In this post, we’re going to look at how to accomplish this in Bronto using our Direct Add feature in conjunction with a simple welcome message that leads the contact to the Manage Preferences page, which will act as step two of the process.

Step 1: Setting up your Manage Preferences page

The first step in the process is to make sure that your Manage Preferences page is set to collect the information that you would like to get after your contact signs up. This is as simple as adding the fields that you would like to collect to your standard manage preferences page. We’ve covered this in previous posts on Brontoversity, so I won’t go into much detail. If you need a refresher on editing webforms, please check out the following post:  Getting Comfortable with New Webforms.

Step 2: Setting up your welcome message

The second step in making this work is to create the welcome message you would like to use to point your new contact to the Manage Preferences page. You will create this message just like any other message in the account, by going to the Messages->Create New Message. The message can be any type, although plain text is not recommended because links do not work in plain text messages. We’ll be using the WYSIWYG editor for our example. As with any welcome message, you should be sure to thank the contact for signing up, and provide them with an example or description of they type of communication they will receive from you and when.

When using the welcome message as the gateway to the second step of the signup process though, you’ll want to ensure that you feature a prominent link to the Manage Preferences page. To link to the manage preferences page, just type the text that you would like to be your link, highlight it, and click the Insert / Edit Link button in the WYSIWYG editor. In the pop-up, select Manage Preferences URL from the Link List drop-down, and then click Update. This will create a link to the Manage Preferences page that is customized to whatever contact this message is sent to.

Once this link is in place, and you are happy with the look and feel, content, and subject of the message, go ahead and Save and Close the message.

Step 3: Setting up your Direct Add URL

The next step in the process to to set up your Direct Add URL to send out the welcome message automatically, as soon as the Direct Add code is triggered from your site. Setting this up in Bronto is pretty simple, all you need to do is go to the Home>Settings and then click Data Exchange on the left sidebar. Once on the Data Exchange page, just check the checkbox next to Enable Direct Add for adding new contacts to enable Direct Add.

Once the setting is enabled, it is time to choose our settings for the current Direct Add URL. The URL that appears in the box below the settings is dynamic and will change as you modify the parameters using the checkboxes above. For our two step process, you’ll want to leave the Add contacts with “unconfirmed” status (By default all contacts are added with “active” status) box unchecked, and check the Send a welcome message box. You can leave the drop-down set to only when contact is new.

Checking the option to send a welcome message will expand the settings options. Here you can define the from name, from address and choose the welcome message you would like to send when a new contact fills out the form. You’ll want to choose the welcome message you set up in step 1.

We’re going to skip over the basics of implementing Direct Add on your site, as that has been covered in depth in a couple of previous posts, linked here for your convenience:

DIY Integrations: Direct Add
Adding Contacts to a Specific List with Direct Add

So once you’ve got your welcome message set up, and your Direct Add code embedded on your site, you should be all set. Now, when a new contact fills out your form and is added to your Bronto account, they will be automatically sent an email containing a prominent link to the Manage Preferences page where they can give you whatever additional information they would like.

Let us know if you have questions or comments on this post. If you are already implementing this method, let us know how it’s going in the comments below.

Lucas Weber
Bronto Client Services

Related posts:

1. Are You Aware of Direct Unsubscribe? Typically contacts in Bronto can unsubscribe by either clicking the...
2. Adding Contacts With Direct Add This post was originally published several months ago, but has...
3. How To Send A Subscription Confirmation Message At Bronto, we’re very serious about permission based marketing. We...

Sending Welcome Messages VIA Webforms

When creating an Add Contacts Webform, you can adjust the settings for the Webform to automatically send a welcome message when a contact uses the form.

To setup an automatic welcome message via an Add Contacts Webform:

1. Go to Content->Webforms.
2. Create a new, or edit an existing Add Contacts Webform.
3. From the Edit Webform page, click Form Settings.
4. Scroll down to the Add Contact Settings section.



5. From the Welcome Message Behavior pull-down menu, choose Send a message to anyone who uses this form.
6. Choose a message to send from the Message To Send pull-down menu.
7. Add a From Name and From Address for the welcome message being sent.
8. Click Done.

Sending Welcome Messages VIA An Automated Message Rule

With automated message rules, you can specify a rule that will send out a welcome message when a contact performs a specific behavior.

To setup an automated message rule that will automatically send a welcome message:

1. Go to Messages->Automated Message Rules.
2. Click Create.
3. Specify a name for the automated message rule in the Name text box.
4. Choose Behaviorally Targeted as the automated message rule type.
5. Select the related message in the Type Settings section
6. From the Mail Contacts Who pull-down menu, choose Converted. For this example, we will assume that the action that triggers the automated message rule to send is a conversion. In this case, the conversion is contacts signing up to receive messages from you via the related message you choose in the previous step. Remember, a conversion does not have to be a strictly monetary concept. They can also involve actions being performed, such as downloading a white paper or signing up to receive emails. NOTE – This example also assumes that you have setup conversion tracking for the action you want to track.



7. Click Next Step.
8. Specify the From Name, From Address, and Reply Address.
9. Choose the message that will be sent when the automated message rule is triggered (i.e. in this case, when the conversion is made). You will want to choose a welcome message.
10. Specify the Timing Options for the automated message rule.
11. Click Verify Settings. Optionally you can click Advanced and setup options like an Expiration Date, Delivery Rate, and Ineligible/Eligible Recipients.
12. Review all the selections you made. Click Save As Draft to save the automated message rule but not activate it. Click Save And Activate to save and activate the automated message rule.

If you need any additional help with the concepts covered in this post, here is a list of some related posts that can help:

• Dynamically Adding Values To Conversion Tracking URLs
• Creating an Automated Birthday Message
• Creating New Webforms

John Gunther
Technical Writer/eLearning Specialist
Editor of Brontoversity

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2. Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3: Sending Test Messages As a Bronto user, you have probably been sending test...
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Step 1:  Prepare Your Message

The first step in sending your contacts a subscription confirmation message is to have your message set up, tested, and ready to go. Creating messages is covered extensively in the online help, and will not be covered in this blog post. Instead, we’ll be focusing on making sure that the message we want to send has a Confirmation URL in it so that our contacts have some way to confirm their subscription.

We actually have a Special tag that can be placed on any element in your message, whether it is an image or a simple text link. The Special tag you’ll need to use to create a click-able confirmation URL is %%!confirm_url%%. Here is how it would look as part of a text link:

<a href="%%!confirm_url%%"> Click here to confirm your subscription </a>


Step 2: Import Your Contacts

The second and final step is to import your contacts. This can be done just as normal, the only exception is that on the fourth step of the import process, you’ll choose to send the contacts a subscription confirmation message, as seen below:

Be sure to select the message you have prepared with the confirmation url link in it. The system will not allow you to select a message that does not have this Special tag in place. Once you’ve specified which confirmation message to send, fill in the From Name and From Address fields, and then follow the rest of the normal import steps. As the system processes the new contacts into the account, it will automatically send them the confirmation message you specified. The contacts will be imported with a status of ‘unconfirmed’ and will not be able to receive any further email from your account until they have clicked on the confirmation link in the message they were sent.

That’s it! Now all you have to do is enjoy the benefits of a truly opted in list.

Lucas Weber
Bronto Client Services

Related posts:

1. Webforms and Subscriber Confirmation Back in February, Lucas Weber gave us a great post...
2. Make Mine A Double: Double Opt-in With The API For those of you that want to use the API...
3. Two step signup using Direct Add and a Welcome Message We have several clients who are interested in doing a...