Adding Rocket Fuel to Your Segments in Business Central

In my last blog, “Assigning Mail Groups in Business Central”, I discussed using the Segment in a very simplistic manner.  We created a Segment, used the Value Entries to select the criteria for Contacts and assigned a Mail Group to the Contacts in the Segment.

Adding Contacts

But there is so much more we can do with Segments.  When adding Contacts to our Segment, we can filter based on specific data on the Contact Record, Job Responsibilities, Industry Groups, Mail Groups and Business Relationship assigned to the Contact, or Interactions we’ve had with the Contact and Answers on the Contact’s Profile Questionnaire, in addition to the Value Entries example I used in the previous blog.  The more information you gather about your Contacts, the more precise your marketing becomes.  Each Contact can have multiple Job Responsibilities, Industry Groups, Mail Groups and Business Relationships, and you can tailor this to fit your exact needs.  In some organizations, an Industry Group of “Oil + Gas” may be sufficient when differentiating their targeted Industries, but in other organizations separating the “Oil” Industry Group from the “Natural Gas” Industry Group is crucial.  In the latter, some Contacts may be in either the “Oil” Industry Group or the “Natural Gas” Industry Group and some Contacts may be in both Industry Groups.  Contacts can also have an unlimited number of Profile Questionnaires, allowing you to capture even more personal data about your Contacts that can be called upon while you talk with the Contact.  Weaving accurate personal information into your conversations allows you to build a stronger relationship and a more precise Segment.  These are valuable advantages when you are competing against others for your Contact’s purchases.

Focusing on a Contact in the list view, the Fact Box for the Contact provides a summary of their Segmentation Groups.  In the example below, the Contact has been identified with two Job Responsibilities, four Industry Groups, one Business Relation and five Mail Groups.

Campaigns

Once we’ve established the Segment, we can assign it to a Campaign and track the Campaign Response versus Campaign Market.  Using Dimensions with the Campaign assigned to the Segment, Sales Quotes generated from the Segment will be tagged with the Campaign Dimension Value.  Sales Orders converted from those Sales Quotes will be tagged with the Campaign Dimension Value and Posted Sales Invoices from those Sales Orders will be posted to the General Ledger with the Dimension Value from that Campaign, allowing financial analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of the Campaign.

Let’s walk through an example. I am starting with a Segment created from Logged Interactions and ending the Segment by sending an email and logging the Interaction for all the Contacts in the Segment.

Evaluating Interactions

The Sales Staff has been communicating with our Contacts via emails and phone calls about our annual Open House.  By logging these communications with Interactions in Business Central, we can keep track of who may be attending and who won’t by closing each Interaction with a “Very Positive” or “Positive”, “Neutral”, “Negative”, or ”Very Negative” Evaluation.

A week before the Open House, we want to send an email to everyone who is planning to attend based on the Interactions that were evaluated as “Very Positive” and “Positive”.  We want the email to include an attachment with the schedule of events and the directions to our office.

Interaction Template Codes

While our Sales Reps have been reaching out to our Contacts via emails and phone calls, our Marketing Department has created the “OPEN HOUSE” Interaction Template Code, and drafted a Word Document with the planned activities and directions to the Open House.  The Interaction Template Code “OPEN HOUSE” has been added to this Segment and the Segment has been updated to send the Word Document as an email attachment to all the Contacts within the criteria of the Segment.

Adding Contacts

When I select my criteria for the Segment, I use the Evaluation and the Interaction Template Code fields in the Interaction Log Entry section of the Add Contacts dialog box as noted below.

Based on the Interactions and the Evaluations we’ve recorded, 13 Contacts have been added to the Segment with the Email Attachment.

After reviewing the Contacts in the Segment, we simply click the Log option in the Ribbon of the Segment to send the emails with the attachment and log the new Interactions.

Let’s recap: we’ve learned that each Contact can be part of multiple Industry Groups, Mail Groups, Job Responsibilities and Business Relationships.  We’ve created a Segment from previous Interactions with our Contacts.  We’ve sent an email from the Segment with an attachment and we’ve logged the email as a new Interaction.  We have also learned that Campaigns can be attached to the Segment and Sales posted from a Segment tied to a Campaign can be tracked in the General Ledger.

Ready to really see some power from the system? Be sure to check out my next blog in which I discuss Opportunities.  Opportunities are a powerful and easy way to manage your Pipeline in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.