Connecting to PostgreSQL

Connection to PostgreSQL would be the most optimal option if you need to

• add extra fields for segmentation by contact fields;
• configure seamless synchronization of content component;
• get extra data on contacts in order to build precise segments based on specific conditions.

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Important

Please note that this integration is available only in the Growth and Enterprise plans

Step 1. Set up a Connector

1. Go to your personal profile > Settings > Connectors > and select Connect PostgreSQL.

2. Fill in all fields:

• Name. Required.
• Host. It can be the domain name of the remote server or its IP address.
• Port. Entered automatically by default.
• Database. Name of the database on a remote server.
• Username. User's database login (read only user role is enough). Required.
• Password. Required.

You may click Validate connection to test whether authorization data is entered correctly. In case of a successful connection, the corresponding service notification will appear in the top right corner. If the connection fails, check the entered data and contact your system admin if needed.

3. In Set unique contact field, select a table column that contains a unique contact key and Reteno unique contact key. They should match.

For example, you select Email. After connection, the column of the PostgreSQL table with email addresses will be mapped to the corresponding field in the Reteno system.

Aside from email addresses, the uniqueness of contacts can be determined by a phone number, internal contact ID, or additional contact field.

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Important

You can use the created connector to connect to several data sources. All of them will have the same unique contact key so we recommend using one key in all tables. To use a different key, create another connector to the same database and set another unique contact field.

4. Click Save.

Step 2. Configure a Data Source

Your external database may contain several tables, and you need to select which one you want to connect to.

1. Go to your profile > Settings > Data sources, click New data source and select External data source.

2. Select the created connector.

3. Select the dataset and table and enter a source name. Click Save.

4. Now, import contacts to Reteno and fill the external source with data.

Now you can build segments based on the imported contact fields.

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Important

Connection to the external database doesn’t presuppose contact import. Segmentation is only available for contacts that exist both in your Reteno account and in the external database. Synchronize and update contacts before creating campaigns.

Step 3. Add data to a message

To insert data, you need to reference it using a Velocity parameter $!data.get(‘sourcename’). As an example, we will use the created source with the name _promo_codes.

Bulk campaign to a segment

For example, you plan a campaign to contact [email protected]

A set of data will be extracted from the table and inserted into an object:

{
  "data": {
    "promo_codes": [
      {
        "id": "2",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "name": "Dina Kozak",
        "birthday": "2020-09-02T00:00:00Z",
        "promo_code": "AAAA-BBBB-DDDD"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Fields of the array promo_codes can be referenced in two ways:

• With parameters (if you know the number of parameters in the array).

$!data.get('promo_codes').get(0).get('name')

$!data.get('promo_codes').get(0).get('promo_code')

• With a loop (most common method).

#foreach($pc in $!data.get('promo_codes'))

$!pc.get('name')

$!pc.get('promo_code')

#end

Triggered campaign

First, you need to create a dynamic segment with certain conditions. For example, your segment will include only contacts who have a birthday today.

When the workflow is triggered for contacts that match this condition, the system generates the event. The name of the event is formed from the static part (regularEventType) and the segment ID the campaign is sent to. It can be, for example, regularEventType-170531841.

The event contains contact data, contact ID in Reteno (ContactId), email address (EmailAddress), and data from an external table.

The data from each table field is converted into a key and is placed in an array with a numerical name corresponding to the ID of the data source.

This array is serialized and placed as a string in the field jsonParam. The body of the event may look as follows:

{
  "params": [
    {
      "name": "ContactId",
      "value": "623927159"
    },
    {
      "name": "jsonParam",
      "value": "{\"1043\":[{\"id\":,\"email\":\"[email protected]\",\"name\":\"Dina Kozak\",\"birthday\":\"2020-09-02T00:00:00Z\",\"promo_code\":\"AAAA-BBBB-DDDD\"}]}"
    },
    {
      "name": "EmailAddress",
      "value": "[email protected]"
    }
  ]
}

To deserialize a string into a set of objects, in the workflow > block Email > JSON specify the data source from the event - ${jsonParam}.

Having set up the workflow, configure triggers:

The same approach as for a bulk campaign is used to extract data from the event, with little difference in the name of the array. The following object will be in the email:

{
  "data": {
    "1043": [
      {
        "id": "2",
        "email": "[email protected]",
        "name": "Dina Kozak",
        "birthday": "2020-09-02T00:00:00Z",
        "promo_code": "AAAA-BBBB-DDDD"
      }
    ]
  }
}

The fields of the array 1043 can be referenced in two ways:

• With parameters (if you know the number of parameters in the array).

$!data.get('1043').get(0).get('name')
$!data.get('1043').get(0).get('promo_code')

• With a loop (most common method).

#foreach($pc in $!data.get('1043'))

$!pc.get('name')

$!pc.get('promo_code')

#end

Connect PostgreSQL as an external data source to fulfill a wide range of marketing tasks. For example, substitute promo codes in triggered campaigns or build complex segments based on data collected on different platforms.

Step 4. Set up Data Export

To regularly update information about the audience, orders and campaign results in PostgreSQL, set up data export from the Reteno to tables. For example, you can export responses to an NPS survey, purchase history, date of the last click in a message, etc.

Available datasets for export:

• contactActivities;
• contacts;
• orderItems;
• orders;
• revenue.

This information will be transferred to PostgreSQL and will update the data in the tables.

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Important

You don’t need to pre-create PostgreSQL tables. They will be generated automatically at the first export, and since that all the incoming data will be updated. All the table names will correspond to the data sets (contact activities, contacts, order items, orders, revenue)

Setting up PostgreSQL connector for data export

1. Go to Settings → Data export _and click _New data export. Select one of the created PostgreSQL connectors.

2. Select upload interval and check the boxes for the data sets you want to upload. The data set type by default is public, you can select another type if you have specified it in your PostgreSQL settings.
   Click Save.

The connection will be displayed in the Data export section, here you can edit its settings.