Ads & Source Keys

Advertising Source Keys

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Source codes for tracking the effectiveness of your ads.

Instructions You may already be using source keys. They are identification codes you assign to an advertisement. You use them to track where your customers found you. Channergy makes extensive use of source keys. An Original Source Key is assigned to a customer the first time they contact you. Subsequent source keys assigned to that customer tell you which offers are pulling responses. You can assign additional keys to customers when taking an order, or in the Customer Contact Log.

  1. You can add a new Advertising Source Key, or search for an existing one, by clicking on the Settings tab and Click on Ads & Source Keys in the Channergy Explorer.48
  2. This will open up the Source Key screen
  3. To search for a source key, click on thebinocularsButton button.  This will bring  up the following dialog
    1. Type a Source Key in the Search Characters field to locate your key, then click the Ok Button button. The Ad Source Key screen will open to the selected item.
  4. To add a new source key click on the  New Button button.  Enter or edit your source key data in the screen that opens. You can use the Tab or Enter key to move between fields. When your cursor is on a button press the Space bar to activate it. Or, simply use the mouse.
    1. Enter in your Source Key as follows:
      1. Source Key: Enter the code, you have assigned for a particular ad, mailing or catalog. This is your Advertising Source Key.
      2. Description: Enter any text you wish in the next field. Starting the description with the publication date of an ad is a handy reference (e.g., 1/2011).
      3. Type: This refers to the type of ad (e.g., display or classified ad in a magazine, a direct mailing etc.)
        1. Catalog: Use this type to activate the Catalog drop box below this field where you can associate a Catalog with this source key.
        2. Classified: Classified ads are typically either One Shot or Two Step ads: One Shot ads ask for the order. These are effective only for very low priced items. Two Step ads offer a free or inexpensive sample or demo. The sample is mailed with sales literature that asks for the order.
        3. Display: These are usually large ads ranging from 1/8 of a page to a multiple page spread that appear in a publication. Because display ads are expensive, and offer you room to describe your product they typically ask for the order, and offer higher priced items.
        4. Direct: Direct Mail usually consists of several pieces mailed directly to a potential customer. The components of a direct mail package may include: a sales letter, an order form, a publisher’s note and a brochure. By assigning a source key to the entire package Channergy can track the effectiveness of a direct mail campaign. You can also assign different source keys to different parts of a direct mail campaign.
          1. For example, you could create 2 different direct mail packages, and assign each a different source code. Or, you could send the same package to 2 different lists, each with its own source code. By combining both of these methods you can create several distinct groups all within the same mailing. This is a very effective method for testing.
        5. Internet: Use this type for Internet ads and search engines.
        6. Other: Use this for an ad that does not fit one of the available categories.
      4. Catalogs: Source Keys may be assigned to a catalog once, or you may assign several to the same catalog. This allows you to measure the effectiveness of the same catalog sent to different customers, or at different times.. Enter the appropriate catalog here from the drop down list, or add a catalog, and return here to select it.
      5. Publication: Select a Publication, if applicable, from the the drop down list, or add a publication and return here to select it.
      6. Date: Enter the date you actually placed the ad (not its publish date), or mailed a campaign.
      7. Renew Date: If you plan to advertise in this publication again enter the deadline for submitting a new ad in the Renew Date field.
      8. Mailings: Enter the number of pieces you mailed, or the circulation for the publication in the Mailings field.
      9. Advertised Products: You can associate up to three different products with this ad by selecting them from the drop boxes in the Products fields. If you have multiple items you can set up a catalog, and refer to it in the catalog field above.
      10. Ad Price: This is the actual price for a classified, display or other paid ad. Do not include printing, postage or mailing costs which are provided for below.
      11. Printing: Enter any printing costs associated with this ad.
      12. Postage: For mailings you can separately record the total cost of postage here.
      13. Mailing: Any additional costs to mail can be separately recorded in the Mailing field.
    2. Clicking on the Additional tab tab will show the following dialog.
      1. Ship Charge- This field allows you to add additional ship charges for any orders purchased using this source key.  The additional charges will be added to the shipping field for each order.
      2. Order Message-Adding data to this field will add a default order message for every order purchased with this source key.
      3. Custom Field 1-This field can be used for any other (up to 20 characters) that you may want to add to this key.
      4. Special Offers & Discounts- Clicking on the Add button or Edit Button buttons will open the following dialog.Enter data in the fields as follows.
        1. Special Offer Type- You can select one of the four options from the dialog, Free Gift, Order Discount $, Order Discount % and Free With Purchase.  Select the offer type and enter the data as follows.
          1. Free Gift- Enter in the Gift Product Number in the drop down that appears when this option is selected.
          2. Order Discount $-Enter in the amount of the dollar discount into the Discount Amount field.   If you want the discount to apply to a specific product, select the product from the drop down in the Product Code drop down.  If a product is not selected, the discount will apply to any product ordered with the source key.
          3. Order Discount %-Enter in the amount of the percent discount into the Discount Percent field.   If you want the discount to apply to a specific product, select the product from the drop down in the Product Code drop down.  If a product is not selected, the discount will apply to any product ordered with the source key.
          4. Free With Purchase-If  you select this option from the Special Offer Type drop down, the following will be displayed.53Enter in the product that the customer needs to purchase and the quantity required in order to get the free offer in the Buy this product drop down and quantity fields.  Enter in the product you are going to give away for free and the quantity in the Get this free drop down and quantity fields.
        2. Minimum Order Amount- Adding a minimum order amount will prevent the special offer from triggering until this amount is met.
        3. Minimum Quantity- Adding a minimum order quantity will prevent the special offer from triggering until the number of products ordered meets this quantity.
        4. Start Date and End Date- Use these fields to specify a date range where this discount applies.
        5. Apply to first orders- Use this value to discontinue the special offer once the number of orders has been reached.
      5. Note:You can have multiple discounts for a source key.  These will be additive in the orders.  In other words, if you set up two discounts for different minimum order amounts the discounts will be added separate discount records in an order.
    3. Clicking the Product Pricing Tab tab will show the following dialog. This dialog is used to assign specific products, price levels and quantity pricing to this source key.
      1. To create a new record in this screen, click on the area under the headings or on the Add Record Icon icon in the bottom of the grid view.
      2. Click in the grid under the Product # field and select the product number from the drop down.
      3. Select the Price Level from the drop down.
      4. Add the Price that will be charged for this product to orders with this Source Key.
      5. If you want to use Quantity Pricing, click on the Quantity Pricing field and then the Dot Dot Dot icon.  This will open the following dialog.Enter in the quantity discount information as follows:
        1. From Qty- Enter in the lower quantity of the quantity range.
        2. To Qty- Enter in the upper quantity range.
        3. Unit Price-Enter in the price for that quantity range.
        4. To add a new quantity discount record click on the Tab key and repeat the process.
        5. When done with entering in the quantity discounts, click on the Close button.
      6. If the product requires a VAT % add the value to the field under the VAT % heading.
      7. Continuing adding new products to the grid by repeating steps 1 through 6 above.
      8. To delete a record in the grid, select the record and click on the Delete Record icon.
  5. To create a copy of a selected source key click on the Copy button button.  The system will display the following dialog box enter in the new source key and click the OK button.  The new source key will be created and all of the settings from the original source key will be copied to the new source key.  This includes any information under the Additional and Product Pricing tabs.

