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Schedule A/B Samples

Updated

Schedule an A/B Test for deployment in the Schedule Campaign Wizard.  Before you can schedule a Campaign, you must create a List, add Contacts, Template and the A/B Definition.  To learn more about the available deployment options, see Deploy Campaign Wizard Variations.

To Schedule A/B Test Campaigns

  1. Go to TASKS > CALENDAR.  This will open the Calendar page where you can see all scheduled tasks in a selected month as well as schedule future events.
  2. From the Schedule listbox, select Campaign Deployment. This will display the Schedule Campaign Deployment wizard.
  3. For Mailing Type, select A/B Test. The wizard will refresh to reflect the options you may select.
  4. Select a definition from A/B Definition.
  5. Select an Account Profile to use when filling the Account Profile tags in your content.  The Account Profile defined in the List is selected by default. If no Account Profile tags are defined in your content, you can skip this step.** 
  6. If you have Fillin Fields defined in your List or Template, a Fillin Fields popup will display. Enter the data for each field, then click SAVE.
  7. To help distinguish this campaign from others with the same settings, enter a unique Campaign Name.
  8. Select the Format of the content you wish to send. The format you select must be defined in the Template selected above, otherwise you will be prompted to change your selection.
  9. Enter a Start Date, the date on which you wish to run the campaign. Click the Calendar button to search and select a date or type the date directly into the field in the format mm/dd/yyyy. Start Date will default to today's date.
  10. If scheduling a recurring test that will run multiple times, enter an End Date, the last date on which you wish the test to deploy. Click the Calendar button to search and select a date or type the date directly into the field in the format mm/dd/yyyy. End Date will default to No End Date, which means the recurring campaign will run indefinitely.
  11. Enter a Start Time, the time of day which you wish to run the campaign.  Enter the time in the format hh:mm AM/PM (such as 10:30 AM or 1:05 PM).  The Start Time will default to five minutes from the time the wizard was open.
  12. If scheduling a recurring test, set the Frequency. 
  13. If you wish to receive an email when the scheduled campaign has been deployed, select Notification.
  14. If Workflow is enabled in your List properties, you can choose at what time you wish to send the workflow approval message.  The default is to send the Workflow message at the time that the campaign is scheduled to deploy (just at). This means that you will receive the Workflow email at the Start Time, and the campaign will deploy immediately after the Workflow is approved.  Alternately, choose to send the Workflow message:
    • by hourly increments before the scheduled Start Time.  Select the specific hourly increment, or allow the system to calculate the number of hours between the Start Time and current time.
    • by auto-calculated time*.  This will cause the workflow message to send nearly immediately after the scheduled event is created by setting the Workflow hour increment to the number of hours between the Start Time and time the Scheduled Event was submitted, rounded up.  When you open the Scheduled Event to edit it, the Workflow Approval will be set to the specific hours.
    • For example, if the Start Time is set to 6:30 pm, and the time is currently 2:10 pm, the Workflow Approval will be set to 5 hours. If the Start Time is set to 8:05 pm two days from now, and the time is currently 9:30 am, the Workflow Approval is set to 35 hours.
    • The auto-calculate option may not be appropriate for recurring scheduled tasks.  If you choose to use auto-calculate with a recurring task, you may wish to open the Scheduled Event to ensure the calculated hour will work for your approval process.
  15. If you need to make additional selections to define your campaign, click ADVANCED SETTINGS. The only option available in addition is Deliverability, which matches the Deliverability page in the Deploy Campaign Wizard. See see Deploy Campaign Wizard Variations for more information. 
  16. When you are ready to add the campaign to the calendar, click SCHEDULE.

You will receive a confirmation email for each sample once the campaigns are deployed and the campaigns will appear in both TASKS > VIEW A/B TASKS as well as REPORTS > VIEW CAMPAIGNS.  If Workflow is enabled for your List, you will receive the Workflow Approval message at the specified time. 

*Auto-Calculate Workflow added in v9.3.4
**Account Profiles added in v12.02

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