Management Center: Create a Dialog activity

Operate > IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce > Marketing tool > Work with Web and Dialog activities

Create a Dialog activity

Create Dialog activities to market to customers when they do something specific or when an event occurs. First, you define a trigger for the Dialog activity, for example, when a customer registers or places an order. You then define the action to take, for example, e-mailing a coupon to the customer or adding the customer to a customer segment. You can also define targets in Dialog activities to limit the marketing actions to specific customers. function popup_window( url, id, width, height ) { popup = window.open( url, id, 'toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,location=no,statusbar=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,width=' + width + ',height=' + height + ',left=,top=' ); popup.focus(); }
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Before you begin
Before you can create an effective Dialog activity, understand the purpose of triggers, targets, and actions. See Activity building blocks: triggers, targets, and actions.
To view examples of Dialog activities, click any of the links in Triggers in marketing activities.
To create activities with multiple paths, see Branches in marketing activities.
Depending on the type of Dialog activity that you are creating, you might need the following defined for the store before you begin:

E-mail templates

Customer segments

Promotions

Marketing content

Procedure

Open the Marketing tool.

From the toolbar, click the arrow on the right side of New; then select Dialog Activity. The New Activity From Template window opens.

In the left pane, click the name of the folder containing the template to use.
The Custom Templates folder contains any templates you have created. The Standard Templates folder contains the Blank Dialog Activity template, which presents an empty template for you to use as a starting point. Alternatively, you can search for a template name in the search field.

In the right pane, click the name of the template; then click OK. The Activity Builder opens. The top half of the page is the work area. The bottom half of the page is the properties view.

In the properties view, set the following properties for the activity:

Option Description
Name Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name displays in the Activities - List page, and identifies the activity.
Description Enter a meaningful description in the field. This description displays in the Activities - List page, and it should explain what the activity is intended to do. This description helps business users understand the activity at a glance without having to open the Activity Builder.
Start date Define a start date and time for the activity. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify a start date, the activity will be applicable as soon as it is activated.
End date Define an end date and time for the activity. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify an end date, the activity will run indefinitely.
Repeatable Specify whether the activity is repeatable. A repeatable activity allows a customer to enter and complete the activity multiple times. Consider what the activity is trying to accomplish to decide whether to make the activity repeatable. For example, if the Dialog activity waits for a customer to place an order and then sends an e-mail and a coupon, you might want each customer to receive the e-mail and coupon only one time. In this case, clear the Repeatable check box.
Campaign Select the campaign to which this activity belongs. You can either enter the name of the campaign, or click the Show utilities view icon to open the utilities view, and search or browse for the campaign.

Define the customer behavior or event that starts the Dialog activity:

From the Triggers section in the palette, drag a trigger element onto the flow connector between the green and red circles in the work area.

Click the trigger to display its properties in the properties view.

Complete required properties for the trigger.

Define an action that corresponds to the trigger:

From the Actions section in the palette, drag an action element onto the flow connector to the right of the trigger element in the work area.

Click the action element to display its properties in the properties view.

Complete the properties for the action element.

Optional: Define a target for the action if you want to specify which customers experience the action:

From the Targets section in the palette, drag a target element onto the flow connector to the left of the action element in the work area.

Click the target element to display its properties in the properties view.

Complete the properties for the target element.

Optional: Add branch elements to the activity if you want to split a single path in the activity into two or more paths. You can then use different trigger, target, and action elements on each path within the same activity.

From the Branches section in the palette, drag a Branch element onto a flow connector at the point where to split a single path into multiple paths.

To add additional paths, right-click the Branch element in the work area; then click Add Path.

Click the Branch element in the work area to display its properties in the properties view.

Complete the properties for the Branch element. For more information, see Use the Branch element in Web and Dialog activities.

Make any changes to elements on the paths extending from the Branch element. This can involve adding or deleting elements on each path, or changing element properties.

Optional: Add additional triggers, targets, actions or branches to complete the activity. You can right-click on any element to open a context-sensitive menu that has tasks that you can perform. This menu includes an option to Delete unwanted elements.

From the File menu, select Save to save the activity.

Results
The new activity is created in the Inactive state.

What to do next

You must activate the Dialog activity before it can be experienced by a customer.

You can also test the Dialog activity to make sure it works as expected before moving the changes to the production environment.

Related concepts

Dialog activities
Activity building blocks: triggers, targets, and actions
Triggers in marketing activities
Targets in marketing activities
Actions in marketing activities
Activity Builder

Related tasks

Create a Web activity
Use the Branch element in Web and Dialog activities
Activating or deactivating an activity
Test Web and Dialog activities
Browse for activities using lists and calendars
Changing a Web activity
Changing the priority of a Web activity
View the Web activities scheduled for an e-Marketing Spot
Changing a Dialog activity
Delete activities

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Option	Description
Name	Enter a meaningful name in the field. This name displays in the Activities - List page, and identifies the activity.
Description	Enter a meaningful description in the field. This description displays in the Activities - List page, and it should explain what the activity is intended to do. This description helps business users understand the activity at a glance without having to open the Activity Builder.
Start date	Define a start date and time for the activity. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify a start date, the activity will be applicable as soon as it is activated.
End date	Define an end date and time for the activity. You can either enter a date in the field, or select a date using the calendar tool. Similarly, you can enter a time directly into the field, or you can select one using the clock tool. If you do not specify an end date, the activity will run indefinitely.
Repeatable	Specify whether the activity is repeatable. A repeatable activity allows a customer to enter and complete the activity multiple times. Consider what the activity is trying to accomplish to decide whether to make the activity repeatable. For example, if the Dialog activity waits for a customer to place an order and then sends an e-mail and a coupon, you might want each customer to receive the e-mail and coupon only one time. In this case, clear the Repeatable check box.
Campaign	Select the campaign to which this activity belongs. You can either enter the name of the campaign, or click the Show utilities view icon to open the utilities view, and search or browse for the campaign.