UNDER THE HOOD: The ads and source keys system uses primarily the following tables; Ads, AdSpecial and AdsPrice.  If there are quantity discounts set up for products, then the data are stored in the Discounts table as well.

When the Source Key dialog is opened the first tab contains the the information for the first record in the Ads table.  The value of the Source Key field is the primary key for the Ads table and therefor you cannot have two Source Keys that are the same.   The Description, Date, RenewDate, Mailings, AdCost, PrintCost, PostageCost, MailCost, TotalCost, Product1 through Produt3, OnChannergyWeb and IsDiscontinued are populated from the Source Key tab.  The Additional tab contains the fields for entering/editing the OrderShippingCharge, OrderMessage and CustomField1 fields.

The data in the Special Offers and Discounts grid is populated in the AdsSpecial table.  When you Add or Edit a special offers the data from the Special Offer of Discount screen is used to import and manage the data stored in the AdsSpecial table.  When the Special Offer Type is selected from the drop down list in the screen, the software changes the import field depending on the option selected.  If the OrderDiscount% is selected the value of the percentage is stored in the OrderDiscountPct field.  If the Order Discount $ is selected the value of the dollar discount is stored in the OrderDiscountAmt field.  If a Product No is selected in the discount drop-down it is addt to the OrderDiscountPctProductNo or the  OrderDiscountAmtProductNo fields depending on the discount option selected.   If the Free Gift option is selected the product selected in the Free Gift drop down is stored in the FreeGiftProductNo field.  If the Free with Purchase option is selected, then the ProductNo selected in the Buy this product drop down is stored in the FWPBuyProductNo field and the corresponding Qty field is stored in the FWPBuyQty field.  The ProductNo selected in the Get this fee field is stored in the FWPGetProductNo field and the corresponding Qty is stored in the FTPGetQty.  The Minimum Order Amount, Minimum Quantity, Start Date, End Date and Apply to first orders fields are linked to the MinOrderAmt, MinQty and FirstOrders fields in the AdsSpecial table.

If data are added to the Product Pricing tab they are stored tin the AdsPrice table.  The product number selected in the grid is stored in the ProductNo field, the Source Key is automatically added to the SourceKey field when a new record is created, the Price, Price Level and optional VAT % are stored in the Price, PriceLevel and VATPercent fields in the table.  If quantity pricing is set up for the product, the HasQuantityDiscounts field is set to True.    If quantity discounts are added to the Product Pricing tab the records are added to the Discounts table in the following manner.  The ProductNo is added to the ProductNo field in the Discounts table, the PriceLevel is set to Source Cod, the FromQty, ToQty and Price fields the SourceCode field is populated with the value of the source key and the SourceCodePriceLevel is populated with the price level information form the AdsPrice table.

When a Source Key is added to an order, any applicable discounts are added to the order grid and the quantity discounts are applied to the selected products in the Product Pricing tab of the source key.

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