Reply Mail Management with Data Extensions

1. What Is Reply Mail Management
1. 1. 1.1.1. Processing Reply Mail
2. 1.2. The Reply Mail Management Rule Set
  1. 1.2.1. Ordinal
  2. 1.2.2. Search Type
  3. 1.2.3. Search Target
  4. 1.2.4. Body Search Scope
  5. 1.2.5. Search Expression
  6. 1.2.6. Action
  7. 1.2.7. Target
  8. 1.2.8. Triggered Send ID
  9. 1.2.9. GlobalUnsubscribe Target
2. Why Use Reply Mail Management with Data Extensions
3. How to Configure Reply Mail Management with Data Extensions
4. How to Create Triggered Emails Used in Rule Set
5. How to Create a Data Extension with the RMM Template
6. How to Include the RMM Rule Set on the Sender Profile
7. How to Include a Sender Profile in a Send Classification
8. How to Include a Send Classification when Sending an Email

This document describes how you can use data extensions to configure your ExactTarget account to process email messages that you receive in response to your email campaigns. This method of reply mail management is more flexible than the traditional reply mail management tool, but also takes more time and effort to set up. If you need only basic reply mail management functionality, see the Reply Mail Management guide.

This feature is available in limited release. Contact ExactTarget if you are interested in becoming an early adopter of this feature.

What Is Reply Mail Management

Reply mail management is a tool to automatically manage out-of-office replies, auto-replies, and unsubscribe requests that you receive in response to your email campaigns.

After you create your rule set that specifies how to process reply mail, you associate that rule set with a sender profile. The sender profile is part of a send classification, which you must choose when you send an email campaign. When you receive a response to that email campaign, the system identifies the send classification and processes the reply mail according to the rule set associated with it. For example, you might create a set of "unsubscribe" keywords, and if the system finds one of those keywords in the message, it unsubscribes the sender from the list, sends an unsubscribe confirmation, and deletes the message.

Processing Reply Mail

The Reply Mail Management Rule Set

To contain the reply mail processing rule set, you create a data extension from the RMMKeywordActionDefinition data extension template. This template contains the following fields:

Ordinal

A non-unique integer value that determines the order in which the system evaluates the rules in the rule set. Use lower numbers for rules you want evaluated first. Rules with the same ordinal value will be evaluated in whatever order the system retrieves them.

Search Type

An integer value that indicates what part of the reply mail to search. Valid values include:

0 (None) - Used to perform a default action when a reply mail message does not meet any other rule.
1 (String) - The Search Target you specify in the next field is scanned using a case-insensitive search for the literal expression identified by the value you specify in the Search Expression field.
2 (Regex) - A regular expression match is done against the value you specify in the Search Target using the regular expression identified by the value you specify in the Search Expression field.
3 (Valid Leave Header) - The action you specify in the Action field is be performed only if the reply contains a properly formatted Leave header.

Search Target

Identifies the component(s) of a reply to be searched. Valid values include:

1 (None) - Used when the Search Type value is Valid Leave Header (3) or None (0).
2 (All Headers) - Used when each of the reply's header values are to be subject to the matching otherwise identified by the Search Type value.
4 (Subject) - Used when the Search Type is to be applied to the reply's email subject line.
8 (Body) - Used when Search Type is to be applied to the reply's email body.

Search Target is a bitmap value: it may contain any one or a combination of the valid values. For example, to search the Subject AND the Body of the reply, use the sum of the two discrete values (4 + 8 = 12). It is important to note that when a combination of values is used for Search Target that only one of the target searches need be successful for Action to be taken.

Body Search Scope

Applies only when Search Target is 8. This integer number determines the number of characters from the start of the email body in which Search Type applies. For example, if you are creating a rule looking for the word "unsubscribe" in the body of an email, you should limit the scope of the body search, since your original campaign email probably contained the word "unsubscribe" as a link at the bottom.

Search Expression

Contains either a literal search string or a non grouping regular expression to search for. This value is not necessary if the Search Type field is 0 (None) or 3 (Valid Leave Header).

Action

An integer value that identifies the action to be taken in response to a successful match:

0 (Stop) - The reply is discarded and no further Match-Action rules are executed.
1 (Reply) - Used to send an acknowledgement back to the subscriber notifying them that their reply was received and processed.
2 (Forward) - Used to package the reply in the triggered send identified by Triggered Send ID and forward it to the email address described by Target.
3 (Unsubscribe) - Used to cause the recipient to be unsubscribed in accordance with the value appearing in Target.

Target

If Action is 2 (Forward) this is an email address.
If Action is 3 (Unsubscribe), this is either Global, Master, or Publication.
This value is unnecessary when Action is 1 because the system knows who the reply originated from.
This value has no applicability when Action is 0 (Stop).

Triggered Send ID

The triggered send to be used if the Action is 1 (Reply) or 2 (Forward).

Note: Different triggered sends are needed for Replies (which are an acknowledgement of the recipient's reply) and Forwards.

GlobalUnsubscribe Target

GlobalUnsubscribe Target may have a value if the Action is set to 3 (Unsubscribe) and the Target is set to Global. If a value of a list is set, the subscriber will be added to that list. Otherwise, the subscriber joins the global unsubscribe list.

Why Use Reply Mail Management with Data Extensions

Using data extensions to configure your reply mail management gives you great flexibility in controlling how your system processes messages you receive in response to your email campaigns.

How to Configure Reply Mail Management with Data Extensions

The following flowchart shows the process to configure Reply Mail Management with data extensions:

How to Create Triggered Emails Used in Rule Set

This step is optional. You need to complete this step if you plan to send automated replies as part of your reply mail processing. For example, if you would like to send an automated confirmation message when a subscriber asks to be unsubscribed, you need to create a triggered email interaction that you specify in the rule set.

You can set up two triggered sends as part of your rule set to handle common RMM tasks:

One triggered send acts as an acknowledgment of the unsubscription.
The other triggered send acts as a container used to forward the contents of the original reply.

You can also set up triggered sends to handle different requests (such as two different product lines for the same manufacturer) as well as unsubscribes. Set up as many triggered sends as necessary to handle your RMM needs. Please remember that these sends are used in conjunction with reply mail actions and are not themselves subject to RMM actions.

See the procedure in the triggered emails guide.

How to Create a Data Extension with the RMM Template

Use the following steps to create a data extension with the RMM template. This data extension contains the rule set that the system uses to process reply mail. You can create as many different rule sets as necessary. The system uses whichever rule set is associated with the send classification of the email being replied to.

Click the Subscribers tab.
Click Data Extensions.
Click Data Extensions.
The Data Extensions workspace appears.
Click the Create from Template button from the toolbar.
Select the checkbox next to the RMMKeywordActionDefinition template.
Click the Select button from the toolbar.
The data extension appears.
Complete the information in the Properties section:

Name - The name of the data extension. You use this name to identify the data extension in the application. Subscribers cannot see this name.
External Key - Uniquely identifies the data extension. You use this key to refer to the data extension using the API.
Description - Further identifies the data extension. You use this description to identify the data extension in the application. Subscribers cannot see this value.

Click the Save button in the toolbar.

After you complete this procedure, you can import your rule set into the data extension.

How to Include the RMM Rule Set on the Sender Profile

Use the following steps to include the RMM rule set on a sender profile:

Click the Admin tab.
Click Send Management.
Click Sender Profiles.
Click the name of the sender profile to add the rule set to.
The sender profile definition appears.
In the Custom Reply Mail Management section, select the Use Custom Settings Below checkbox.
Select the rule set to use in the Select the RMM Configuration Data Extension field.