Eloqua Sending
Now that you've set up your automated email campaign, finish the automation by connecting Eloqua.
FeedOtter uses Simple Email Campaigns to automate sending with Eloqua.
Choose the Eloqua Connection we previously setup. You should see Segments appear for you to choose who receives the email.
Segments is the list of people who will receive your email. Eloqua only allows you to select one.
You can paste in the exact name of the segment and click Lookup > click the segment to the right to select. We strongly recommend creating a "test segment" or "internal segment" that contains one or more test emails. This will allow you to test the full Eloqua send process with internal stakeholders. This segment can be changed at a later date when you are ready to send to the masses.
Choose your Email Groups.
This allows you to control pre-pending and appending Eloqua header and footer details to your FeedOtter emails. Some customers prefer to use an Eloqua dynamic content block for the footer which works as well. To do this, the user would edit the FeedOtter html template code and insert their Eloqua Dynamic Content token in the desired place, footer, etc.
Save and Go!
Now you are ready to send out your Eloqua RSS Email Campaign. Once you've filled out the required settings, click Save Settings and Start Campaign. Your Automated Email will appear in the Campaign blocks and will send according to the sending schedule you made in your Automated Email.
Advanced Eloqua RSS Email Options
Under the Email Groups information, there are Advanced - Options to select if you have these setup.
Click Advanced Options to display these settings.
VMTA Id and BBE
FeedOtter allows you to set the Eloqua BBE (bounceback email) and VMTA (custom sending IP) settings if your Eloqua account supports these features. Please adhere to the following guidelines if you wish to use these options:
The BBE settings must be an email address and EXACTLY match one of the options displayed in your Eloqua account. It is case-sensitive.
The VMTA setting is a bit more difficult to find and requires using your web-browser's development tools.
In Eloqua, create a new email and select the Gear from the right-hand menu to display the settings.
Right-click on the dropdown for VMTA
Choose Inspect to open your developer tools
Expand the <input> node until you see the individual dropdown options
Record the "value" number associated with the VMTA you wish FeedOtter to use
In the screenshot below, you would enter "1" into the FeedOtter interface to set this property.
This is the value we pass to the Eloqua API.
(Optional) Campaign Custom Fields
Some organizations have setup required fields on their Eloqua campaigns. You can review your custom field usage in Eloqua by clicking on the small Gear in the upper-right. Select Fields & Views from the Database Setup section.
Review the fields listed under Campaign and note any that are marked at "required". These field values will need to be set for your automated FeedOtter campaigns.
At this point we are going to dive deeper into the technical Eloqua setup world we recommend contacting the FeedOtter team for help with the following steps but you are welcome to proceed if you feel comfortable.
Eloqua has 2 types of custom Campaign fields. The defaults that come with most Eloqua installs are Campaign Type, Region, and Product. If one or all of these fields are required you can construct a JSON object similar to the example below.
This JSON value can be added to your FeedOtter campaign in the advanced settings area.
Go ahead and Save this.
Use the FeedOtter > Send Now button to test the campaign's ability to fully execute. If you receive a "success" message you are all set. If you see a "red error" popup it means you have addl. custom fields that will need to be set.
Beyond the standard custom fields things become even more Eloqua-technical. We need to locate a numerical ID from Eloqua that corresponds to the Custom Field you need to set.
If you have not already, please contact us so we can work with you and your Eloqua representative to locate this field ID in your account.
The setup of these "non-standard custom fields" will require us to add addl. data to the custom JSON object in FeedOtter. Here is an example:
A more complex combination could look like this:
FeedOtter can also automatically update emails that live on your Canvas workflows. You can read more here.
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