Creating transactional email templates in IBM Watson Campaign Automation

Create an email template in IBM Watson Campaign Automation so that you can assign content to transactional emails. Complete this task for each specific transaction that you want an email sent for. That is, ensure that a corresponding email template exists in IBM Watson Campaign Automation for each specific transaction type.

Procedure

Log in to IBM Watson Campaign Automation.
For example, from the following URL: https://engage2.silverpop.com.
Select Automation > Transactional Messages > Create Group.

Create a group of automated messages by completing the following fields:

Parameter	Value
Name	The name of the group that you want to send automated messages to. For example, `Order Submitted Group`, to contain users who recently registered with the store.
Notes	If necessary, notes for internal use.
Contact Source	Select the shared database that you created when you configured IBM Watson Campaign Automation to work with HCL Commerce. For example, `demo_database_1`.
Event Trigger	Select Transact and XML.

Click Save & Activate.
The groups of automated messages are displayed under the Active tab.
Click the group name that you created.
The group details are displayed.
Important: Make note of the group ID that is displayed. This value is used in proceeding tasks to configure the campaign for each message type transport method in the HCL Commerce Administration Console.
In IBM Watson Campaign Automation, select Content > Create Mailings > Mailing Template.
Enter a template name.
For example, Order Submitted Template.

Then, click Apply.
Click Mailing Settings and complete the following fields:
1. In the Subject Line tab, enter the subject for the email, including any personalized tags.
  For example, the subject might resemble the following samples:
  - Your order has been placed, for subjects typed in plain-text.
  - Your %%STORENAME%% order %%ORDER_ID%% has been placed, for subjects that use personalized tags.
  - %%SUBJECT%%, for subjects that are passed from HCL Commerce.
2. In the Address Settings tab, enter the name that the email is from, the address, and the reply-to address.
3. In the Contacts tab, ignore the contact source, as it is already set at the mailing group level.
4. In the Contacts tab, select Shared as the template location and UTF-8 as the message encoding.
Click Mailing Settings to close the settings and to proceed to the email template body.
Enter the email template body.

If you are composing the email by using Option 1, where the HCL Commerce JSP composes the entire HTML, enter only %%BODY%% in the IBM Watson Campaign Automation email template.

If you are composing the email by using Option 2, where the HCL Commerce JSP creates personalization name-value pairs, include any links, personalized tags, and e-Marketing spots in the IBM Watson Campaign Automation email template.
1. Create links in the IBM Watson Campaign Automation template body.
  1. Click the Hyperlinks icon () in the email template body editor.
  2. In the Hyperlinks pane, enter the link text and URL. You can use personalization name-value pairs in the URL field, such as %%ACTIVATION_LINK%%.
  3. Select the protocol that your URL uses. For secure links, such as the account activation link, select https://.
  The email template body is updated to contain the hyperlink.
2. Include personalized tags in the IBM Watson Campaign Automation template body.
  1. Use the variable that corresponds with the personalized tag that you want to use:
```
%%tagname%%
```
  Where tagname is the name of the personalized tag that you want to use.
  For example, Your order %%ORDER_ID%% has been shipped.
3. Include e-Marketing spots in the IBM Watson Campaign Automation template body.
  1. Use the variable that corresponds with the e-Marketing Spot that you want to use:
```
%%spotname%%
```
  Where spotname is the name of the e-Marketing Spot that you want to use.
  For example, EmailWishlistNotification_Content.
Click Automate to automate a mailing send.
Some fields are pre-populated by default. Ensure that you complete the remaining values.
1. Select a Contact Source. Select the shared database that you created when you configured IBM Watson Campaign Automation to work with WebSphere.
  For example, demo_database_1.
2. Select Assign Mailing to Existing Group of Automated Messages. Select the group to automate sending messages to.
  For example, Order Submitted Group.
3. Upon assignment, save mailing as: Active.
Click Submit. Review any warnings or errors on the confirmation page.
Click Automate.
The new email template typically becomes active a few minutes later.
Note: If you change an existing automated email template, you must redo the automation steps to ensure that it works correctly.