Defining How the Activity is Executed

The Execution (Marketing Activity) info area is used to store all the important information needed to execute the marketing activity:

  • Target group
  • Schedule
  • Data entered in activities, mailings and marketing objectives
  • File formats and other information on mailings, e-mails, SMS and faxes.

To enter the details of how a marketing activity is executed:

  1. Select Create / Edit Execution from the marketing activity’s context menu.
  2. Use the Base field to determine the basis for the target group. The target group can be determined using a global query or private query, >> Queries.
  3. Select a predefined query in the Target group definition field.
    Note: Leave this field empty for follow-up activities. The target groups for follow-up activities are generated automatically based on responses to previous marketing activities.
  4. Select a Marketing Activity Format or select Create / Edit Format from the context menu to add a new one.
  5. Select an option in the Execution Type field.

    The following options execute the marketing activity a single time:

    • One-off: Create target group based on query: When generating the records, the selection or query is updated and the used to determine the target group.
    • One-off: Create target group based on response / new entry: The target group is generated automatically based on responses to the previous marketing activity or by editing the target group manually.

    The following options execute the marketing activity a repeatedly (in the interval defined in the Repeated: Frequency and Repeated: Frequency (Unit) fields on the Repeated tab):

    • Repeated: Create target group based on selection / query every time new: The existing target group is deleted each time the activity is executed. The query is updated, and the results are used to create the new target group.
      Note: If a target group record is marked as inactive (the Inactive field is enabled), the record remains inactive if the record is still in the selection when the query is executed again.
    • Repeated: Create target group based on responses:The target group is generated automatically based on responses to the previous marketing activity or by editing the target group manually.
    • Repeated: Send in packets: The target group is generated from the query the first time the activity is executed. Each time the marketing activity is executed, records are generated for members of the target group that have not yet been contacted. The Max. Package Size on the Repeated tab determines the maximum number of records in the target group that are processed each iteration. The marketing activity continues to be executed until all recipients in the target group have been contacted. Typically used for mailings that for reasons of cost or logistics cannot be handled in one go.
    • Repeated: Extend target group based on selection / query results: The query is executed each time the activity is executed. The existing target group records are retained. Only those recipients returned by the selection/query and not included in the target group are added to the target group. The marketing activity is executed for these recently added records. Typically used for mailings to new customers, e.g. to contact all accounts that have had their status set to "Customer" since the last time the activity was executed.
  6. Use the Milestones tab to define the dates for executing the activity:
    • Start on, Start at: Determine when the marketing activity is executed and the target group generated.
    • Create target group: Enable this check box to use the query to generate the target group.
    • Editing target group from/until: Defines the time period in which the target group can be edited
    • Execute activity on/at: Determines when the records relating to the marketing activity are generated
    • Response possible until: The date until which the responses received are taken into account
  7. Enter the rep assigned to CRM.server in the Executing user field. (Ask your administrator for this information.) This ensures that CRM.server processes the execution automatically.
  8. Define additional options in the following tabs:
    • Letter, E-Mail, Fax, SMS: Information on the contents of the information that is sent, e.g. the e-mail’s text; settings for surveys sent out in e-mails.
    • Activities: Details on the generated activities and information on surveys
    • Mailings: Details on the generated mailings
    • Marketing Objectives: Details on the generated marketing objectives
      Note: You cannot generate mail merges in Microsoft Word in a server environment. Once the marketing activity has been executed, you can download the control file and perform the mail merge locally. The control file can be found on the Letter, E-Mail, Fax and SMS tabs. If you enable the Save letters option on the Letter tab, the customer data in the control file can be linked to the sent text after the letters have been sent. This allows you to reconstruct the letter that was sent, >> Mail Merges.
    • Repeated: Time period and frequency for repeated marketing activities; package size for marketing activities that are carried out in packages
  9. Save the record.