Getting Started with Marketing Automation

Applied Marketing Automation allows your organization to deliver the right information to the right audience at the right time. Marketing Automation integrates with Applied Epic to manage access for your staff and leverage contact details so that you can market and communicate with existing clients. Every time you send an email through Marketing Automation, an activity is created in Epic for the corresponding contact, making it easy to review what has been sent and track your marketing efforts.

Marketing Automation is only accessible through Applied Epic by organizations with a valid subscription. For more information about Marketing Automation, contact your Applied Sales representative.

This document provides information on configuring Applied Epic for Marketing Automation adoption. It includes specific information on individual and group security and visibility settings, system events and activity codes, and best practices for contact management for both insured and prospective clients.

Before you provide information to users about accessing and using Applied Marketing Automation, you must configure the corresponding settings in Applied Epic.

Marketing Automation access

Before users can access Marketing Automation, you must grant permission to them as individual users or security group members. There is only one Marketing Automation security object (Program Access > Area: General > Sub-Area: Marketing Automation). Enabling it gives a user access to all Marketing Automation-related functionality in Applied Epic.

1. Navigate to Configure > Security and do one of the following:
• Click Users to enable Marketing Automation for individual users (see User Configuration for detailed instructions).
  1. Select a user from the list and click the Edit button .
  2. Click the Program Access tab and select General from the Area dropdown.
  3. Select Marketing Automation in the Sub-Area list.
  4. In the Permissions frame, select Grant from the Permission dropdown.
  5. Click Finish.
  6. Repeat this process for each user who needs access to Marketing Automation.
• Click Security Groups to enable Marketing Automation for a group of users (see Group Security Configuration for detailed instructions).
  1. Select a group from the list and click the Edit button .
  2. Click the Program Access tab and select General from the Area dropdown.
  3. Select Marketing Automation in the Sub-Area list.
  4. In the Permissions frame, select the Marketing Automation checkbox.
  5. Click Finish.
  6. Repeat this process for each group that needs access to Marketing Automation.

Visibility Options

You can also use Visibility Profiles to hide Marketing Automation-related functionality from Applied Epic users who do not need to access it. Remember that all visibility profiles except the System-wide profile require you to define members as well as Hidden Areas. See Visibility Profile Configuration for detailed instructions.

This table details the Marketing Automation visibility objects available:

Marketing Automation System Events and Activity Codes

Several Applied Epic system events initiate activities automatically when a corresponding action occurs in Marketing Automation. The configuration of these system events and activity codes affects all Marketing Automation users in Epic. The chart below outlines the system events and their default activity codes. You may want to configure your system’s handling of these events and activities.

1. Evaluate the system events associated to Marketing Automation emails and update them in System Event Configuration if necessary.
2. Evaluate the default activity codes associated to the system events and edit their properties in Activity Code Configuration if necessary.

Note: Some of these system events and activity codes have been added to Applied Epic in anticipation of future Marketing Automation functionality.

Failed Activity Insertion Report

If a Marketing Automation-related activity fails to create and you have notifications enabled, you will receive an Epic notification containing a link to a report with details about the failure. The report indicates the Activity Code that failed and the associated account. This report saves as an Activity Batch Error Report attachment to the employee account used to generate the activity. You can use the information in the report to ensure that all necessary activities are created.

Add Contact information to Applied Epic

Marketing Automation leverages Applied Epic contact details as its single source of truth, which means that Epic is the only system in which you need to manage contacts. Make sure to keep all contacts up to date, with accurate email addresses, in Epic.

Importing Prospects into Applied Epic

You can use Marketing Automation to market to prospective clients who have given you permission to do so. To save time, you can bulk import prospect information into Epic rather than entering it manually. Begin by configuring prospect import, then import prospect files and import prospect batches. The Batch Import of Prospects into Epic Knowledge article on the Applied Community provides additional tips for importing prospects.

Marketing Opt-In settings

You can only send Marketing Automation email campaigns to contacts (including contacts on prospective client accounts) who have opted in to receive marketing-related email. Only contacts who have the Email checkbox selected in the Marketing Opt-Ins section of Contact Detail can receive Marketing Automation campaign emails. Review contacts’ marketing preferences regularly to ensure that your organization complies with data privacy regulations.

Marketing Automation Opt-Ins link label

The Marketing Automation Opt-In link label in Epic Contact Detail allows you to access a contact’s campaign preferences. While you can review these settings whenever you need to, you should only change them when the contact gives you explicit permission to do so.

Accessing Marketing Automation

Once you have configured all necessary settings in Applied Epic, users with security access can click the Marketing Automation navigation panel button from the Home screen to access Marketing Automation. Marketing Automation opens in a new tab in your default web browser.

Additional help

If you have additional questions about Marketing Automation integration or need additional assistance with configuration, contact Applied Customer Support.

Consult the Applied Marketing Automation help file for specific information about Marketing Automation functionality (for example, using Dynamic Branding and Servicing to automatically personalize drip campaign emails for each recipient).