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WebChannels

Introduction

As a business owner, extra time is a scarce luxury! WebChannels helps you maximize your time by organizing all your WebContacts into groups called channels. With WebChannels, you can send mass e-mails quickly to all your contacts, export your contact data, and even allow your customers to add themselves to a WebChannel!

Creating Channels

  1. Click on the WebChannels link on the Tools Manager Bar at the top of the page. The WebChannels Manager screen will appear.


The WebChannels Manager menu

  1. Select Add/Edit Channel. The Add/Edit Channel screen will appear.

  1. You can change the name of any created channel, and/or you can create a new channel by entering a name in the bottom text box.

  2. Click Update.

Repeat until you have added all of the channels you would like.

Wholesale Feature

This option allows you to setup a Wholesale channel that your users can be added to in order to receive special pricing that you designate in ClipOn Commerce. Please follow the steps provided exactly to add a Wholesale Channel.

  1. Click on the WebChannels link on the Tools Manager Bar at the top of the page. The WebChannels Manager screen will appear.

  1. Select Add/Edit Channel. The Add/Edit Channel screen will appear.

  2. Check the checkbox of Autosend Password next to the Wholesale_Customer.

  3. Click the UPDATE button.

  4. Click on the WebChannels link on the Tools Manager Bar at the top of the page. The WebChannels Manager screen will appear.

  5. Click on the link of Create/Edit Auto-Response below the section of Auto-Responder Manager. The Auto-Response Manager screen will appear.

  6. Click on the NEW button and create a new auto response by filling all of the fields and click DONE when complete, click here for instructions on how to do add an auto response.

  7. Click on the WebWizard link on the Tools Manager Bar at the top of the page and access the WebWizard.

  8. Add a new page, click here for instructions on how to do add a new page.

  9. Click on the Update tab, then choose Product & Channel Data

  10. Add a WebProfiler form by using the WebContacts fields, click here for instructions on how to do add a WebProfiler form.

  11. Once you have successfully added a WebProfiler form by using WebContacts fields, click on the WebProfiler icon from the toolbar.



Profiler Icon

  1. Once the WebProfiler Editor opens click on the link option of Add/Edit Form Action.

  2. Under the 'Form to Change' dropdown verify that the correct form name is showing. If needed, click on the dropdown list to change to the correct form name.

  3. The next option of 'This form adds the user to a channel', you will want to check the checkbox and choose the WebChannel of Wholesale_Channel.

  4. Check the checkbox next to the next option of 'This form returns an Autoresponse', choose the Auto Response you have created within WebChannels.

  5. Click the Update link.

Adding people to your WebContacts list

You must first add an individual to your contact list before you can add him to a channel. This needs to be done within the WebContacts Tool.

  1. Click the WebContacts link on the V4.1 home page. The WebContacts Manager screen will appear.

  1. Select Add Contact. The Add Contact screen will appear.

  2. The channels you have created will be displayed in the form. Click the checkbox next to the channel to which you want to add your contact.

  3. Fill out the remaining areas of the form. For specific instructions on this form, see WebContacts.

  4. Click Update. The individual will be added to your contact list.

Add WebContacts to a Channel

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After you have created or imported a contact list, you can add your contacts to your created channels.

  1. Select Add WebContacts to a Channel from the Channel Manager screen. The Build Your Contact List screen will appear.

  2. Fill in the text boxes as completely as possible to search for a specific contact. From the drop-down menu, select the channel that the contact is in.

  3. Click Search to search for the specific contact; click Show All Contacts to see a list of all your contacts.

  4. Select the channel(s) to which you want to add your contact(s).

  5. Select the contacts that you want to add to the chosen channel(s).

  6. Click Update. You will see a confirmation screen containing a link to the Channel Manager.


E-mail Confirmation

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After assiging a user to a Channel, the user needs to give approval for you to send them e-mail messages. This is accomplished with the E-mail Confirmation feature.

Note: This feature is automated & therefore no intervention is needed on your part.

Every time you add a new user to WebContacts or a user is added to WebContacts through a form on your website. The following will occur automatically.

  1. The user will receive an e-mail notifying them that you have added their e-mail address to your contact list

  2. The e-mail will give them the option to agree to allow you to send them e-mail or the option to decline the request and / or report abuse.

  3. If they click the link in the e-mail agreeing to receive e-mails from you, they will see a message stating that their e-mail address has ben confirmed as a valid e-mail address

  4. After a users e-mail address has been confirmed, you will be able to send them WebChannel messages. However, if they decline the request any WebChannel message you attempt to send to them will be ignored & not sent.

 

Compose And Send A Channel Message

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Within the WebChannels tool you now have the option of sending a regular channel message OR to send a Web page from your project.

To send a regular Channel Message:

  1. From the Channel Manager, select Compose and Send A Channel Message. The Compose Channel e-mail page will appear.

  2. Select the channel(s) to which you want to send the message from the drop-down menu.

  3. Fill in the form fields.

  • From - This is the name that will appear in the subscribers e-mail.

  • Return e-mail address - This is the address to which you want people to send their replies.

  • Subject - This will appear in the subject line of the e-mail.

