This is the second article in a five part series covering the process of building an allocation offer in Offset Commerce.
These articles are summarized in a webinar we recorded on 7/25/24, which can be viewed here: Creating an Allocation Offer Webinar
Table Of Contents
Before you create your allocation, you should determine what makes up your different loyalty tiers and create your Groups. Assigning customer groups is different for every organization. Some of our clients base the customer assignment on total lifetime spend, some base it on recent purchases or if they bought specific SKUs, and others use a combination. Many of our clients have a single Group, whereas others have dozens with different wines, messaging, time frames, and purchase limits designed to keep them engaged. Once you decide on what criteria work best, you can start creating your groups and segment customers. I recommend starting the segmentation process at least 30 days in advance of your upcoming release.
A. Create Your Groups
Create a new Group
Go to the Groups Page to create a new group
If your Groups are already established, skip to step
Select the +New Group button
Enter your Group Name
NOTE: This can not be seen by your customers. Use unique names and get creative. It can be easier to segment in Campaign Monitor when using distinct names like “Top” and “Base” rather than “Tier 1” and “Tier 2.”
Enter your Internal Description
This should be a short description of who should be placed in this group
EXAMPLE: LTV = 5,000+
Select the Type dropdown and Choose Allocation
NOTE: The Standard type is for segmenting that doesn’t require an allocation like a Group for Employees
Select the Create Group button
Repeat steps 1.a through g until all the tier Groups are created
Create a Test Group
Repeat Steps 1.a through g
Name the Group “Test Group”
Go to Customers
Enter your name or email in the search bar at the top right of the screen
NOTE: If you don't already have a customer account, you will need to create one under the customers tab.
Open your Customer account by clicking on your name in the results
Scroll down and select Groups & Segments
Under Groups, check the box for the Test Group and uncheck any other allocation Groups
Select the Update button
Repeat this process for any other employees who will be logging in to test or review your setup
Bulk Shift Customers - User Interface Option
Go to the Customers page
IMPORTANT: Before you begin, download a backup of your customer assignment for reference by going to Actions > Exports > All Customers .csv and save the file for future reference.
Select the Filters button at the top of the page
Enter your specific criteria to generate a list of customers like Minimum Lifetime Total, Purchased Products, Most Recent Order, First Purchase Date, or a combination.
Select the Filter Customers button to generate your results.
IMPORTANT: Review the results and If you are not achieving the desired results, adjust your filters and try again.
NOTE: If your criteria are not available through the filters, skip to step 4. Bulk Shift Customers Into Groups - Spreadsheet Option"
Select all Displayed customers by clicking the checkbox in the upper right corner next to ID
Select or deselect customers individually as needed
Select the Choose an Action dropdown
Under the Move to Group header, choose Move to “Example Group”
NOTE: When you Move a customer, it will assign a customer to a new Group and remove them from ALL other assignments. This is the recommended process for most setups as you only want a customer to be in one allocation at a time. Assigning a customer to multiple groups will cause display issues when they log into the allocation.
IMPORTANT: The Move process starts immediately, so be patient while the customers are filed into their new group and wait for the process to complete.
When the process is complete, you will see a green banner at the top of the page that says ✓ 1 customer moved to group.
To check your work, go to the Groups page
Select the ellipses to the right of the desired group
Choose View Customers
You can view the Customers in the Group directly on the page or from a .csv export. To export, you can select all by checking the box to the left of ID
Select the Choose an action… dropdown
Choose Export > Customer Data Export [.CSV]
Bulk Shift Customers - Spreadsheet Import Option
Select this link for detailed instructions open this article: Bulk shifting customers from one group to another
C. Configure Your Group Allocation Offer
Select the Groups tab
Click on the name of the group where you want to set up an allocation
NOTE: I recommend starting with your Test Group. Only people added to the group will be able to log into the allocation, which is why we recommend starting with the Test Group so you can identify any issues in a closed environment.
IMPORTANT: You may want to disable the Test Group when your allocation is live, so you don’t see a double display.
Click the Status dropdown and change the Test Group to Active
DEFINITION: Active allows group members to view the allocation when they reach the start time. Inactive turns off the allocation regardless of time.
IMPORTANT: The Status setting can start as Inactive but needs to be set to Active for you to preview your work.
