adjusted using the Settings option.

Select the row or block in the message body that you want to edit
Select the Settings header on the right-hand menu grid.
General editing options include:
- Content Area Width - Recommended column width is between 500-600px. For mobile viewing, the wider your content block is, the greater likelihood that images or text will be squeezed into multiple lines, lengthening the message.
- Content Area Alignment - Can be centered (recommended) or to the left
- Background color - Color options for the space behind or on either side of the content block (#ffffff for pure white, or, #000000 for pure black)
- Content Block color - Color options for the main content (center) block. Can be left transparent if you want the current background color behind to show
- Default font - Drop-down list of standard font options
- Link Color - Color assigned to a web link (🔗) when added in Text Settings

Content Options

Content (design elements) can be dragged and dropped into a newly created row or block.

Select the Content header on the right-hand menu panel.
Select the desired Content type and add it to a row by left-clicking the object, hold while dragging to the intended row and dropping into the desired area by releasing the mouse.
Content options include:

Title - Inserts text in a bolded and enlarged font to highlight a main message
Text - Inserts a text field that can be further edited in size, colour, etc. by selecting the text
Image - Inserts an image(s) via the File Manager
1. Drag the Image element and insert it into the message body

Select Browse to open the File Manager
You can access image files and/or folders by either Upload (from your computer), Import (from the web as a web address), or, you can Search Free Photos to access stock images.

Once an image has been uploaded/imported to the file manager, select Insert to add it to the content block
Use the Content Properties on the right menu panel to adjust the image, as needed:

Delete (trash can icon) or Duplicate the image
Adjust the width or alignment
Add a Dynamic image link (URL) to open the image in a web browser when clicked
Apply effects (Resize, crop, add filters, etc.)
Add alternate text (descriptive labels) to the image to describe or caption it
Add an action when the image is clicked (Open a web page, send an email, etc.)
Adjust the image padding (surrounding border width)

D) Button - Inserts a customizable button link to prompt a call to action (I.e. “Sign Up”, “Call Now”)Divider - Inserts a dividing line to visually demarcate different blocks of messaging
E) Social - Inserts social media icons (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) to add web links to your business’ social accounts (Add URL)
F) Html - Inserts an HTML (Hypertext markup language) block to build design web content from scratch
G) Video - Add a video web link (URL) from YouTube, etc. Note: The video cannot play automatically from the email message and must be clicked to open up a web page for viewing
H) Icon - Inserts a small-scale image or symbol (I.e. A business logo)
I) Menu - Inserts a customizable menu or list, (itemized vertically) to add web links for reference (I.e. Visit Website, Contact Us, View Menu, etc.)

STEP 4 - Test, Save & Edit Your Campaign

Send a Test Email

Once your email design is complete, it is strongly recommended that you Send a Test Email to yourself or other colleagues, so that you can view the content of the email from your Computer AND mobile device.

Select Actions at the top left corner of the design Editor to expand the drop-down menu
Select Send Test
In the pop-up window, enter in the email address(es) to the desired viewer(s) for preview.

Note: Test emails will not show actual customer data in merge tag fields, as the test email is not associated to a live customer/card number.

Save and Schedule Your Email Campaign

Select SAVE at the top right corner of the Editor to save your work as you go. Ensure to select Save again if you make any changes.
Select NEXT to proceed.
If you are ready to schedule your email delivery date and time right away, use the calendar and time tool to select a send-time.
- Schedule Now - Use the calendar icon to select a future date. Select a time by typing in the HH:MM to send at and either AM/PM from the down arrow (the clock is based on the time zone of your business). Select SAVE to set the time.
- Schedule Later - If you are not ready to schedule the delivery time for your campaign, select Back to Email Campaigns to return to the main index page.

Once saved, your newly created campaign will be listed on the main Email Campaigns index page.

Making Edits

Select EDIT to the right of your listed campaign to go back into the email if you would like to continue editing.

To edit any preliminary campaign details, simply modify the fields as needed >> Select UPDATE to Save the changes.
To exit the editing options, select the Back to Email Campaigns option at the top left of the page.