Tactics and the Emarsys Marketing Platform
Tactics and the Strategic Dashboard, are part of the new product package structure that is currently being rolled out. You will be contacted by your Success Manager when your account is ready to receive the new functionality.
Tactics are pre-built Automation Center and Interactions programs designed to achieve a specific marketing goal. Each one must be customized to a greater or lesser extent before you can use it.
This article explains how to customize a Tactic. Please refer to the individual article for that Tactic for more detailed instructions.
Downloading a Tactic
You can find and download a Tactic from the Tactics page. This is accessible in two ways:
- From the Automation menu, Tactics.
- From the Strategic Dashboard (Analytics menu, Strategic Dashboard, then click Get Better Results with Tactics below each strategy).
On the Tactics page, you will find a full list of all the available Tactics. Here you can:
- Filter the list by the status of the Tactic Programs you created.
- Filter the list by the category of Tactics.
- Filter the list by the affected strategy.
- Search for a Tactic using keywords from the description.
- Click on a Tactic Card to open the details.
- Click the status badge of the Tactics to list the programs grouped by status for the Tactic. In this view you can also unlink programs from Tactics. For more details, see here.
Automation Center programs and Interactions programs are grouped by the following statuses:
- Inactive - Get started: programs not created yet.
- In design: programs created and is in design or in testing, but not activated.
- Active: the program is active or finished.
- Needs attention: the program is in Testing, Paused, Frozen, Pending or Pause Pending mode.
- In error: the program is in Frozen or Error mode.
To download a Tactic to your account, click on a Tactic Card.
The Tactic details pop-up
- gives an overview of the program workflow,
- lists the strategies it contributes to and
- it enables you to list the programs related to the Tactic.
- Packages
Most Tactics have different versions depending on your pricing package and the Add-ons you have available. Select a package to list the Tactic variants in the package.
- Variants by channels
Here you select the channels you want to use in the Tactic.
In the Tactic details you can either link a program to the existing tactic or you can create a new tactic.
Click Link related Programs to link a program and see the list of the programs (Automation Center programs and Interactions programs) which are already assigned to this specific Tactic according to their use case. You can also unlink programs from Tactics. For more details, see Unlinking programs from Tactics.
When you have made your selection of your channel, and linked or unlinked the related programs you can click Review Tactic to see a summary.
Click Create Tactic to generate a new one and download the Tactic to your account. This will appear after a few minutes as a new program on your Automation Center or Interactions overview page with the Tactic name and a number after it. Once the download is complete, you can click Go to Automation Center program to open your Tactic Program. You are now ready to configure and launch the Tactic.
Configuring a Tactic
After downloading a Tactic you should read the appropriate article for instructions on how to configure it.
In most cases the entry point, segments and wait nodes are all ready.
You may want to check that the recurring frequency of the entry node (if this is a recurring filter) matches your business needs, otherwise you should not change these settings without first consulting your Success Manager.
You will then need to configure the message content for each channel in the Tactic. Instructions are provided below.
When you have checked all your messages, make sure that the program participation settings match your needs (each Tactic article has further suggestions for this). When you are done you can test and activate the Tactic.
Email campaigns
All Tactics are downloaded with a matching set of emails.
For this, first perform the following steps:
- Select and download a Tactic from the Tactics page.
- To generate a new one, click Create Tactic and download the Tactic to your account. - Configure the Tactic.
- Configure the message content for each channel in the Tactic
Email message content
These emails are examples created by us, to give you an idea of the content and layout that we think is the most effective for that Tactic. In most cases, we expect you to use your own creatives - these are only meant to provide guidance and inspiration should you need it. The articles for each Tactic also describe the email content in detail, so you can prepare your emails in advance. For details, see List of Tactics.
Emarsys Tactics Master email template
If you do want to take advantage of these emails, you should first download and configure the Emarsys Tactics Master email template.
You have the following options to obtain these templates:
- Go to Content > Block-Based Templates.
In the Search field enter "Tactics" to filter the pre-created email templates.
- Go to Channels > Email Campaigns and open a Tactics-related email campaign. (The name of the Tactics placeholder email campaigns always start with "Distributed".
If you open the Tactics-related email campaign and then click on Open template in the upper right, it will take you to the Tactics- Master Template.