  1. Compose your message in the text box. You can also compose your message in a word processor and paste it in here.

  2. Click Send. You will see a page containing a confirmation and a link to the Channel Manager.

To send a Web page from your project:

  1. From the Channel Manager, select Compose and Send A Channel Message. The Compose Channel E-mail page will appear.

  2. Select the channel(s) to which you want to send the message from the drop-down menu.

  3. Fill in the form fields.

  • From - This is the name that will appear in the subscribers e-mail.

  • Return e-mail address - This is the address to which you want people to send their replies.

  • Subject - This will appear in the subject line of the e-mail.

  1. Click the "This is a Web Page" button.

  2. Click on "Select a Web page to send".

  3. A file viewer window will open and you can choose the Web Page you would like to send. Click "Update".

  4. Click Send. You will see a page containing a confirmation and a link to the Channel Manager.

Note: A list of all the messages you have sent will be archived and can be looked at using View Channel E-mails in the Channel Manager.

Send Passwords to a Channel

You may want to give a certain group access to a specialty discount site while limiting access for the rest of your visitors. You can do this by issuing them a password.

  1. From the Channel Manager, select Send Passwords to a Channel. The Send Passwords window will appear.

  2. From the drop-down menu, select the channels you would like to send passwords to. You can only select one channel at a time.

  3. Click Send. A password will automatically be sent to your users' e-mail addresses.

View Channel E-mails

This option will show you the e-mail messages you have sent to the specified channel.

  1. Select View Channel E-mails from the WebChannels main page. The View Channel E-mail history screen will appear.

  2. Select the channel whose e-mail history you want to view from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click View. This will display all of the e-mail messages you have sent to that group.

Creating Channel Forms in the WebWizard Editor

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A helpful feature of WebChannels is that your site visitors can add themselves to a channel. All they have to do is fill out a simple form, and they are added to your WebContacts list and to the channel of their choice. After you have created channels, you can add channel forms to your site. This is done with the V4.1™ WebProfiler tool.

  1. From the WebWizard editor, click the WebProfiler icon.

WebProfiler Icon

The Profiler Editor

  1. Select Add Web Profiler Form.

  2. A prompt will appear, asking you to name your form. Choose a name for the form and click OK.

  3. This will put two form tabs on the page you are working from. These tabs will not appear on your actual site and are simply there so you know where the form begins and ends. Place your cursor between the two tabs.

  4. Click the WebProfiler icon and select Add Web Contacts Field. A gray box containing form options will appear.

  5. Click the checkbox next to each option you want included in your form.

  6. Left click inside the Form Tabs on the page where you want the WebContacts Fields placed.

  7. Click Update. The fields will be applied to your form on the page.

To view your form, click the Preview icon. You should be able to view see the form you created with text inside the boxes.

Adding optional Text Fields

After you have created a basic form following the steps above, you can add additional text fields to your form. This is helpful if you want to learn even more information about your viewers.

  1. Click on the WebProfiler icon and choose Add/Edit Text Field. The WebProfiler Text Box Editor window will appear.

  2. There are several text boxes in this window. They are:

  • Name - This is the title of the text field and will not appear on your site.

  • Default Text - This text appears within the text box - your users can replace it with their own text.

  • Width - This determines the visible width of the text box.

  • Max Size - This determines the maximum number of characters a user can enter in the text box.

Note: The only box that must be filled is Name; the rest may be left empty.

  1. Click Update. You will be returned to the WebWizard editor.

You may enter an unlimited number of customized fields. However, unlike the pre-populated WebContacts fields, the customized fields will not be searchable in WebContacts. They will be searchable in WebProfiler by form name, question name and form date.

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Adding Buttons

After you have created your form, you need to add submit and reset buttons to your page. The Submit button will send the form from the user to you and the Reset button will clear the form so that the user may start over.

1. Place your cursor at the bottom of your form, within the form tabs.

2. Click on the WebProfiler icon and select Add Submit Button. You will be prompted to enter what you would like the submit button to say. Once you enter a name, a gray submit button should appear where your cursor was placed.

The Submit button

3. Click on the WebProfiler icon and select Add Reset Button. You will be prompted to enter what you would like the reset button to say. Once you enter a name, a gray reset button should appear next to the submit button you just added.

The Reset button

Altering the size and position of a button

  • Click once on the button and either drag it to the location you want it, or drag the border to resize it.

For more instructions on all form editing options, click here.

Assigning Channels and Auto-responses to a Form

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Your viewers can be automatically added to a WebChannel. You can also add an auto-response to a form. This is done with the V4.1™ AutoResponder tool.

  1. Select Add/Edit Form Action from the WebProfiler menu in the WebWizard Editor. The WebProfiler Form Editor window will appear.

  2. Select the form you want to change from the Form to Change drop-down menu.

    To automatically add the user to a channel upon form submittal:

  • Select the channel you want to apply to the form from the forms drop-down menu and click the checkbox.

    To apply an auto-response to the form:

  • Select the desired auto-response from the AutoResponder drop-down menu and click the checkbox.

  1. Click Update. The actions will be applied to your form.
   
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