Data

Whether your contacts are customers, subscribers, donors, members, or anything else, your data is a key element of all your marketing programs. This section provides an overview of how data is organised within Adestra, with links to more detailed help for the different areas and features.

Accessing Data

To manage your data you must first select your workspace, the select the Data button on the of the screen.

How Does Data Work in Adestra?

Adestra lets you control how your data is managed and used. But how do all the elements fit together? How can you get the most of your data in Adestra?

Lists: Regular, Dynamic and Remote

Contacts are the key component to your marketing strategy. You need them to send emails to, and those emails are sent to lists. Lists are an organised collection of your data. Contacts subscribe and unsubscribe from them, and you can manage them in-platform or through your CMS.

Adestra has three kinds of lists:

• Regular: the most used type of list. Nothing complex, just a set of data you can add and remove contacts from to send emails to.
• Dynamic: popular for automation programs and actively managing data. A collection of regular lists that can be included or excluded, and used along with filters to segment your contacts as they engage with you.
• Remote: useful for those managing contact storage outside of Adestra. Link up to your SFTP path and create a one-way syncronisation for Adestra to mirror the data you hold externally.

For more information, find out more about how to configure your CSVs and how to import your contacts.

Core Tables: all your contacts and required info in one place

Once a contact is added to a list, they are then also added to your core table.

Core Tables are where all your data is stored. It should contain the most relevant details for all your marketing communications, for example: First Name, Last Name, Address, Postcode, Birthday.

Check out the Core Tables topic to learn more about how to work with them.

Data Tables: additional contact info to keep your Core Table tidy

If you want to collect more detail for some targeted campaigns you can create a data table. These are supplements to your core table data, allowing you to hold additional information on your contacts, e.g. dietary requirements, engagement level, promotion codes etc.

Check out the Data Tables topic to learn more about how to work with them.

List Data Tables

But what if you want additional data, but for a one off use - say an event? In that case you should create a list data table. These are data tables that are locked to one list.

For example, at your next event you might have planned four talks on specific topics. You don't want to keep this information for any other event, because your contacts' interests might be different at your next event. Create a List Data Table for your event list, and you can make sure you keep those preferences for that particular list only.

Learn more by checking out the List Data Tables topic.

Unsub Lists: for when a contact asks you to stop sending mail

Sometimes contacts will unsubscribe from a mailing list. This could be because of a variety of factors, but once they've unsubscribed you have to honour their wish. And Adestra will do that automatically for you.

When sending out a campaign, the applied unsub list you choose will be used to manage any unsubscribes. Contacts that decide to unsubscribe will be removed from the mailing list the campaign was sent to, and added to the unsub list.

Learn more by checking out the Unsub Lists topic.

Suppression: for the contacts that have already unsubscribed

If you use your unsub list for many different campaigns, any contact that is present on that unsub list already will be automatically suppressed by Adestra. This makes sure you don't send anything to people who have already unsubscribed.

Contact Profile: data at a single contact viewpoint

See all the information you have on a contact in one place. That includes more than the information in your data tables but also, where they opened, how they move across lists and how they've engaged in the campaigns they received.

Transactional Data: keeping track of contact purchases through your brands

Transactional data in Adestra lets you view contact purchase history in their contact profile. The data can be imported via the API, and can be used to personalise an immediate campaign send too.

You can use your transactional data for advanced segmentation to target campaigns based on your contacts behaviour.

Promotion Codes: using data to provide unique promotions to your contacts

Send users a unique thank you with single use promotion codes, or manage a general promotion with a static code. Adestra lets you apply promotions to brands, and then import unique codes or use a single code which can be applied to contacts on sending a campaign.

You can also apply identifiers to your contacts based on their engagement to pull through a personalised promotion based on what they mean to you as a customer.

Remote XML: making external information usable in Adestra

XML is used to store and transport data, such as catalogues, news items, latest jobs and more, with which our platform allows you to create dynamic email content.

You can do this by linking to your XML with the Remote XML URL field in the Campaign Options form. You're then able to create campaigns that use Template API language to reference and pull through the information you want to show.

Note: Your campaign HTML should be written in the Adestra application, not within your XML.

Export Manager: extrapolating data for CRM use, customer reporting and more

Adestra lets you export your data for external analysis and integration. For example, you could create your own custom reports or update information in your CRM.

There are three types of export possible in Adestra:

• Event History: a record for every event, even if by the same contact
• Contact: a record per contact, showing aggregated events without duplication
• Device & Location: a record for each open, with what the campaign was opened on and where

Once you've decided on the export type, you can choose how you receive it and how often. By email or delivered directly to your (S)FTP server; and whether its scheduled ad-hoc exports or a dedicated Salesforce export.