Scroll down to Timeline, click on the Start button
Select today’s date and time
Click the End button
Select a future date and time
Click the Save Changes button to save your work
NOTE: Configuring the Start/End Dates can be set in advance to a future date in the actual allocation. Even if it is active, nobody will see the allocation until you reach the date.
Scroll down to the Messaging Section
Enter your Allocation Title
NOTE: This title appears to customers at the top of the allocation page.
Enter the Messaging
The Messaging appears below the Allocation Title and is a great place to write a brief welcome message to your group and let them know any essential details about the allocation.
(Optional) Purchase Confirmation Message This is the message that will appear on the allocation receipt page. It will override the default message.
Click the Save Changes button to save your work
Scroll down to Products in this Allocation Group to add products one by one
Select the Add Products button
Choose the Select Product For Allocation dropdown
Pick a product you want to include in the allocation
NOTE: If you have a lot of products, you can use keywords to narrow down the results
IMPORTANT: If you don’t see the product you are looking for in the dropdown selection, go to that individual product, add inventory, and try again
(For Most Set Ups) Enter 0 in the Purchase Minimum field.
IMPORTANT: You should only set a Purchase Minimum for a product if you want to require customers to purchase a particular product as part of their offer. When a minimum number is set, when customers log in, it will automatically load those items into their cart and inventory will be tied up until a customer’s session expires. If all the inventory is held up, the customers who log in may be unable to purchase. If you use this option, make sure you have sufficient inventory for the number of people logging in. You may also want to consider starting your groups in waves separated by the amount of time it would take for a cart to expire.
NOTE: To see how long it takes for your carts to expire, go to Settings > Carts.
Enter the highest amount a customer can purchase outright in the Purchase Maximum field.
Enter the highest amount a customer can wish for outright in the Wish Maximum field.
NOTE: Wishes are logged in the system and can be seen in Customer accounts by clicking on the Wish Requests tab or on the Orders > Wish Requests page.
IMPORTANT: Wishes should be batched after the close of the allocation. Make sure to grant wishes before sending orders to fulfillment. Granting wish requests rolls the wish quantities into the original order, so if you send them over before the wish grant, there will be missing order info.
Select the Add to Allocation button
Adjust quantities as needed and select the Update Quantities button to save any additional changes to the Minumum or Maxumum amounts.
(Optional) After adding at least one product, you can select the Export Products button for a spreadsheet template and upload the remaining items via spreadsheet.
Enter the appropriate product data without altering any of the headers and save the file in its default format of MS-DOS.csv.
Select the Import Products
Select Choose File and attach the completed file
Select the Upload button
Confirm the settings are correct.
NOTE: If you have multiple allocations with the same or similar products, you can export this template and import it into other groups to save time.
(Optional) Scroll down to Allocation Checkout Requirements
Enter a Cart Minimum
NOTE: Customers can add a mix of products totaling at least the amount in this field to the cart to checkout. Customers who try to purchase less will see an error message at the top of the page.
IMPORTANT: If you are using the Cart Minumum, you may want to reduce the individual product minimums to avoid any conflicts.
IMPORTANT: Some message appears at the top of the page when this setting is enabled, but you may also want to warn customers in your allocation messaging that there are cart-based minimums so they know what to expect if they try to check out with less wine than the minimum requirements.
Enter a Cart Maximum
NOTE: Customers cannot purchase more than this amount of total product to checkout. Attempts to check out with more than the maximum will result in an error message.
Enter a Dollar Minimum
Customers cannot check out unless their subtotal is equal to or greater than the number in this field.
(Optional) Group Discount
Enter a value in the Percentage Discount
NOTE: All Customers in this Group will receive this discount on ANY order.
D. Clean Up Old Wish Requests
If there are declined or non-granted wishes from your previous allocation, you should back up and delete them so you don’t accidentally grant them when you batch this release’s wishes.
Go to Orders > Wish Requests
Select the checkbox next to ID to select all
Select the Choose an Action dropdown
(Optional) Select Export Wish Requests [.csv] to export a copy of your non-granted wishes and save the file as a backup.
Select all or select individual wishes by checking the box on the left side of the individual wish
Select the Choose an Action dropdown
Choose the Delete selected Wish Requests option
NOTE: The wishes will be deleted immediately and there is no un-do. You will see a green banner at the top of the page that says X Saved order deleted