Trigger: Customer Is In Segment
Use this trigger in a dialog activity to begin or continue the activity for each customer who belongs to one or more customer segments that you specify.
Once a day, this trigger checks the specified customer segments to determine which customers are in the segments on that day. Those customers proceed through the dialog activity. You can then automate follow-up marketing actions for these customers, such as sending an email or text message, or issuing a coupon. You can set the trigger to run every day or one time only.
Scenario 1: Send a bulk email message to all customers in a segment and then follow up
In this example, you want the dialog activity to automatically send a bulk email message to all customers in a segment on a certain day. Then, at a later date, you want the dialog activity to follow up with additional marketing actions based on how customers respond to the initial email message. Here is an example of how the dialog activity works in this scenario:
- On the start date for the dialog activity, check who belongs to the
Registered customers
segment. Then send an email message to each customer in the segment about the Red Tag Week Sale. - Wait for four days; then, check each customer's purchase history to determine if the customer
placed an order since the activity start date.
- For customers who placed an order, do nothing further.
- For customers who did not place an order, send those customers a second email message as a reminder that there are only three days left in the sale.
The dialog activity looks like this:
- The Customer Is In Segment trigger must have the Frequency of check for customers in segment field set to One time only; otherwise, registered customers will receive email messages every day the activity is active.
- The start date for the dialog activity must be the day that you want the first email message sent. You do not need to specify an end date because the dialog activity will end automatically after sending the second email message.
The Marketing tool also supports Email activities, which offer an alternative way to send bulk email messages to all customers in a customer segment. The advantage of using the Customer Is In Segment trigger in a dialog activity to send bulk email messages is that you can automate follow-up actions after the initial email message is sent. In the previous dialog activity example, a single email activity can achieve only what you see to the left of the Wait trigger, whereas a dialog activity supports the follow-up actions to the right of the Wait trigger as well.
Scenario 2: Send a bulk text message (SMS) to all customers in a segment
In this scenario, you want the dialog activity to automatically send a bulk text message (SMS) to all customers in a customer segment, with or without follow-up marketing actions. This scenario uses the Customer Is In Segment trigger to send a bulk text message (SMS):
On the start date for the dialog activity, check for customers who belong to the Preferred
Customers
segment. Then, send a text message (SMS) to each customer in the segment about the
upcoming Storewide Weekend Sale.
- The Customer Is In Segment trigger must have the Frequency of check for customers in segment field set to One time only; otherwise, Preferred Customers will receive text (SMS) messages every day the activity is active.
- The start date for the Dialog activity must be the day you want the text message sent. It is not necessary to specify an end date because the Dialog activity will end automatically after sending the text message.
Prerequisites for using this trigger
- Make sure your site is configured to support the Management Center marketing features.
- Before adding the Customer Is In Segment trigger to a dialog activity, you must create one or more customer segments that you want to specify in the trigger, if those segments do not already exist. See Creating a customer segment.
Guidelines for using this trigger
When setting up this trigger, you must specify the following options:| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer segments | Specify the customer segments that you want to check to trigger the dialog
activity. If you specify more than one customer segment, the dialog activity runs for the customers
in all segments you specify. If a customer is in more than one of those segments:
The Repeatable check box is on the General Properties tab that displays when you click the green circle at the start of the Dialog activity flow. |
| Frequency of check for customers in the segment | Options are:
By default, the server performs the check at 2 AM, but a Site Administrator can change the time. |
Considerations if you are using this trigger to send emails
If you are using this trigger to send emails with the Send Message action, you have two options for specifying when the server sends the emails on the days the activity runs. You control these options by selecting or clearing the Send immediately check box in the properties for the Send Message action.- Option 1: Send emails immediately following the daily check of the customer segment. To set this
option, select the Send immediately check box for the Send Message action.
A Site Administrator configures the time of day that the daily check occurs; by default the time is 2 AM each day. If your customer segment has a large number of customers in it, this option is not recommended because it can affect server performance.
- Option 2: Send emails at the time of day that all marketing emails are scheduled to be sent in the Administration Console. To set this option, clear the Send immediately check box for the Send Message action. This option is preferable because it has less impact on server performance; however, this option requires a Site Administrator to ensure that the daily check of the customer segment is scheduled earlier than the send time for the email messages.