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Action: Changing recipient profile

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To define a new action changing a user profile, proceed as follows:

1.In the navigation bar, click on the Sites & Actions and Actions button. The overview will display defined actions with the two symbols Delete and Edit at the end of the line.
2.Click on the New action sub-menu in the navigation bar. The system will display an entry dialog in the contents area.
3.In the Name box, select an appropriate name for the action. This name will be displayed each time you are prompted by the OpenEMM to select an action. To simplify your work, the name should be meaningful. In the Description box, you can give a description of the intended aim of the action. This makes sense particularly if several people work with the OpenEMM.
4.The Usage drop-down list is used to determine how the action should be used. Technically speaking there is no difference between actions. However, it is much easier to manage your work with OpenEMM if you do specify a usage for an action. There are several entry dialogs where the system presents all actions defined so far in a drop-down list. Some examples are statistical evaluations of trackable links or the various forms pages. If you define an action as being for links only, you are making sure that the action in question will only appear in drop-down lists where the subject matter is link-related. This reduces the number of entries in drop-down lists. The selection only for forms means that this particular action will only appear in drop-down lists on forms pages. Selecting Links and forms specifies that the action is always available.
Fig. 8.25: Select a meaningful name and description for your new action.

Fig. 8.25: Select a meaningful name and description for your new action.

5.Next, you select what the action should do in a first step. The Type drop-down list offers you the choices listed in chapter "Managing actions". This chapter is concerned with profiles. You should therefore leave the Modify profile setting. To conclude your entries, click on the Save button. Further information on the various options is contained in the forms chapter "Forms".
6.When enhancing data via a profile modification, only the self-defined fields are available for selection. The OpenEMM-specific fields such as Mail type and Gender are no longer available. Now you define in the OpenEMM exactly which field the system should change in the recipient profile and how. To do so, click the button Add next to the selected type. Thereupon the Column name appears in the selection list, showing all fields in the recipient profile. These comprise only your self-defined fields. Select the desired field, in this example the self-defined INTEREST_SANDALS.
Fig. 8.26: Using drop-down lists, you select which field to change and how.

Fig. 8.26: Using drop-down lists, you select which field to change and how.

7.The second drop-down list features the operator. The last box takes the value the operator should process. This is different according to the field type.
The Plus (+) and Minus (-) operators only make sense in Number fields. They increment or decrement a numerical value in the field. If you wanted to register a recipient’s interest in a specific topic, you would increment that value. If, on the other hand, the recipient registered disinterest by clicking, the value could be decremented. In the last box you can enter the numerical value the system should use to add or subtract. In our example, the contents of our INTEREST_TRAVEL field would be incremented by 1 (+1).
The equals sign (=) means the contents should be equated to that value, irrespective of what was stored there before. This operator may be used for all field types, i.e. Numerical, Date and Alphanumerical. The contents of the last entry box must match, of course. A Alphanumerical field will take any Unicode character; a Numerical field will only take figures. The system expects a Date to be entered in the YYYYMMDD format, i.e. 20061224 for Christmas Eve 2006.
8.Once you have made all your entries, clicking on Save will store them in the system.
9.The Add step area will take any number of new steps for this particular action. Just repeat from step 4. Steps already defined may be amended at any time. All you need to do is to enter new values and confirm by clicking on Save.
Please note: It is not a problem to combine modifying a profile, sending an email and other options within the same action.
10.To delete a step, click on the Delete symbol at the end of the relevant line.
Please note: The OpenEMM will delete that step without asking for confirmation. You should take care with that button.