FAQ: Contacts

The auto-populated fields aren't working in my emails; why?

Auto Populated fields when sending an Email:

You need to send the email to a list or a contact type, not an individual email even if you want to test the email.

Order infomation does not work if you send it through the 'Send Mass Email' tool.

Auto Populated fields when reviewing an Email:

When someone in the Admin Panel looks at an email sent to a customer in the Contacts tab, it doesn't always appear appear in your Preview. Even if it does not display in the Admin Panel preview, it still does send to the Customer in their email inbox if the auto populated tags are placed properly. Below are two aspects of when it displays and when it doesn't.

Contacts > open contact > Manage Email > open up email document to preview.

//FirstName// //LastName// get populated if:

1. Placing the order through WineDirect POS > automatically fills auto populated data in the Admin Panel preview. 

2. Resending the email from Contacts > open the contact > manage email > press Resend.

The times that the //FirstName// //LastName// appear not populated is:

1. when resending from the order itself by going into Store > Orders > opening the order > going to the Email tab > checking "Resend Order Confirmation Email" > Press Process.

2. Placing the order through the Admin Panel > does not automatically fill the autopopulated data in the Admin Panel Preview.

In Club Processing > Club Members > Email button > does not populate //ClubName// currently. It does populate //OrderBlob// and standard order auto populated tags.

I'm sending club emails, and canceled members are getting them! How do I correct this?

When you’re sending out an email, who are you sending it to? If you want to send email only to active members, you need to select ‘Active’ in the ‘Status’ drop down within the club section of the list builder.

In the address book section, what does "Primary" mean?

The frontend of your website remembers the "primary" address for purchases. If no primary is selected, the shipping address will be used as the billing address on the frontend.

I want to send an attachment (PDF) with my email through the WineDirect mass email tool; how do I do this?

Can you add this to the FAQs then email him the link? The WineDirect mass email feature doesn’t allow PDF attachments in the email. Here are the three options that we recommend:

1. Upload the PDF to the website, then link to it from the email (you can link text or an image to the PDF). This will send people to the website to read the PDF, you can also see the clicks the PDF gets through the website stats.
2. Instead of sending a PDF, create the emails so that it has all of the items within the email.
3. Export the list that your sending to through WineDirect and import it and send your email through Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, etc., these systems allow for you to attached files to the emails.

Can a contact have more than one email address?

One of the ways the WineDirect platform associates contacts is by email address. A contact can only have one email address per entry. A person could have multiple contact entries with different emails addresses, however the platform will treat them as separate individuals (i.e: they will require different login info for each email).

Is there a way to manually override a customer/contact number?

No. Once a contact is imported into the platform and assigned a customer number it cannot be overridden. The only way to change a customer number is to delete a contact completely; then re-import them with the correct number. These numbers are for admin purposes only.

How does a contact log into the website?

To log into the website a contact has to click the ‘Your Account’ or the ‘Log In’ buttons, typically found on the top right hand side of your website. The button names and location may vary depending on your design, please contact your website designer if you can’t locate the buttons.

If they don’t have a username and password they can receive one in one of the following ways:

1. They can sign up for a club, (username and password is mandatory).
2. You manually add a username and password in the contacts file in the appropriate field.
3. You can create a form requiring a username and password (you must click the ‘Is Tied To Contact’ check box to get the username and password fields)
4. You can import customers using the contact import tools.

I am trying to send a mass email to 10,000 + members, but I receive a message to contact WineDirect. What do I need to do?

The WineDirect platform limits the number of contacts you can send a mass email to 10,000 in one blast. If you have a list larger than 10,000 contacts you will need to split the list up. This can be done through the list builder by creating a new list and narrowing down the list parameters. One example: separate the list based on States in the Contact tab.

When returning customer logs into the website, they still need to enter their credit card information when placing an order - Can this auto-populate for them?

For security purposes the WineDirect platform does not allow the credit card information to automatically be brought in from a customer’s file when ordering online. This is to prevent a person’s credit card being used for orders if they’re login information were to be compromised.

A customer can still login and update their credit card information from their member pages. However this is for club processing purposes only and will not populate when placing orders on the website.

How do I set up my trade/wholesale customers, so they are not charged tax on their orders?

Under the store tab of a customer’s contact file there is a drop down select for whether a person in taxable or not.

Can a customer have multiple credit cards saved on file?

Yes. Customers and club members can have multiple credit cards saved on file. This allows a club member to have a different credit card assigned to each of their club memberships (if they hold multilpe memberships). The credit card marked as 'Primary' will be the card that will populate for customers in the store and for admins durning orders. Club memberships must have a specific card assigned to them. 

What is a 'Primary' credit card?

The 'Primary' credit card is the card number saved on file that will populate for the customer when placing orders or admins when placing and admin panel order. If the customer has additional cards on file they will be able to select these from the credit card menu.

