Embedding a Poll in a Mailing

You can embed either a dynamic version of the poll or a static version of the poll into an e-mail.

Embedding a dynamic poll

To embed a dynamic version of you poll in a mailing, you copy the information from the Embedding You Poll in a Mailing text box and paste it in the e-mail message where you want the poll to appear.

When you embed a poll into a mailing, you copy a stored procedure (SP) call in the e-mail content. An SP call is a stored procedure used to merge the appropriate poll into your mailing. Using a stored procedure gives you the ability to include a live poll in your mailing.

Note: If you embed the SP call in a mailing, you cannot change the questions or the styles, or any attribute of the poll after the mailing is sent.

An example SP call:

_#SP.PBUILDER.GETPOLL(1234,12345678).FULLPOLL__

The SP call passes two parameters. The poll ID parameter (1234 in the example) references the specific poll. The second parameter (12345678 in the example) references the unique client ID. The combination of these two parameters identifies the poll in e-Dialog's database and ensures that the correct poll is embedded upon mailing.

To copy an SP call from Poll Builder to Campaign Builder:

1. Copy the information from the Embedding You Poll in a Mailing text box

   To highlight the entire SP string, you can triple-click in the field, or click once and press CTRL+A. Then press CTRL+C to copy the string.

2. From e-Campaign Builder, open the mailing in which you want to embed the poll.
3. Go to the Content tab.
4. Paste the string from the Step 1 into the body of an HTML format e-mail.

   The SP call automatically merges your poll into the e-mail message when you send proofs.

You should contact your account representative for the e-Dialog design and development guidelines concerning the e-mail template shell, which is developed outside of Poll Builder. The shell must have an open cell into which the poll can be dynamically populated with the Customer Identifier (CID) information, or you can link to the hosted poll from the e-mail to include CID information.

For a Website, you can either link to the hosted poll or embed the poll code and host it on your site. No CID information is included with poll responses using these hosting options.

To customize the look of the poll interface, you must modify the CSS styles using the Style tab in Poll Builder.

When designing a poll, keep in mind that recipients use a variety of e-mail servers and Web browsers. To maintain consistent formatting for recipients, e-Dialog recommends the following guidelines:

• Add some blank space to the top, bottom, left, and right borders of your poll.
• Bottom alignment cannot be guaranteed, such as aligning an image below the poll with an adjacent image or text.
• Use solid colors for backgrounds. Shading and patterns cannot be guaranteed to display correctly to the recipient.
• Design simple buttons. The default poll Submit button is generated using the <input type="button"> code. Custom image Submit buttons, minor poll interface design enhancements, and shells can be built on an as-needed basis by the e-Dialog Creative Department for a nominal fee.

Note: Outlook 2007 does not support forms. If any of your recipients are using Outlook 2007, you should include a link so that they can view the poll on your Web site.

Embedding a static poll

To embed a static version of your poll, you can copy the information from the HTML Sourcecode To Embed in e-Dialog Mailings text box, and then paste it into the content of an e-mail.