Newsletter attributes

Devan Caton

For the longest time, our Marketing department has use Constant Contact, and all the newsletter signups & emails were kept outside of RE.  We're now beginning to implement Online Express, so we're looking for some advice on best practices.  We have multiple email newsletters that go out to different lists of constituents.  Which of the two following options do you think is the best:

1. Create one attribute for "Newsletter Subscription," with a selection table of our various newsletters.  If someone is subscribed to more than one, just add that attribute again and select the second subscription as well.
   
   
   or...
   
    
2. Create a different attribute for every newsletter.

I'm thinking there probably isn't much of a difference, but I want to know from people who have been doing this longer which option is cleaner and most sustainable in the future (when lists may become defunct or we may have many, many more).

Joy park

I would definitely create a "Newsletter Subscription Type" table and try the former process you described.  When you Export that Attribute, it's much easier to select the Table Outputs all at once .  When you select that Attribute table in Export, you can instruct it to pull as many instances as you have.  If you have 10 different Newsletters, then you would select the Attribute Table, and when prompted by the first option in the Export, "For Each Constituent, Export the Number of Newsletter Subscription Type Attributes to export:" you would enter 10. If you have 5, enter 5.  


If you make separate Attribute entries for EACH newsletter type, you're going to have to select those fields to Export again and again  as they can't be "summarized" together.  

Tami Ramaker

I am surprised you left Constant Contact, for this very reason. We are looking at MailChimp or Constant Contact specifically because RE does not have a good solution for newsletter segments.  Are you going to have one attribute but allow multiple entries to the Description/Table? If you do, then you can have duplicates in exactly the same table option on one record (you can limit attributes, but not tables), so if someone unsubscribes you not only have to manually remove that table option from their record, but it could be on there twice.  If you only allow one newsletter option on a record, they cannot pick and choose for your newsletters, and/or you will have to have levels. If they are levels, each level/segment 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, adding to the one before it, then when they opt out of one of the lower options, how do you handle that? Let's say you have the following newsletters:  General, Volunteer, Special Event 1, Special Event 2, Client, Sponsor/Donor. If someone elects to receive General, Volunteer & Sponsor/Donor and then sends you an unsubscribe, their RE account is marked for unsubscribe to emails but there is no RE link between the specific newsletter and an attribute, so the unsubscribe is just marked for their entire account. Which one have they unsubscribed to? To unsubscribe them from one newsletter type is totally a manual process. And remember, NetCommunity does not allow any emails from a corporate record to be on the newsletter list. Period. The only way you can do it is to create an individual record for corporate contacts you want to receive newsletters. RE did not give us the option - they programmed it that way.