Use the local approval activity

Last update: October 13, 2023

CREATED FOR:

  • User

The Local approval activity integrated into a targeting workflow lets you set up a recipient approval process before the delivery is sent.

CAUTION
To use this function, you need to purchase the Distributed Marketing module, which is a Campaign option. Please check your license agreement.

To set up this use case, we created the following targeting workflow:

The main steps of the local approval process are:

  1. The population resulting from targeting can be limited thanks to a Split type activity using a data distribution model.

  2. The Local approval activity then takes over and sends a notification email to each local supervisor. The activity is pended until each local supervisor approves the recipients assigned to them.

  3. Once the approval deadline is reached, the workflow starts again. In this example, the Delivery activity starts and the delivery is sent to the approved targets.

    NOTE
    Once the deadline is reached, recipients who haven’t been approved are excluded from targeting.

  4. A few days later, the second Local approval type activity sends a notification email to each local supervisor with a summary of the actions carried out by their contacts (clicks, opens, etc.).

Step 1: Create the data distribution template

The data distribution template lets you limit the population resulting from targeting based on data grouping while enabling you to assign each value to a local supervisor. In this example, we have defined the Email address domain field as a distribution field and assigned a domain to each local supervisor

For more on creating a data distribution template, refer to Limiting the number of subset records per data distribution.

  1. To create the data distribution template, go to the Resources > Campaign management > Data distribution node and click New.

  2. Select the General tab.

  3. Enter the Label and the Distribution context. In this example, we have selected the Recipient targeting schema and the Email domain field as a distribution field. The list of recipients will be broken down by domain.

  4. In the Distribution type field, select how the target limitation value will be expressed in the Distribution tab. Here, we have chosen Percentage.

  5. In the Approval storage field, enter the storage schema of the approvals that match the targeting schema in use. Here we are going to use the default storage schema: Local approval of recipients.

  6. Then click the Advanced parameters link.

  7. Keep the Approve the targeted messages option checked so that all recipients are pre-selected from the list of recipients to approve.

  8. In the Delivery label field, we’ve left the default expression (compute string of the delivery). The standard label of the delivery will be used in the feedback notification.

  9. In the Grouping field section, we have selected the Gender field as a grouping field for displaying recipients in the approval and feedback notifications.

  10. In the Edit targeted messages section, we’ve selected the Edit recipients web application and the recipientId parameter. In the approval and feedback notifications, recipients will be clickable and will point towards the URL of the web application. The additional URL parameter will be recipientId.

  11. Then click the Distribution tab. For each domain, enter the following fields:

    • Value: enter the value of the domain name.

    • Percentage / Fixed: for each domain, enter the max. number of recipients you want to send the delivery to. In this example, we want to limit the delivery to 10% per domain.

    • Label: enter the label of the domain to be displayed in the approval and feedback notifications.

    • Group or operator: select the operator or group of operators assigned to the domain.

      CAUTION
      Make sure the operators have been assigned the appropriate rights.

Step 2: Create the targeting workflow

To set up this use case, we created the following targeting workflow:

The following activities were added:

  • Two Query activities,
  • One Intersection activity,
  • One Split activity,
  • One Local approval activity,
  • One Delivery activity,
  • One Wait activity,
  • A second Local approval activity,
  • One End activity.

Queries, Intersection and Split

Upstream targeting is made up of two queries, one intersection and one split. The population resulting from targeting can be limited using a Split activity using a data distribution template.

For more on configuring a split activity, refer to Split. The creation of a data distribution template is detailed in Limiting the number of subset records per data distribution.

If you do not want to limit the population from the query, you do not have to use the Query, Intersection, and Split activities. In this case, complete the data distribution template in the first Local approval activity.

  1. In the Record count limitation section, select the Limit the selected records option and click the Edit link.

  2. Select the Keep only the first records after sorting option and click Next.

  3. In the Sort columns section, add the field which the sort is applied to. Here, we have chosen the Email field. Click Next.

  4. Select the By data distribution option, select the distribution template created previously (refer to Step 1: Creating the data distribution template) and click Finish.

In the distribution template, we have chosen to limit the population to 10% per grouping value, which coincides with the values displayed in the workflow (340 as an input and 34 as an output).

Approval notification

The Local approval activity lets you send a notification to each local supervisor.

For more on configuring the Local approval activity, refer to Local approval.

The following fields need to be entered:

  1. In the Action to execute section, select the Target approval notification option.

  2. In the Distribution context section, select the Specified in the transition option.

    If you don’t want to limit the targeted population, select the Explicit option here and enter the distribution template created previously in the Data distribution field.

  3. In the Notification section, select the delivery template and the subject to be used for the notification email. Here, we have chosen the default template: Local approval notification.

  4. In the Approval schedule section, we’ve kept the default approval deadline (3 days) and added a reminder. The delivery will leave 3 days after the start of approval. Once the approval deadline has been reached, recipients who haven’t been approved aren’t taken into account by targeting.

A notification email is sent by the Local approval activity to local supervisors.

Wait

The wait activity lets you postpone the start of the second local approval activity that will send the delivery feedback notification. In the Duration field, we have entered the 5d value (5 days). The actions performed by recipients for 5 days following the sending of the delivery will be included in the feedback notification.