GDPR - using email scripting to slowly requalify

[Phillip_Wild]

Hi everyone

I'm sure the new European GDPR rules are causing some alarm....like us, you may have realised that you don't have complete subscription information for everyone in your database. In our case, we had subscription actions, but we didn't always have HOW they subscribed (critical in case you are audited). While you can go out and requalify those people with a standalone email (and you will need to closer to May) I wanted to share how we are starting this process, by using dynamic blocks in email.

We send out a weekly newsletter. For those with complete subscription information, we don't need to requalify them. But for the rest, we want to show a dynamic block which will give a positive action that we can track (effectively requalifying the user). Here's how we did it using email scripting:

##check that the person is from EMEA or GB. If not, do nothing.
#if(${lead.Segmentation_MarketingRegion_1004} == "EMEA" || ${lead.Segmentation_MarketingRegion_1004} == "GB")
## assume that requalification is required until proven otherwise.
#set($required = 1)
##look through their subscription history and try to find a subscription record with referral details. If you find one, then change "required" to be zero. These rules will be custom to your business - you might only need to check on one field, instead of looping for a table. But it's here for reference!
#foreach($subscription in ${Subscription_History__cList})
#if($subscription.Referral_Detail__c.length() >0 && $subscription.Subscription_Type__c == "Newsletter" && $subscription.Subscribed__c == "1")
#set($required = 0)
#else
#end
#end
##if the block isn't required, show nothing. If it's required, show your custom content in the email.
#if($required == 0)
(show nothing)
#else
(show requalification block)
#end
#end

This block can now run in your newsletter or email series forever until you tell it to stop, and it will dynamically remove itself once someone has requalified. Useful!

I hope this helps someone. It doesn't require a standalone email, so it's a bit less intrusive. Generally the best way to approach these situations is to scoop up the highly engaged, and get more and more urgent with your messaging as timing becomes critical.

[SanfordWhiteman]

Nice one, Phillip!

One touchup I'd suggest is a #break (exactly in place of where you have an unneeded #else) to short-circuit list iteration, potentially saving many cycles (depending of course on where in the list it breaks out and how large the list is). Also, as a minor thing, you can also set real Booleans in VTL, so you don't have to compare to Integers, making less room for errors. Here's my spin on the same logic:

#set( $eligibleRegions = ["EMEA","GB"] )
#set( $marketingRegion = $lead.Segmentation_MarketingRegion_1004 )
#if ( $eligibleRegions.contains( $marketingRegion ) )
  #set( $requalifyRequired = true ) 
  #foreach( $subscription in $Subscription_History__cList )
    #if( !$subscription.Referral_Detail__c.isEmpty() &&
         $subscription.Subscription_Type__c == "Newsletter" &&
         $subscription.Subscribed__c == "1" )
      #set( $requalifyRequired = false )
      #break
    #end
  #end
  #if( !$requalifyRequired )
  (show nothing)
  #else
  (show requalification block)
  #end
#end

[Phillip_Wild]

Nice! That's a good one to know. Thanks!