LIVEmail FAQs
- Q: Do I have to use one of the IBM® certified partners for LIVEmail that are listed on the Partners page? What if my current partner is not displayed in the LIVEmail user interface?
- A: Using an IBM certified partner for LIVEmail ensures that a standard LIVEmail export can be easily received and
processed by your partner. Certification involves testing a partner to ensure that they can
successfully receive LIVEmail visitor
activities, visitor attributes, and session attributes in one of our standard file export formats.
Because LIVEmail produces data exports
that consist of granular visitor behaviors, any ESP or third party system will be able to receive
and use the LIVEmail data that you
send. However, non-certified ESPs might charge additional data storage or customization fees. Always
speak to your partner about the type of data they want to receive to conduct targeted email
campaigns on your behalf and be sure to communicate the format of the LIVEmail file that you will be sending to
hem.
If your partner is not an IBM certified partner, contact Digital Analytics Support so that our Business Development team can contact the ESP about the IBM certification program for LIVEmail.
- Q: Which ESPs are currently IBM certified partners?
- A: All LIVEmail certified partners appear in the section of the side navigation panel. If your organization's current ESP partner is not LIVEmail certified, you ccan contact Digital Analytics Support so that our Business Development team can pursue certification with that organization.
- Q: What type of technical/best practice support for LIVEmail do I receive as part of my service contract?
- A: A dedicated Applications Specialist will contact a member
of your organization within 48 hours after the LIVEmail application
has been provisioned for one or more of your Digital Analytics Client
IDs. Applications Specialists are highly trained in all aspects of
the enablement process and are required to have an in-depth knowledge
of the technical, strategic, and best practice considerations surrounding
the Digital Analytics precision
marketing applications.
You will receive best-practice assistance (including reference material) for solidifying business requirements for your LIVEmail-driven email programs, a targeted site tag audit, one business user training session about configuring LIVEmail exports, and technical assistance during the ESP integration set up phase.
- Q: How many LIVEmail exports can I set up?
- A: By default, a user can have up to 10 recurring LIVEmail exports active at one point in time. If you need access to additional feeds, contact your Digital Analytics account team.
- Q: I use a home-grown or internally managed email/database tool. Does Digital Analytics have any technical documentation to help my IT/DB marketing team scope out a process for internalizing LIVEmail data feeds?
- A: Absolutely. You can find detailed technical specs for the LIVEmail application on the Support Site by searching for "LIVEmail Data Specification".
- Q: Do I have the ability to apply additional segmentation/business logic within the LIVEmail application that normally resides with my ESP (for example, frequency capping, opt-in status checks, multi-event logic)?
- A: No. Currently, LIVEmail does not support segmentation or business logic that is tied to preference center information, multi-event/frequency capping, or opt-in/opt-out status. Discuss these value-added business requirements with your ESP partner.
- Q: Can I use my Product, Page, and other Attributes in LIVEmail for segmentation purposes?
- A: Yes. All the attribute data that your organization is sending using tags or data import files can be used to create target visitor segments in LIVEmail. Remember that you must create an alias for your attribute data before it is displayed in the LIVEmail user interface.
- Q: Can I import any data from my Email Service Provider using the custom Email Inbox Metrics supported by LIVEmail?
- A: No. All non-standard imported data fields (such as, Email Inbox Metrics 1 -15) are required to include numeric data values. If you attempt to import string data in those fields, the import job will fail.
- Q: When does Digital Analytics cut off when a day ends and the next begins (for the data analysis time period?)
- A: We break sessions at midnight, so if a user carted a product at 23:50 on September 28 and then purchased it at 00:03 on September 29, it would be listed as abandoned in the September 28 feed.
- Q: What time zone does Digital Analytics reference when identifying "time of action/activity"?
- A: All data acquisition and activity time stamps are based on the CLIENT'S TIMEZONE as defined by their account settings. The site visitor time zone is never taken into account.
- Q: What does the "cm_lm" parameter do?
- A: The standard cmdatatagutils.js library embedded in a client's site pages has a handler that will auto-generate a Registration tag when an inbound link contains the argument cm_lm=. The value passed after the equal sign (=) will be parsed into both the Customer IDand Email Address parameters of that tag. This function is NOT required for a LIVEmail integration. The function was built to address situations where a new Digital Analytics client lacks a substantial number of email addresses in their Registration table. It is a quick way to "bulk-up" the amount of cookie-to-email address associations in the database.
- Question: How does a client implement the "cm_lm" URL parameter?
- A: cm_lm= can be appended as a normal URL query string parameter to inbound email links. The value after the equal sign should be the email address of the email recipient. The client will need to work with their ESP or email tool support team to understand what variable or mail-merge token is used by their software to embed the recipient's email addresses into links. For example: cm_lm=%email_address%. cm_lm must be in lowercase letters and URL-encoding is not allowed. The client should ALWAYS test the function before sending an email to their full email list. They should use the Digital Analytics TagBar utility to ensure that an inbound link with this parameter appended is creating a Registration tag where the Customer ID and Email Address fields are being populated with the value in the cm_lm argument.