Vision Voice—Latest Entries

When I was given the task of developing the Event Registration System for EMSA 2008 I thought “great” — a good way to get used to the system using the API to “plug in” to the backend. The first thing I had to come up with was a database structure for the attendees, so I created the user I would be logging in with through the API in VeMail and set about creating a new Contact Database and associated Fields. Then it was on to creating the 3 step registration web application which (funnily enough) involved 3 steps of my own.

1. Create the HTML form and display the Fields

I could have chosen to create the forms manually, entering all the Field names I had created and their associated attributes. Instead I chose to retrieve the Fields in the Database using searchFields(). With the results I got back, I was able to dynamically create the HTML form elements including their type, name and attributes. This meant that when we came to add new Fields, it was a very simple process requiring little modification to the underlying code as the forms were all dynamic.

2. Save the attendee data

There were some challenges involved with saving the data for the registration process. It wasn’t just a matter of saving a record for each attendee. Instead we had to keep track of the “Main Contact” and their “additional” attendees. In a traditional database structure such as MySQL this may be done with the use of a second table and using a parent ID as foreign key. This is not possible in a flat database structure however, so I worked around this problem by adding an extra Field called Main Contact ID. As the “Main Contact” is the first Contact to be saved in the process using addContacts() (which returns an array containing the unique IDs of the Contacts added) it was a simple process of recording this returned ID and adding it to the “Main Contact ID” Field for subsequent attendees. This made retrieving data a simple process, as I could just use searchContacts() and search for contacts using a given Main Contact ID value.

3. Triggering Campaigns

Triggering the associated Campaigns was a very simple process. The campaigns were created in the system as per usual — we had various campaigns set up to send invoices to Contacts depending on their payment method (a Field name we had created). To trigger the campaigns all you need to do is pass “true” as the (optional) 3rd parameter to the editContacts() method. More often then not campaigns sending incorrectly are due to a missing action or incorrect trigger in the campaign itself, and not when you have actually chosen to trigger it in your code. Just remember to pass “true” at the right time; so you don’t have campaigns sending all over the place and you’ll be fine.

So there you go — a brief look at how the Registration System for EMSA 2008 was creating using the API. I found using the API really was a simple process; spend a little time planning early instead of diving right in and you’ll breeze through it. The EMSA 2008 Registration System was creating using only 5 API methods:

• searchFields()
• addContacts()
• editContacts()
• deleteContacts()
• searchContacts()

Please feel free to contact us for more information on this process or the API in general.

You are invited to attend EMSA 2008 — Australia’s only dedicated Email Marketing summit.

The summit is designed to bring together Australia’s leading email marketers whilst simultaneously providing a rare opportunity to those new to the industry to gain a wealth of insights and understanding.

EMSA 2008 will be run over 2 days:

Day One is a Certification Course and will focus on best practice Email Marketing in the electronic marketing mix — specifically looking at Promotion, Landing Pages, Email Design and Database & Analysis.

Day Two will be an intense day with sessions ranging from traditional marketing subjects such as design and behavioral marketing for email through to specific technical knowledge sessions such as SPAM Compliance and Data Privacy.

View the full program on the EMSA website

Speakers for the two days will again include a combination of industry leaders as well as current email marketing users who will outline a number of best-practice case studies. The day will be chaired by 2007 Keynote Speaker Rob Hudson, Digital Manager at GPY&R Brisbane.

Some other speakers to be featured include:

• Fairfax Digital — Scott Grasso, General Manager Database Marketing
• Australian Communications & Media Authority — Julia Cornwell McKean, Manager Anti-Spam Team
• Dialect — David Blakers, CEO
• Advantate — Lisa Watts, CEO
• Circul8 — Alana Stocks, Managing Director
• Pure Profile — Ian Lyons, Communications Manager
• Dick Smith Electronics — Luke Hilton, Web Development Manager
• Vision 6 — David Smerdon, Head of Strategy
• Photon Group — Caitlin Millar-Jack, Divisional Managing Director Internet Marketing and Communications

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, November 6th — Friday, November 7th 2008
• Venue: Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland
• Cost: $695 Early Bird (Until 30th September), $795 Full Fee

Places are strictly limited, so do not delay — reserve your place at this unique Australian event!

EMSA 2008 is brought to you by Vision 6.

Over the last 6 months, Vision 6 has been working hard to change the format in which our monthly VeMail Tips are provided. In particular, if you’ve contacted our Support Team or read our Tips recently you will have noticed the switch to Flash-based movie tips, to guide you through various elements of the system step by step.

As of this morning you will also notice a new help icon in the top right hand corner of each screen. By hovering over this icon you will be presented with a list of tips that are relevant to the tasks you may carry out on that page.

Image of the Context Sensitive Help icon in the system

Simply click on the Tip which relates to the task you are going to perform and a pop up window will display the Tip you have selected.

Login Now to see the tutorials in action

I hope you find this new feature useful! As always if you have any queries, please do contact us.

Has it really been this long since I mentioned anything in an update? Along with a couple of other fixes, in Release 4.8.20 (made available earlier today) we fixed a minor bug that had cropped up in a recent build, whereby people had been seeing “blank” pages when clicking the “Go Back” buttons in Web Forms embedded on users’ websites via our “Get Code” feature. It’s all sorted, and if you hadn’t noticed it you probably — um, aren’t that concerned about it.

If you’re a user of Business Builder, you will probably notice on your next login that we’ve given the “Home” module (the page you first see right after you log in) a bit of a facelift, in order to make it a bit more useful.

New tabbed interface for the “Home” module — Click for a closeup

Now at a glance you’ll be able to see your account status (days remaining on your trial account, or your current outstanding balance) and any recent invoices you’ve received or payments you’ve made in the past week, plus we’ve added some new sensibly-grouped “tabs” containing some quick tips on getting started, and links to download any supporting documents or other resources you may need to get the most of out of the system and your eMarketing practices.

We’re hoping that you’ll find this a useful “mini-upgrade”, and as always please contact us if you have any questions!

Vision 6 is proud to announce the delivery of a Whitepaper:

The A–Z of Email Design

Concise enough to be read whilst enjoying a cup of coffee, The A–Z of Email Design provides a step by step guide on how to design your emails, including:

• Planning the Email
• Design and Construction
• Completion, Testing and Send

Download the Whitepaper now

We hope you find this Whitepaper useful!

“After attending VeMail Training, I learned that VeMail is easy to use — the features are clear and simple enough for anyone to be able to pick up — not just the IT department! The trainer explained the process really well, demonstrating the system as she went and answering all questions thoroughly. Her friendly relaxed approach made the session much more than the average training seminar.” — Louise Woodcroft, Ordyss

I can’t say it better myself! If you’d like to find out how to really harness the power of VeMail for your own eMarketing, our next Sydney training day is happening on Thursday 15th May, 2008 — and there’s still time to register!

Happy birthday, spam.

Following on from this month’s iUpdate — Success is In the Timing — April’s VeMail Tip will guide you through scheduling your messages. This is particularly useful when you have completed your message but want to send it at a specific time in the future to maximise its impact and success.

View the ‘Scheduling Message Sends’ Tip (Flash required)
Download the ‘Scheduling Message Sends’ Notes (1.3MB PDF)