Communication Types.
Communication Types are the reasons
why you're contacting customers. You may choose to just have Contractual and Marketing, or you may want to have variations of these (eg News and Offers, Memberships, Special Events, etc) if you want to allow customers to opt in or out for specific things.
To set these up, go to System Setup > Marketing, and under Contact Communication Options click the Setup button for Setup Communication Types.
To edit an existing one, click on the name. To add a new one, click Add at the top.
For each one, you can select whether or not customers can opt out (please ensure if it's for marketing that this is set to Yes), if it's checked by default, and if it shows in tills for specific locations.
The description will show online.
This opt-in will then be displayed to customers when creating an account, when placing an order, and in their online account.
It can also be used within Form Builder, and set as a field within waivers.
Communication Methods.
Communication Methods are
how you contact your customers. By default, the system will include Email, SMS, Mail, and Phone.
These are managed in System Setup > Marketing, and under Contact Communication Options click the Setup button for Setup Communication Methods.
If you don't need all of these, they can be deleted by clicking on the name and then clicking Delete at the top. If you'd like to add new ones or edit existing ones, click on the name and amend any of the details.
When opting in, the customer will see these options and can select yes or no for each one.
The system will only automatically use two options:
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Email: Used for when sending Marketing emails (Automated emails, Bulk emails, Multi-stage emails) - only people opted into Marketing emails will be included when sending.
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SMS: Used for when sending Marketing SMS's (Automated SMS, Bulk SMS, Multi-stage emails where the action is Send SMS) - only people opted into Marketing communication type with SMS communication method will be included when sending these.
The others are for your internal use.
Viewing and Managing Communication Preferences.
Against each contact in the system, there is a Customer Communication Preferences section - this shows each Type along the top and each Method on the left, with a tick or a cross between the two to indicate whether or not they're opted in.
These can be edited directly by clicking the Edit button below the table. Tick or untick as required, enter a reason for the change and then click Save.
To see a list of contacts opted in or out of certain communication types/methods, create a contact filter using the conditions eg 'Opt in to Marketing - Email' with the value equal to Yes to generate a list of all contacts who are opted into Marketing emails. There's also the condition for 'Date communication preferences last updated' which can be used to see contacts who have opted in or out within a certain date range or days from the current day.
Communication preferences can be Bulk Updated if needed - using a filter or the search function to find the contacts to opt in or out, click Bulk Update at the bottom of the contact list and use the Communication Preferences section to update preferences for all selected customers at once. Please ensure you're following GDPR protocols if doing this.
Communication preferences can also be imported via a contact import or contact update. Just include a column for this in your csv file and select the relevant option from the mapping page when importing or updating contacts.
All contact records have an Audit button in the top right corner - any changes to communication preferences are logged here. If you receive a query eg. why someone has received a marketing email while opted out, the first place to check would be the audit to see when they opted out vs when they received the email.