**Please Note: The ability to have credit cards populate automatically for customers who login online is not an option that is enabled on WineDirect sites by default. By default customers will have to enter their card number on every online order. If you would like to enable this option please contact support@winedirect.com to speak to a WineDirect support representative.

How do I create a complete list (Export) of all my contacts?

You will want to use the List Builder feature. Create a new list and title it, do not select any other options from any of the other tabs, simply name the list and go to the summary tab. You can then download a list in Excel formatting. Please not that if you wish to re-import this list it will need to be put into the Contact Importer Excel sheet formatting

How do I set notes or reminders about my contacts?

Go to the Contacts section, select any contact, then go to the Notes tab and Click to Add A Note. There you can write a note or reminder with a date for that particular contact.

Is there a way to view when a customer was added to my contacts list on the WineDirect platform?

Unfortunately you cannot view when a customer was added to your contact database from a customer’s contact file. The only area that you can view this information is by using the list builder to export your customer list and looking for an individual within that list. 

Is there a limit to how many shipping addresses can be linked to a single account/billing address?

No, contacts can have as many shipping addresses as they would like.

Can notification emails be sent to multiple people?

Notification emails such as order confirmations, club signups, etc, can be setup to go to multiple contacts. However a person cannot pick an choose which notifications they will receive. All contacts on the notification list will receive all of the notifications. The list must be edited by WineDirect, please contact support@winedirect.com if you need these addresses adjusted.

Can I set up a mass email that will be sent automatically on a future date?

There is no option to post date mass email blasts. Mass emails must be setup manually and sent manually by a admin.

How do I copy an email?

You can copy the HTML from one email to another email.

How do I get my Newsletters to display online?

You can archive or make HTML versions of your newsletters with the following steps:

• Go to Contacts > Email Documents > Click the Green Pencil beside the Email Category
• In the Email Category settings check the checkbox to make This Category a Component
• Now go to the Content Editor section of the Admin Panel
• On the page that you want the archive to display, click on the Component Icon in the Toolbar
• Now Search for the Email Category Component containing the name of your Email Category and add it to your page.

This will now allow your clients to see all of the email documents within that category online. When you go to these HTML versions of your Newsletters you can provide these as an HTML link within the email if your customers are having difficulties reading the contents of the email. Click here to learn more about inserting components.

What characters are used if WineDirect auto-generates a password (i.e., in the new contact action email)?

Only the following characters get generated into passwords by WineDirect: abcdefghjkmnpqrstuvwxyz23456789. Note that no o, O, 0, i, I, l, L, 1, etc. are used as those often can be misread.

What is the maximum number of characters I can put on a Customer Record?

The best practice is to put no more than 50 characters on any given field on a Customer Record. For usernames and passwords it's best to keep it between 6 and 20 characters.

Is there a way to indicate two phone numbers for a Customer, i.e., home and cell?

No there is not a way to indicate both cell and home phone on a single Customer Record. You can add this information to the source field or as a Flag through the Notes tab of a Customer Record.

Am I able to add a PDF file to a customer in WineDirect?

No there is not a way to add a PDF to the customer but you are able to add text to notes via the Notes tab of the customer. These notes can be referenced in the Dashboard and in the Notes tab of the Customer Record.

Is there a way for WineDirect to recognize if an email is typed in an incorrect format, such as email@email, com?

WineDirect is able to see if an email is entered in an incorrect format. If the email is not written to be in this format: xx@xx.com or .ca, etc, the system will warn you that the email is in an incorrect format.

Is there an easy way to search the customer notes for a keyword?

Yes.

1. You can go to Dashboard > Notes in the submenu.
2. In the Text field type in the word you are specifically searching for. This will allow you to see any an all notes that contain that word.

To further specify your search you can press Advanced > then edit the Related To field and this will allow you to filter based on contact notes or order notes.

How do I quickly remove all Contacts from a Contact Type?

There are two ways to do this:

1.In the List Builder create a new list that is so specific it contains zero people. Then in the Generate List (List Builder BETA) section > choose to Place List in Contact Type >
now choose the contact type that you want to remove all contacts from > press Place List in Contact Type > make sure the Replace Contacts in Contact Type with this List is checked. Once you press Save Changes this will remove them.

2.The other way to do this is to delete the contact type and recreate it.

What is included in the //ClubBlob// auto-populating tag?

This tag is used for club signup confirmation emails. It will populate the customers billing information and shipping information that they have selected when signing up for your club online.

Why do club members still receive Card Expiry action emails after updating their credit cards?

Contacts set to receive an action email is added to the queue 10 days before expiry (by default).  If they update their credit card within that time frame, you will need to manually remove the email from being sent out of the queue.  If not, the Action Email will still go out.