Once you have configured this template to match your brand, every subsequent email that is downloaded with a Tactic will also display your changes, meaning you only have to swap the main images and make a few minor adjustments, and you are ready to go.
Emails required for Tactics are created with a set date format: YYYY-MM-DD, for example "Distributed on 2022-10-10 10:53:49.485 - Tactic name".
The timestamp reflects the server location and cannot be changed.
Web Channel campaigns
If you have selected a tactic which includes Web Channel, you will have to create your Web Channel campaign in advance. You then select that campaign in the respective Web Channel nodes.
Digital Ads campaigns
If you have selected a tactic which includes Digital Ads, you will have to create your Digital Ads audience in advance and link that to the ads campaign you have created in your social networks. You then select that audience in the respective Digital Ads nodes.
SMS campaigns
If you have selected a tactic which includes SMS, you will have to create your SMS campaign in advance. You then select that campaign in the respective SMS nodes.
Using segments in Tactics
Tactics use a number of pre-built segments, based on:
- Contact data segments
- Smart Insight segments
- Web behavior segments (e.g. predict last purchase date)
These are all set up automatically and require no input from you.
If you want to modify your Tactic by adding further nodes such as Segment, Quick filter, Filter switch or Exclude, you can only use these kinds of segments. Combined segments are currently not supported by Tactics.
Viewing or editing segments
If you want to see the filter criteria for a segment, open that node in the workspace and click Edit Segment.
Smart Insight segments are based on the eRFM settings we defined with you during Smart Insight setup. You cannot change the definition of the lifecycle stages in your account.
Web behavior segments can be edited, but you should not change the fields that are referenced as that will render the program invalid. If you change the number of days defined, make sure to be update any Wait nodes to match your changes.
The segments used in a Tactic have been designed by us to and are designed to give your Tactic the maximum impact on your strategic objectives. You should not make any changes to a segment without discussing this with your Success Manager first!
Testing a Tactic
Each Tactic must be tested in a different way; check the relevant Help article for details.
Please remember that you can test the logic of the entry node, the flow of the program paths, and the segment nodes, but you cannot necessarily test all of them for every program.
Activating a Tactic
When the Tactic is ready you can activate it like any other program, from the Program Status pop-up.
If you created a Tactic but did not activate it (i.e. its status is In design), then, after a week, you will receive the message below. To open this Tactic, click the link in the notification.
You have a Tactic (the name of your Tactic) in design for over a week, click here to open the program for editing.
Tactics reporting
Program reporting is available for each Tactic individually, but since they are all closely connective to one or more strategies their performance should be measured in terms of the strategy as a whole.
For this reason you should view the Tactics as part of a broad approach to achieving specific marketing objectives, and use the Strategic Dashboard to follow their effectiveness.
Editing Tactics
Tactics follow the same rules as normal programs for editing, pausing (including freezing), and deleting.
You can modify every setting, and replace every campaign with your own if you like.
Tactics are meant to be out-of-the-box solutions to your marketing challenges, so please note that we cannot guarantee that they will behave as intended, or contribute the strategy they were designed for, if you make significant changes to the structure or content.
Copying Tactics
You can copy a Tactic from the Automation Center overview page and the copy will contribute to the same strategy reporting as the parent.
If you want the copied Tactic to contribute to the reporting for a different strategy to the parent, you can add it as a Related program at the bottom of the Strategy reporting page.
Converting programs to Tactics
You cannot take an existing program and convert it into a Tactic.
However, there's a workaround if you want to include these programs in your strategic reporting:
Use the reporting from existing programs in the strategy reporting
When you click through to the Strategy reporting page on the Strategic Dashboard, you can click Add Related Programs and select your program from the list. That program will now be counted as a source of revenue and responses for the strategy as a whole.
Unlinking programs from Tactics
The unlink function of the listed Tactics allows you to disconnect the link between the Tactics and your program, so it will disappear from the Tactics page after your confirmation.
You can unlink your program from the Tactic in certain cases. For example, if you edit a program to such an extent that it has nothing to do with the original Tactic use case any more.
In parallel, with the unlink function you also have the option to assign your programs to Tactics if that serves the given use case.
The link function is in sync with the Strategic Dashboard, so if a program is linked to a Tactic, then it will appear on the Strategic Dashboard under Tactics related to this strategy. Likewise, programs that were linked to Tactics on the Strategic Dashboard will appear on the Tactics details, too.