How to set up a Synced Address Book

Dave Carr
Dave Carr
  • Updated

This article covers setting up a Synced Address Book. You’ll find information on building a Customer List and adding a Synced Address Book to Dotdigital.

Before you read this article, you should be familiar with:

 

What is a Synced Address Book?

A Synced Address Book contains all of the customers you might want to enrol in any of your Dotdigital Programs.

For example, you might want to enrol customers who have agreed to receive email marketing from you. You may also want to exclude anyone you don’t want to enrol in a Dotdigital Program. For example, customers with certain Tags such as staff, VIPs or high-level donors.

Your Synced Address Book starts as a Customer List in Spektrix. You will then need to contact our Support Team who will link this Customer List to your Dotdigital account. Once linked, your Customer List from Spektrix will be stored in Dotdigital as an Address Book.

We call this a Synced Address Book because once it is set up, the Customer List from Spektrix will automatically sync with the Address Book in Dotdigital every day at 6am (local time).

For more information on Programs, read Introduction to Dotdigital Programs.

 

Setting up a Synced Address Book

To set up a Synced Address Book, complete the following steps:

  1. Check for a Customer List in Spektrix
  2. Build a Customer List
  3. Check for a Synced Address Book in Dotdigital
  4. Add an Synced Address Book in Dotdigital
  5. Link your Synced Address Book and Customer List together

 

Check for a Customer List in Spektrix

You can only have one Synced Address Book. Therefore, before setting up a new one you should check if one exists on your system or in your Dotdigital account already.

To check for a Dotdigital sync Customer List, look in the Customer List Explorer. You may find the Customer List set up with a name such as "Dotdigital/Spektrix Sync List" or "Synced Address Book".

If you don’t see an existing Customer List for this purpose, you’ll need to build one. Follow the steps in the next section for guidance on how to do this.

If you do have a Customer List, next check for a Synced Address Book in Dotdigital.

 

Building a Customer List

To set up a Customer List which will become your Synced Address Book, follow the steps in How to Build a Customer List. The Customer List you set up should contain all of the customers you want to enrol in any of your Dotdigital Programs.

TIP: To ensure that you don't email customers without permission, you must include Contact Preferences in your Customer List. Customers who have set their Contact Preferences to ‘No’ should not be enrolled in your Dotdigital Programs.

When building your Customer List, consider the following:

  • What criteria do you want Customers to meet to be enrolled in a Program? For example, customers who have agreed to be contacted by email.
  • Are there any customers you want to exclude from being enrolled in a Program? For example, Staff, VIPs, Donors.

WARNING: When building Programs you should always include the Global Exit criteria ‘is not in Dotdigital/Spektrix Sync List address book’.
This will remove customers from Programs if they are not present in the Customer List in Spektrix. For example, if they update their Contact Preferences to 'No'.

When building your Customer List, use the following name and description:

  • Name: Dotdigital/Spektrix Sync List
  • Description: For nightly sync with Dotdigital, for automated emails - DO NOT DELETE

 

Check for a Synced Address Book in Dotdigital

You can only have one Synced Address Book. Therefore, before setting up a new one you should check if one exists in your Dotdigital account already.

To check, follow these steps:

  1. In Dotdigital, go to Audience > Lists

     

    audience_lists.png

  2. Look for an Address Book called "Spektrix Sync" or "Dotdigital Sync".

If the Address Book doesn’t exist already, you’ll need to create one. Follow the steps in the next section: Adding a Synced Address Book in Dotdigital.

 

Adding a Synced Address Book in Dotdigital

Once you have built the Customer List in Spektrix, you’ll need to create an Address Book in Dotdigital to sync it with.

Follow these steps:

  1. In Dotdigital, go to Audience and click on the plus symbol next to Lists:


    Alternatively, go to Audience > Lists and click New List:

  2. In the Add new list screen, enter Spektrix Sync List as the list name. Click ADD NEW LIST:

 

 

Linking your Synced Address Book and Customer List together

Once you’ve created a Customer List in Spektrix and a Synced Address book in Dotdigital, contact Support to complete the set up. Our Support team will link your Synced Address Book in Dotdigital to your Customer List in Spektrix.

You’ll need to provide the following information:

  • Synced Address Book name: The name of the Address Book you created in Dotdigital. For example ‘Spektrix Sync’.
  • Customer List name: The name of the Customer List you have set up. For example, ‘Dotdigital/Spektrix Sync List’

TIP: Customer Lists and Data Fields sync at 6am (local time). You’ll need to wait until the following day to use this data in Dotdigital Programs.

 

Further Reading

This article should give you the information you need to set up a Synced Address Book. To learn more, visit the Communicate with your customers section of the Support Centre.