Account Automation

To enable Subscription Automation you have to start by making sure that the content is correctly secured and that you have the correct Security Groups in place, with the correct Content Security rights assigned to each security group.

Once you have the correct rights in place, simply create the appropriate security groups which will then in turn be assigned to your contact groups so that they can access the relevant content.

Once you have the correct Security Groups in place you'll want to create the appropriate Subscription Plans. These can then be assigned for fixed terms to individual subscribers using Subscriptions management, or alternatively they can be sold using Ecommerce / Pro Forma Orders, and now they can be automatically assigned through the Accounts.

You need to make sure all required Subscription Plans are in place so that these can in turn be assigned to accounts for the automation. Given that you've created the Security Groups in the task above, it is now easy to create Subscription Plans, especially Digital only ones. Simply add a Subscription Plan, assign it as a Digital Only one and then assign the relevant Security Group.

For more advanced Print ones you will need to also create your Print Products, Product Lines, Product Categories etc.

You can now start to set up each Account so that it has:

1) The appropriate Email Domains set

2) The appropriate Content Subscription with correct Start, End and Quantities all set.

By setting the email domains on the account (comma separated) anyone who registers with the correct domains will be assigned to the account once they have confirmed their email address.

With the Content Subscription then assigned, the contact can be automatically given the relevant security clearances, which means that they can:

i) Access relevant content

ii) Purchase at relevant prices, or even free.

iii) Participate in relevant social aspects of the site

iv) Be profiled as part of the account

You will need to update the Accounts so that they have the relevant domains and subscriptions.

To bulk upload Accounts use the Account Import, and then to bulk upload Account Subscriptions Plans use the Account Subscription Import below.

We have introduced the Account Subscription Import so that you can both bulk import and bulk assign subscriptions to account contacts.

Simply download the sample import spreadsheet, and update with relevant accounts, subscriptions, dates and quantities.

When you run the import, not only is the Account updated for each line item, but it triggers the automated task which in turn will work through the account contacts to assign the subscriptions.

You will want to make sure that the Contacts are already associated with the relevant accounts before running this import, to ensure the best allocation of subscriptions to account contacts.

Note that with the automated subscription allocation, Affino will ensure that no duplicates are assigned, and it will not override existing subscriptions that have exact matching subscription plans and timeframes. This ensures that active subscribers do not have their subscriptions altered.

You can always go and assign contacts manually to accounts, and review what subscription plans they have independent of the Account.

The simplest way to assign existing contacts to an account is simply to edit the contact and select the Account. You can also go to the Account and then bulk Associate Contacts with the account on the Social tab of the Account.