Integration Overview

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operations

Prisma Campaigns provides 3 integration methods that you can apply in your business processes. Based on each specific use case, you can determine which one best fits your needs. To help you accomplish that goal, this article outlines the different strategies available:

  1. Data-based integration

  2. Channel-based integration

  3. API-based integration

The following is a brief rundown of each strategy, along with its distinguishing features.

Data-Based Integration

The data-based integration strategy consists of importing business data into Prisma to deploy campaigns and target different customer segments.

Before carrying out a data-based integration, there are two main decisions to make:

  • What information will be loaded

  • How often it will be uploaded or refreshed

The information to upload usually comprises different customer data fields used by the business. This information will be used to properly segment, filter and personalize the various campaigns targeted to each customer. It is often grouped into -but not limited to- the following categories

  • Demographic, basic information, birth date, gender, city, country, etc.

  • Business, accounts, balance, products, etc

  • Specific offers, discounts, loan rates, etc.

The more data fields that are available, the more flexibility and potential the defined campaigns will have. Some of this information is customer-centric, and some are campaign-based (in case the data scope is a specific campaign).

It is important to note that you can import this information into the system only once or periodically through a CSV file. This last alternative provides an effective method to keep the customer data updated in a flexible way. Once the data is loaded, you can use it to:

  • Create segments to decide which customers will receive which campaigns

  • Personalization to display custom messages and offers

You can find more information on the data-based integration under Automatic synchronization in the Prisma Campaigns user manual.

Channel-Based Integration

This alternative refers to the integration of Prisma Campaigns with your existing communication channels and points of contact through which you reach your customers.

Channels can be inbound (when the customer initiates the interaction with one of your systems) or outbound (where the business starts the process) by nature.

Inbound

Typical inbound channels are websites, portals, and mobile applications. In these cases, the customer navigates to a web page or launches an application. For these scenarios, Prisma includes a multi-platform SDK that allows to display banners and pop-ups referring to specifically targeted campaigns as explained in Javascript in the Prisma Campaigns user manual.

The actual integration consists of inserting a generic script in the page or application where the banner or popup is to be displayed. Since this script is also campaign-agnostic, the customer will receive different campaigns dynamically once the integration is done. Of course, this depends on the segmentation and targeting defined on the platform.

Outbound

Available outbound channels are email, SMS and push notifications. The first two need a broker for message delivery, which can be an internal SMTP server or a global service such as Mailgun. For push notifications both Android and IOS are supported.

For instructions on setting up SMTP or Mailgun please refer to Configuring SMTP to Send Emails and Configuring Mailgun as Email Service Provider, respectively.

Needless to say, you need an address for each customer before you can send them messages through these channels. In other words, Prisma requires valid email addresses for email delivery, mobile phone numbers for SMS, and permission tokens for push notifications. These addresses can be loaded into the system using the data-based integration described above, or using specific APIs for that purpose.

API-Based Integration

The API-based integration allows us to address custom scenarios programmatically by invoking an application programming interface. The available alternatives are referrals, business events, and a REST API.

Referrals

Referrals make it possible to integrate Prisma with external web applications and to start a campaign funnel by clicking a link. The typical case is when you cannot insert the integration script into a website or application not owned by your company, such as social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

To learn how to create and use referral links, go to Configuring a Facebook Campaign Using the Prisma Campaigns Funnel. Although that article specifically mentions Facebook, the same applies to other platforms.

Although each advertising platform has its own art, the actionable link will take the customer to the same funnel featuring a visual interface for the customer’s convenience.

Business Events

Business events are specific actions that occur on the business side -not necessarily performed by an individual- that can trigger a campaign for a given customer. Examples of these events include -but are not limited to- credit card transactions, new loan opportunities, due payments, and so forth. The main idea behind this feature is to start a campaign for a customer after a business-related activity has taken place.

For more information on the use of this feature, please refer to Business events in the Prisma Campaigns user manual.

These campaigns share a distinguishing characteristic: the funnel starts with an outbound interaction (email message, SMS or push notification) that may eventually expect an action from the customer. This approach differs from referrals in that the latter requires an action from a person in order to start the funnel in the first place.

Behind the scenes, an application needs to invoke a properly authenticated REST API to trigger a business event. Additionally, this API call needs to include the event name, its related information and the customer identifier.

REST API

The REST API is the base layer above which every platform’s SDK is built. This is the recommended approach to integrate not supported channels and legacy systems. The reason why is because it allows us to retrieve active campaigns, configured banners, popups, custom offers (and more), and programmatically decide how to present and handle each customer interaction.