Marketing automation walkthrough - Preparing the prerequisites

Development model: MVC Portal Engine
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Kentico EMS required

Features described on this page require the Kentico EMS license.

Before you create the automation process, you need to:

  1. Create two testing newsletters and a testing contact status
  2. Ask your administrator to help you:

We recommend following the walkthrough on the Dancing Goatsample site.

Creating testing newsletters

Create two newsletters that will be used by the sample automation process:

  1. Open the Email marketing application on the Email feeds tab.

  2. Click New email feed and enter the following details:

    • Type: select Newsletter
    • Display name: Coffee Co Merchandise Newsletter
    • Code name: leave the (automatic) option
    • Subscription email template: Sample subscription email template
    • Unsubscription email template: Sample unsubscription email template
    • Sender name: Coffee Co
    • Sender email address: Enter your email address

  3. Click Add templates and select the DG email template (2 zones) template.

  4. Click Save.

    • You are now on the Configuration tab of the new newsletter.

  5. In the On-line marketing section, make sure both Track opened emails and Track clicked links are enabled.

  6. Click Save.

  7. Switch to the Emails tab and click Create new email.

  8. Enter Coffee Co Merchandise #1 as the name.

  9. Click Create.

  10. Compose a short email containing a link to your website.

  11. Create another email and enter Coffee Co Merchandise #2 as the name.

    • Compose another email linking to your website.

  12. Return to the main Email feeds tab and create another newsletter.

    • Name the newsletter Coffee Co Monthly Newsletter.
    • Leave the rest of the details as in the first newsletter.
    • Don’t create any emails for the second newsletter.

You now have two newsletters prepared for later use in the automation process.

See also: Email marketing

Creating a testing contact status

Create a contact status that will be used by the sample automation process:

  1. Open the Contact management application.
  2. Switch to the Configuration -> Contact status tab.
  3. Click New contact status and enter the following details:
    • Display name: Prospective client
    • Code name: leave the (automatic) option
  4. Click Save.

You have prepared a contact status for later use in the Set contact status step of the automation process.

See also: Assigning statuses to contacts

Creating testing users

Create two user accounts for administering the automation process:

  1. Open the Users application.

  2. Click New user.

  3. Set the following details for the user:

    • User name: Travis
    • Full name: Travis McCoy
    • Enabled: Yes (selected)
    • Privilege level: Editor
    • Assign to website: Yes (current site)

  4. Click Save.

  5. Create another user with the following details:

    • User name: Matt
    • Full name: Matt McGinley
    • Enabled: Yes (selected)
    • Privilege level: Editor
    • Assign to website: Yes (current site)

  6. Click Save.

Setting the roles and permissions

For the users to be able to perform their tasks, administrators need to add them to global roles with appropriate permissions.

Preparing the Marketer role

Create a Marketer global role and assign Travis into the role:

  1. Open the Roles application and select (global) in the Site drop-down list.
  2. Click New role and enter Marketeras the Role display name.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Switch to the Users tab and click Add users.
  5. Select Travis McCoy (Travis) and click Save & Close.
  6. Switch to the Permissions tab and choose Module in the first drop-down list.
  7. Choose the Contact management module in the second drop-down list.
  8. Allow all permissions in the Contact management module.
  9. Choose the Email marketing module in the drop-down list and allow all its permissions.
  10. Choose the Online marketing module in the drop-down list and allow all its permissions.

The Travis user account now has full control over automation processes, i.e. can design the entire sample process and fully modify its instances.

Preparing the Process Administrator role

Create a Process administrator role and assign Matt into the role:

  1. Open the Roles application and select (global) in the Site drop-down list.
  2. Click New role and enter Process administrator as the Role display name.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Switch to the Users tab and click Add users.
  5. Select Matt McGinley (Matt) and click Save & Close.
  6. Switch to the Permissions tab and choose Module in the first drop-down list.
  7. Choose the Contact management module in the second drop-down list.
  8. Allow the Read permission for the Contact management module.
  9. Choose the Content module in the drop-down list and allow the Read permission.
  10. Choose the On-line marketing module in the drop-down list and allow the Read,Read processes, and Manage processes permissions.

The Matt user account can now access the on-line marketing interface for modifying instances of running automation processes. You can always expand or reduce the permissions.

See also: Configuring permissions

Enabling On-line marketing

You need to track contacts in order to test the functionality of the sample process. Make sure that the on-line marketing functionality for tracking contacts is enabled:

  1. Go to Settings (application) -> On-line marketing.
  2. Select the Enable on-line marketing box.
  3. Click Save.

Configuring your SMTP server

To be fully able to test the process, you need to have an SMTP server configured correctly in Kentico. You can either configure it yourself as described on the Configuring SMTP servers page or contact your administrator.

Next page: Creating the process